Wage Subsidy Scheme
The Wage Subsidy is a payment to support eligible businesses, organisations and the self-employed affected by Alert Levels 3 and 4, so they can continue to pay employees and protect jobs.
You can apply for the Wage Subsidy regardless of where your businesses is located in New Zealand. However, your business must have been affected by the continuation of Alert Level 3 or 4.
The Wage Subsidy is paid in two-week periods. Since the alert level change on 17 August 2021, there have been two rounds of the scheme: Wage Subsidy August 2021 and Wage Subsidy August 2021 #2.
Applications for the first round, Wage Subsidy August 2021, have now closed.
Applications for the second round, Wage Subsidy August 2021 #2, opened on Friday 3 September and will remain open until 11.59pm on Thursday 16 September. You can apply on the Work and Income website.
If you applied for the first round you can also apply for the second round, two weeks after your previous application, if you meet eligibility criteria. If you applied for the first round and were eligible, Work and Income will email you to let you know when to apply for the second round. Don’t send in early applications, they won’t be accepted as each payment is for a two-week period. If you didn’t apply for the initial Wage Subsidy you can apply for Wage Subsidy #2 from 3 September, if you meet eligibility criteria.
To reflect higher wage costs since the scheme was first used in March 2020 the payments have been increased to:
- $600 per week per full-time employee
- $359 per week per part-time employee.