There are a range of support options put in place by the Government to help your business navigate the impacts of COVID-19.  

Financial Assistance

COVID Support Payment - new financial support for businesses affected by Omicron

Who is it for? Businesses who have a 40 percent drop over a seven day period
What can you get? $4,000 per business, plus $400 per full-time employee, capped at a total of $24,000 or 50 full-time employees. This is available on a fortnightly basis for 6 weeks, with 3 payments in total.
More Information: Applications for the first payment will open on 28 February 2022, with payments starting from 1 March. Note: the threshold has been set at a higher level than past support payments. For more information see here: COVID Support Payment

Short-term Absence Payment and COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme

Who is it for? Employers to support staff
What can you get? Financial support to pay employees who are required to isolate while they wait for test results or are required to self-isolate
More Information: If this situation applies to you find out more here: COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment and here: COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme

Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme

Who is it for? Businesses with fewer than 50 staff
What can you get? This scheme will be extended, with an additional $10,000 loan available to businesses who have already accessed the scheme, and with a new repayment period of five years with the first two years being interest-free.
More Information: For more information see here: Apply for a Cashflow Loan

Tourism and Events Support

Tourism Communities: Support, Recovery and Re-set Plan

This lists several initiatives to support direct communities and nationwide (including The Māori Business Response (MBR) Tāpoi).

Events Transition Support Payment

Designed to provide assurance to organisers of large-scale events, so they can continue organising our much-anticipated summer events.

Cultural Sector Emergency Relief Fund

Provides support for organisations, including sole traders, at risk of no longer operating viably by meeting the shortfall between income and expenses over a six-week period.

New Zealand Māori Tourism Support

OSHbox – COVID-19 Protection Framework

OSHbox has developed a COVID-19 Protection Framework Safety System for Māori tourism operators, as well as a COVID-19 Health and Safety System for businesses. You can access these free templates for businesses to use to assess their businesses. Please direct whānau to these if they haven’t already seen it. Click here to find out more.

Tāpoi

The Māori Business Response (MBR) Tāpoi programme is a NZ Māori Tourism initiative, that designed to provide tailored support to Māori tourism businesses to help them through the effects of COVID-19.

This includes helping businesses work out if they need to diversify, restructure, and in some cases hibernate, sell or close. The goal is to help Māori tourism businesses to survive.

To qualify for the MBR Tāpoi Programme, businesses must:

1. Have been established prior to COVID-19 (before March 2020); and
2. Have a minimum of one Māori shareholder/owner; and
3. Demonstrate that tourism made up/makes up a portion of revenue either via international or domestic visitors.

You do not need to be a NZ Māori Tourism member.

Types of services include:

• Business advisory, continuity, forecasting and planning
• Accounting and financial services
• Compliance (risk and safety management/certification requirements)
• Specialist tourism advice
• Marketing, digital, design and communications services
• Health and wellbeing
• Back-office support

You can register for NZ Māori Tourism’s MBR Tāpoi Programme here.

If you have any pātai, then please contact the team at [email protected].

Once registered, someone will be in contact within 24 hours to arrange a zui with our advisors to fully explore the support you require.

Other support available for businesses and organisations:

Inland Revenue

Visit IRD.govt.nz for an overview of some of the measures put in place to support businesses and their employees deal with the impacts of COVID-19. This includes extending tax flexibility, on dates and terms to businesses, the temporary loss carry-back scheme, leave and wage subsidies, the Small Business Cashflow Scheme and more.

Any businesses struggling to pay tax because of the impacts of COVID-19 should log on to myIR to see if they can delay payments to a later date, or if any part of the tax could be written off. Inland Revenue can help with both GST and provisional tax due.

Financial Support Tool

CEDA's team are here to support you and help answer any questions you may have.

We recognise that the level of information is significant, and rapidly changing each day. Get in touch so we can help guide you through the different supports available to you and connect you with the resources you need. 

Our dedicated team of Business Growth Advisors can connect you to the right information and resources to assist you in navigating this unprecedented time for your business. Ways we can help include:   

• Connecting you to professional service providers to assist you with the issues that you are facing e.g. cash flow management, business continuity management.
• Provide you with relevant and up to date information on how and where to access Government support.
• Assist Māori businesses on Government support available.  
• Provide you with an experienced Business Mentor to provide additional guidance over the next 12 months. Business Mentors come with specific skills and are matched depending on your needs.  
• Facilitate funding for Research and Development including project grants.   

Contact CEDA on 06 350 1830 or [email protected] 

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