BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope has welcomed extensive All of Government planning in the event of a community case of Covid-19 during the holiday period.

The Government has announced support for affected businesses if there is a resurgence of Covid-19, including a Resurgence Support Payment to help businesses directly affected by a move to Alert Level 2 or above for a week or more.

"This will give business certainty over the Christmas period, particularly for sectors like hospitality, retail and events, which face significant disruptions to cashflow as Alert Levels change," Mr Hope says.

The payment would include a core per business rate of $1500 plus $400 per employee up to a total of 50 FTEs ($21,500). Firms that experience a 30% drop in revenue over a 14-day period will be eligible.

The Government has also committed to the Wage Subsidy Scheme whether there is a regional or national move to Alert Levels 3 and 4.

"The Wage Subsidy Scheme has been extremely successful in keeping businesses open and Kiwis in work so far with more than $14 billion paid out to protect 1.8 million jobs.

"In addition, the Government has rolled out a range of initiatives to keep businesses afloat like the business finance guarantee scheme and the small business cashflow scheme. All of these initiatives have helped to protect the livelihoods of New Zealanders."

Mr Hope is reminding New Zealanders not let their guard down as we head into summer.

"The summer holiday period poses some challenges in responding to an outbreak. We continue to encourage businesses to use the QR codes and their customers to scan in."

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