New businesses ‘falling through the cracks’ in lockdown assistance
For our free coronavirus pandemic coverage, learn more here.
New businesses in NSW are ineligible to receive targeted lockdown assistance if they don’t have any revenue history, leaving business owners in the lurch if they have paid set-up costs but not started trading.
Eligibility for the NSW Business Grant, the Micro-business Grant and JobSaver is based on a 30 per cent reduction in turnover because of lockdown. Businesses can qualify by comparing turnover with 2019 or 2020, or the two weeks in June before the lockdown started.
But this doesn’t apply to people like Guy Morgan who have just started their businesses and don’t have any trading history.
Guy Morgan signed a commercial lease for a gallery on June 1 and spent $5000 in set-up costs but is not eligible for the government’s business assistance.Credit:Rhett Wyman
Mr Morgan signed a commercial lease for a commercial art gallery in Surry Hills on June 1 but didn’t manage to open before the Bondi cluster got going. He is accruing all the overheads of a new business but is ineligible for government assistance.
“I’ve found Gladys Berejiklian’s guarantee that no one would fall through the cracks in terms of business grants is completely untrue,” Mr Morgan said.
He estimates he has spent more than $5000 on set-up costs, as well as weekly rent of $700 a week and other bills.
NSW Minister for Finance and Small Business Damien Tudehope said: “Businesses are experiencing one of the toughest periods right now. The NSW government is trying to support as many businesses as possible during this time.”
The government confirmed a business without pre-lockdown revenue would not qualify for the schemes, but outlined other assistance. This included protections for tenants, free advice from the government’s business advisory service Business Connect, a $1500 small business fees and charges rebate and Commonwealth disaster payments for individuals.
Mr Morgan said the information on the Service NSW website indicated new businesses were not eligible but might be able to get assistance in some circumstances and should contact the agency to find out. He spent hours on the phone with them before being told he should not bother applying.
“The communication I’ve had from Service NSW has been inconsistent at best,” he said.
“It has been difficult to get a black and white answer – I had six contacts before I got a final answer that I was not eligible. They said I should contact my MP.”
Mr Morgan said the extra staff who had been put on to assist with the backlog of applications told him they did not have access to Service NSW systems to see records from previous calls.
A Service NSW spokesperson said staff were operating seven days a week to clear the backlog and taking 40,000 COVID-related calls a day.
Stay across the most crucial developments related to the pandemic with the Coronavirus Update. Sign up to receive the weekly newsletter.
Most Viewed in National
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article