Today’s announcement by Minister for Small Business Hon Stuart Nash regarding an extension of support for businesses
that continue to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic been welcomed by Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce Chief
Executive Leeann Watson.
This includes a change in the required revenue drop threshold from 50% to 40% for the wage subsidy extension, and it
will be for 30 days within a 40-day period. This means an extra 40,000 businesses will now be eligible. The Small
Business Cashflow Loan Scheme application period has also been extended from 12 June to 24 July, which will enable
eligibility for an additional 70,000 businesses taking the likely overall uptake for the extension to around 240,000
businesses.
Ms Watson says the announcement is "very positive news for business".
"News of this extended, targeted support will definitely be welcomed by many businesses in the Canterbury region, in
particular for small business who we know have been hit hard by COVID. Through our communications with local businesses
in Canterbury and the wider South Island through our Helpline, we have heard many calls for a lower threshold for the
wage subsidy. We have also heard directly from businesses that have found the small business cashflow support a real
lifesaver, so are pleased to see the application period has been extended to enable more businesses to apply."
Ms Watson say both policies will enable business some breathing space as they assess real levels of demand after getting
back to Alert Level 1.
"This ongoing support enables businesses to take time to work through forecasts, understand the impact and get more
certainty on their future.
"We know that many businesses were concerned that the pent up demand and backlog was pushing up their figures, giving
them a false revenue figure for the last month which meant that they were just under the 50% threshold, but moving
forward they were likely to see that demand even out.
"We are all of course hoping that the increased retail sales will be retained, however there are industries that will be
well down on revenue for quite some time to come - particularly with our closed borders - and it’s important those
vulnerable but viable businesses are supported through this period.
"We are also working with Government to ensure that businesses with owner operators are able to access support through
the Small Business Loan."
Ms Watson says today’s announcement demonstrates the Government’s commitment to working with businesses to tailor their
support.
"The Government has moved quickly with the wage subsidy and been open to listening to feedback from the business
community, firstly with the targeted extension and now today adjusting the threshold, which certainly supports the
feedback we have been hearing from our members. It shows a real willingness by the current Government to evolve their
offering quickly to accommodate feedback."