The scheme, which the Government started nearly two years ago to support businesses during lockdowns, was put in place following the start of August’s outbreak and continued while Auckland remained behind its tight border measures.
In total, the two regions took $208 million, of which Otago claimed $167 million and Southland claimed $41 million.
The subsidy was paid out in two-week blocks, with eight payments in total covering from August 20 to December 9.
Payment one, and part of payment two, covered the South Island’s Alert Level 4 lockdown and Alert Level 3 restrictions.
In total, those saw $127million claimed — $96million in Otago, supporting 55,000 jobs, and $31million in Southland, supporting 19,000 jobs.
Initially, for the first two rounds, to be eligible for the subsidy businesses had to have a 40% drop in revenue because of the lockdown and its restrictions.
From the third payment onwards, businesses had to justify how Auckland remaining in Alert Level 3 or 4 directly affected them and have a 40% decline in revenue.
Southland only claimed $1million in each of the final three payments, for 1000 jobs.
Meanwhile, in payment six and seven, Otago took $10million each round and in the final payment it claimed $9million for 8000 jobs.
Nationally, the region to claim the most was Auckland, taking $2.7 billion, followed by Waikato and Northland.
Otago
August 2021 wage subsidy payments
No 1: $61 million 55,000 jobs
No 2: $35 million 32,000 jobs
No 3: $17 million 15,000 jobs
No 4: $13 million 12,000 jobs
No 5: $12 million 11,000 jobs
No 6: $10 million 10,000 jobs
No 7: $10 million 9000 jobs
No 8: $9 million 8000 jobs
Total: $167 million
Southland
August 2021 wage subsidy payments
No 1: $21 million 19,000 jobs
No 2: $10 million 9000 jobs
No 3: $3 million 2000 jobs
No 4: $2 million 2000 jobs
No 5: $2 million 2000 jobs
No 6: $1 million 1000 jobs
No 7: $1 million 1000 jobs
No 8: $1 million 1000 jobs
Total: $41 million
