A COVID-19 Business Hardship Grant has been introduced to provide assistance to small and medium businesses that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 restrictions but haven’t been eligible for previous business grant support since July 2021.

Grants of $6,000 for employing businesses and $2,000 for non-employing businesses will be available for eligible businesses that have experienced a 50 per cent reduction in turnover when compared to the benchmark period determined below.
Under the scheme, an eligible business:

  • Must select a relevant two week period between 20 July 2021 (beginning of lockdown) and 31 August 2021 (impacted period) where they experienced a 50 per cent reduction in turnover when compared to a relevant two week benchmark period in 2019 (or 2021);

AND

  • Must not have received grant assistance through the COVID-19 Business Support Grant or COVID-19 Additional Support Grant provided by the South Australian Government following the 20 July 2021 lockdown.

The Impacted and Benchmark Periods are defined as incorporating the dates within:

  • Impacted Period: 20 July 2021 to 31 August 2021
  • Benchmark Period:
    • For businesses that were actively trading in 2019: 20 July 2019 to 31 August 2019, or
    • For businesses that were not actively trading in 2019: 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021.
  • Comparison point:
    • For businesses actively trading in 2019, the comparison point should be a two week period at similar time of the year unless there are exceptional reasons as to why a different time is chosen, noting that slight adjustments for trading days are acceptable; or
    • Businesses not actively trading in 2019, should reflect a normal level of trading activity for a business between 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021.

There is no ANZSIC code eligibility for the COVID-19 Business Hardship Grant. The 50% turnover decline criteria is the key measure of hardship.
Other standard criteria includes that an eligible business must at the start of the impacted period:

  • Be located/operating within South Australia.
  • Have a valid and active ABN (Australian Business Number) and be registered for GST.
  • Have an Australia-wide grouped payroll of less than $10 million in the 2019-20 financial year.


Eligibility Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions are available to assist in completing your application.

Applications for the COVID-19 Business Hardship Grant are now closed.