Reconfirmation process for JobSaver & the Micro-business Grant

Under recently released guidelines, businesses that currently receives JobSaver or Micro-business Grant from Service NSW will need to reconfirm their eligibility each fortnight in order to continue to receive these payments.

Each fortnight, businesses receiving these grants will need to confirm that they continue to have a decline in turnover of 30% or more, and have maintained the employee headcount when the application for the grant was lodged.

To reconfirm the headcount, businesses must continue to employ the same number of employees as when the application was first lodged, unless the reduction in the number of employees was beyond the business owner’s control (e.g. death, resignation, termination due to misconduct etc.).

 There are 2 ways that can be used to measure the decline in turnover:

Business has not traded

If the business has not traded at all during the fortnight, then select “yes” on the confirmation screen to confirm that it has continued to experience a decline in turnover of at least 30%.

Business has traded

If the business has traded during the fortnight, then it can use 1 of 3 approved methods to determine if its turnover continues to meet the 30% or more decline criteria. Once a method has been selected, then that method needs to be used for all subsequent fortnight. The 3 methods are:

Method 1, the 2019 or 2020 comparison period using testing period fortnight – If your initial comparison period was 2019 or 2020, then you can use the same year, but adjust the comparison period to match the fortnight being tested, e.g.

Under this method, you cannot use 13 September to 26 September 2020 as the comparison period. You must use 2019 as the comparison period, because that was the year used in the original application.

Method 2, the 2019 or 2020 comparison period using original testing period – Under this method, you can use the same year and comparison period that you used in the original application, e.g.

Method 3, 12 June to 25 June 2021 comparison period – If you used this period in your original application, then you must use the same period in all future fortnightly testing, e.g.

Although Service NSW does not require any documentary evidence when confirming eligibility each fortnight, businesses should keep adequate records to prove eligibility in the event of an audit.

For businesses that used more than 2 weeks turnover to apply for the grant, all future testings will be converted to fortnightly.

Service NSW has confirmed that where a business is ineligible in one fortnight for the grant, it can still requalify for the grant at a later date if it experiences downturn in turnover of 30% or more in subsequent fortnights. 

To confirm eligibility for the grant, or to request for a withdrawal of the grant if a business is no longer eligible, simply log into your ServiceNSW business profile.

If you are unsure of how this affects you, or what you need to do, then please contact our friendly team at H & M Accountants.