Jobsaver applications opened on 26 July 2021 and will close at 11:59pm on 18 October 2021.
What has changed
The NSW Government has announced that in order to ensure the integrity of the JobSaver support package:
5.5 From 10 September 2021, to continue to receive fortnightly payments, businesses will need to declare that they continue to be impacted by the Public Health Order and as a result experienced a decline in turnover of 30% or more in the preceding fortnight, and that they continue to maintain their employee headcount.
5.6 Businesses must notify Service NSW through the fortnightly reaffirmation process if they are not maintaining their employee headcount in accordance with these guidelines, or if they are no longer being impacted by the Public Health Order, resulting in a 30% or more decline in turnover.
Source: Service NSW
What you need to do
You will receive an email from Service NSW asking you to make a two question declaration as pictured below:
- Did you continue to experience a Decline in Turnover of greater than 30% compared to your previously advised comparison period?
Your questionnaire will stipulate the most recent fortnight that needs testing. Your comparison period could have been in 2019, 2020, or in the first two weeks of June 2021 and will vary from client to client. All other rules and applications of the turnover test must remain consistent.
- Did you maintain Headcount as of the declaration date?
Stood down staff or staff on reduced hours are still employed by you. Reductions in employee headcount resulting from circumstances outside the control of the employer (such as voluntary resignations) will not be taken as a reduction in employee headcount. If you terminated a staff member since the last declaration, you did not maintain headcount.
The joint professional accounting bodies, who have been working with the NSW government to reduce the compliance burden on practitioners, have negotiated a concession that will allow businesses that are still closed or severely impacted by restrictions to simply indicate they remain eligible without a calculation of decline in turnover
How LMS can help
If you like us to retest your decline in turnover to give you confidence in whether you can answer year to Question 1 of the Declaration:
Please forward us your email from Service NSW and we will start work.
We will endeavour to get back to you within 24 hours. We know which comparison period was on your original declaration and can ensure the test is performed correctly. You will know your headcount better than us, but please discuss with us any questions about staffing you may have.
Your business may fall in and out of the Jobsaver eligibility criteria over the next four weeks. We are committed to supporting you with quick turnaround time on question 1 during this time.
You may also want to discuss with us an application plan for coming out of lockdowns in NSW, and how to get your financial situation back on track as soon as possible.
We look forward to hearing from you.
