2020 COVID-19 Wage Subsidy

The 2020 COVID-19 Wage Subsidy was support for businesses to pay 12 weeks of wages for their employees. It was to continue support for businesses affected by changes to COVID-19 alert levels and lockdowns.

The information on this page is a summary of the key details about this payment. Detailed information can be found in the declarations at the bottom of this page.

Who could get it

This payment was available to employers, including self-employed people, whose employees could not work and had a 30% decline in revenue:

• over the period of any month being applied for, when compared to the same month in 2019; and
• that loss was attributable to the COVID-19 outbreak.

State Sector organisations were generally not eligible to get the 2020 COVID-19 Wage Subsidy, however some may have been granted an exception.

Payment rates

The 2020 COVID-19 Wage Subsidy was paid at a flat rate of:

• $585.80 for full-time employees 20 hours or more a week (full-time rate)
• $350.00 for part-time employees less than 20 hours per week (part-time rate).

If the employee's usual wages were less than the subsidy rate, any difference should have been used to pay wages of other affected staff. If there were no other affected staff, the remaining amount must be repaid. 

Paying your staff

The business must have tried their hardest to pay the employee at least 80% of their usual wages while getting the 2020 COVID-19 Wage Subsidy for them. If that wasn't possible, the employee must have been paid at least the subsidy payment rate.

Declaration

The declaration contains the full eligibility criteria, obligations and repayment responsibilities for the 2020 COVID-19 Wage Subsidy.

For applications made before 4pm on 27 March 2020

For applications made after 4pm on 27 March 2020