Covid-19 Relief Registry

Various relief programmes & mechanisms have been launched by both Government and Private Sector [with additional ones being announced regularly].

We have categorized these various programmes & mechanisms as follows:
SME Relief Funding; Essential Services; SARS; Employees; Individuals

Please Note:
Some of these programmes are still under development, they typically go through the phases of announcement, then development, then operationalization [processing applications]. If an application mechanism doesn’t exist right now then check back regularly as this page is updated continuously…

There is a lot of frustration & uncertainty about the difficulties in finding these programmes [or their webpage] or how each one works or how to apply or …

Here’s some perspective on this:

What is happening ..?

In effect, a bomb went off unlike anything that any person, company or government could have ever been prepared for …
With things unfolding and escalating so rapidly – those Government and Private Sector entities are needing to create & operationalize these programmes in days/weeks, with what should usually reasonably take many months.
So understandably, there will be “delays” or things not working properly or lack of answers or …
There’s no point saying you should be patient – it’s hard being patient in this context. But perhaps, the perspective that if we need others to empathize with us – then we also have to empathize with others [yes, even our government].

Should you apply or get your external accountant to apply ?

ONLY apply if your business absolutely needs the relief from any of these programs. These Programmes all have constrained resources (whether cash, assessing capacity or processing capacity) – so do not clog the system or deprive SMEs weaker than yours, if you do not truly need it.
If you absolutely have zero capacity or competency [know-how] to apply yourself – then rather than not applying, outsource to your external accountant to apply for the various relevant relief programmes/mechanisms.
But, our suggestion is for you – to do these applications yourself/internally. The reason is that your external accountants might be doing this [and following up] for dozens/hundreds of their clients – and that has its own capacity constraints.

To what degree & timing of these relief programmes - should you rely on ?

Given the challenges & constraints we stated earlier – there will understandably be backlogs and teething problems with some of the programmes.
Therefore, manage your expectations accordingly – and do not place too much reliance on the timing or probability in your forecasting scenarios.