Home Improvement Scheme: 6 per cent of $100 million scheme’s vouchers approved, 20 public servants added to team

MORE than 1000 vouchers from the NT Government’s Home Improvement Scheme package have been sent to households, as extra public servants have been added to the approval team

MORE than 1000 vouchers from the NT Government’s Home Improvement Scheme package have been sent to households, as extra public servants are siphoned into the team in charge of co-ordinating job rescue and recovery in the Territory.

The Home Improvement Scheme – introduced in light of the coronavirus crisis in the hopes of adding a huge injection of cash into the Territory economy by supporting tradies – had to be trebled from $30 million to $100 million after a tsunami of applications was received.

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Apprentice carpenter Matt Ellison at work at Territory business Invision NT. Invision’s owner Deanne Claydon says that the way the Government’s Home Improvement Scheme is being implemented is proving to be a ‘huge problem’ for her business and customers. Picture Glenn Campbell

But the package has faced an onslaught of criticism, particularly from tradies who say the drip-feed approvals process has meant work has dried up in the interim.

Data from the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation, obtained by the NT News, reveals 1042 of the nearly 20,000 applications have been approved in a month and 1097 vouchers had been sent out.

“The Jobs Rescue and Recovery team consists of 70 people, who are spread across multiple business stimulus and survival support programs to assess applications, answer queries and provide support for complex cases,” a spokeswoman said.

“Twenty more staff have now been redirected to help ramp up the flow of assessments for the hugely popular Home Improvement Scheme.

“There are over 1000 Home Improvement Scheme vouchers out in the Territory now and the team aims to assess a further 1000 every week from now through to the end of September.”

Master Builders NT chief executive Dave Malone said every tradie he had spoken to in the past week had raised the issue of the slow approvals process and many didn’t understand what was taking the Government so long.

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“As you would expect from contractors of all sizes, they’re hungry for work right now,” he said.

Meanwhile, about $440,000 of the NT Government’s $20 million Business Improvement Grant package has been approved for work to begin. About $790,000 of the NT Government’s $5 million Immediate Work Grant package, aimed at not-for-profits and charities to improve their facilities, have also been approved.