Victoria Small business owner takes action against state government over grant bungle

Jaci Hicken will report the state government to the Ombudsman after it incorrectly gave her a $20,000 grant and later demanded it back.

A cooking school owner is taking action against the Victorian state government after it incorrectly gave her a $20,000 grant and later demanded it back.

Jaci Hicken, 47, received an email from the government last week ordering her to repay the grant after an “administrative error”.

But Ms Hicken said she had spent most of the money to help her financially during the pandemic.

The letter from Business Victoria said Ms Hicken was “recently paid an incorrect grant amount of $20,000 instead of the grant of $0 which the business is entitled to receive”.

“To ensure that funding is available to support other businesses in these difficult circumstances we require you to return the $20,000 overpayment to the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions,” the email said.

But Ms Hicken said she would report the matter to the Victorian Ombudsman and demand answers about how the stuff-up occurred.

Her business, Jacican, which she runs from Mirboo North in South Gippsland, has been given until Tuesday, February 16 to hand back the money.

Ms Hicken said doing this would leave her with less than $100 in her bank account.

“It’s like they gave you a present and then they want it back,” she said.

“They told us to spend the money and I’ve done that and now I’m told to give it back.”

She remains on JobKeeper payments and has lost over 80 per cent of business during the pandemic.

Ms Hicken said the state government’s claim it was an “administrative error” wasn’t good enough.

Cooking school owner Jaci Hicken has been ordered to pay back a $20,000 grant the state government incorrectly gave her. She is taking her matter to the small business ombudsman. Picture: Supplied

The state government handed out more than $3.1 million in grants that were wrongly paid to 293 licensed venues.

Grants of up to $30,000 were available to eligible hospitality businesses.

But a spokesman for Minister for Industry Support and Recovery Martin Pakula said the “administrative error resulted in some successful licensed hospitality venue fund applicants being overpaid”.

“These recipients have been asked to repay the overpayment amount in line with the department’s legal obligations,” the spokesman said.

Opposition spokesman David Davis hit out at the government’s handling of the bungle and urged the minister involved to apologise to the impacted businesses.

“Where are these business ministers that have overseen this debacle, the incompetent rollout of the program of business support that now they are attempting to claw back from many of the small businesses?” he said.

Mr Davis said only 15 per cent of the sole-trading business support grants had been rolled out so far.

Businesses who cannot immediately repay the money wrongly granted to them can sign up to instalment plans.

[e-mail]

@sophieelsworth

Originally published as Victoria Small business owner takes action against state government over grant bungle