Applications for the Wage Subsidy March 2021 are now available and payments start from Monday 8 March 2021.
Applications can be made by going to the Work and Income website here.
Eligibility
To qualify, your business needs to experience a 40% decline in revenue over a consecutive 14-day period between 28 February and 21 March, compared to a typical 14-day period between 4 January and 14 February 2021 (6 weeks before the change in Alert Levels). This is available to businesses throughout New Zealand.
Businesses with highly seasonal revenue will be able to compare their decline in revenue to the same period of 14 consecutive days in 2020 or 2019. [See information on our lobbying regarding the date criteria here]
Payment rates
The Wage Subsidy March 2021 will be paid for 2 weeks at the rate of:
- $585.80 a week for each full-time employee retained (20 hours a week or more)
- $350 a week for each part-time employee retained (less than 20 hours a week).
Please note, you can’t get a Wage Subsidy for an employee for the period they’re covered by a Leave Support Scheme or Short-Term Absence Payment.
Other COVID-19 support
You may also be able to get the Resurgence Support Payment from Inland Revenue to help with business costs.
The Leave Support Scheme is available instead if your employees have been told to self-isolate, or you may be able to get the Short-Term Absence Payment if your employees must stay at home while waiting for a test result.