Last week the Victorian Government announced new cash grants for businesses affected by the latest lockdown, to support a stronger recovery on the other side of the public health restrictions.
Businesses that applied for the latest Business Costs Assistance Program and Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund should have received an automatic support payment of $2,000 & $3,000 respectively in the last few days.
The total funding behind these initial grants is $201.8 million. Eligible businesses include restaurants, cafes bars, event suppliers, tourism and accommodation providers, and non-essential retailers.
The Victorian Government also reached an agreement with the Commonwealth Government to fund income support payments for employees who have lost hours due to the July 2021 lockdown.
Workers affected by the public health restrictions are now eligible for the COVID-19 Disaster Payment.
You’ll get the following amount for relevant periods starting from:
If you’re eligible, you’ll get $600 for each relevant period if you lost:
If you’re eligible, you’ll get $375 for each relevant period if you lost either:
You can make a claim from 23 July to 12 August 2021, for the period 16 to 22 July 2021.
You can make a claim from 25 July to 19 August 2021, for the period 23 to 27 July 2021.
You are not able to claim prior to these dates.
See here for more information on these initial support payments.
See here for more information on the covid 19 disaster payment.
Yesterday further support payments were announced; businesses who received these recent support payments will now receive another automatic payment.
Eligible Business Costs Assistance Program recipients will receive a further $2,800, increasing the total grant to $4,800 while Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund recipients will receive a further $4,200, taking the total payment to $7,200. There is no need to reapply for these programs. These payments should arrive in bank accounts in the next week or so.
For businesses that are registered for GST and meet the eligibility criteria but did not apply for the above support payments, an application will be made available for all July payments – $4,800 for Business Costs Assistance Program and $7,200 for Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund. Applications for the Business Costs Assistance Program Round 2 will be opening by the end of July.
Smaller businesses not registered for GST are expected to be eligible to apply for the Covid-19 Disaster Payment via their MyGov ID account.
There is also an extension of the Impacted Public Events Support Program along with a new round of both the Live Performance Support Program and the Sporting Clubs Grants Program.
Eligible public events and public events suppliers affected by the lockdown will receive support of up to $25,000 and $10,000 respectively through the extension of the Impacted Public Events Support Program.
The new round of the Live Performance Support Program, provides additional funding of up to $7,000 for presenters and up to $2,000 for suppliers.
For events that have been unable to proceed or will have to be cancelled or postponed, the new round of the Sporting Clubs Grants Program will provide $2,000 grants for community sport and active recreation organisations.
See here for more information on these top-up support payments.
Workplaces that have been required to undergo a deep clean may be eligible for an 80% rebate to help with this cost.
The COVIDSafe Deep Cleaning Rebate is available for small and medium-sized businesses, where anyone suspected or confirmed to have coronavirus (COVID-19) has been on the premises or worksite when they may have been infectious.
The rebate will cover up to 80 percent of the cleaning costs at each worksite, capped at a grant of $10,000 (for a total cleaning cost of $12,500).
