Very small business owners bemused by wage subsidy secrecy

Small business owners have expressed surprise over secrecy surrounding the majority of the recipients of the Government’s wage subsidy.

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has so far withheld the details of businesses with fewer than three employees that received the payment from its online database. This includes more than half (54 per cent) of all recipients which have ‘‘zero staff’’.

This is despite the ministry telling all applicants their details, including their company name, number of employees, and amount received, would be published ‘‘as a searchable file’’.

Sue Sands, 62, who owns Creative Spaces, a retail business in Te Kuiti, said she didn’t realise she didn’t appear in the online search tool results. ‘‘I haven’t made a secret of [receiving the wage subsidy] at all. I would think all businesses in this town have applied for it. It’s kept us all going.’’

Customers and friends had checked in to make sure she had received Government assistance, she said.

‘‘I’d rather people know,’’ she said. ‘‘Maybe I’d feel different if I were in a different industry. But there’s been no stigma in this small town.’’

Sam Graham, of JuiceHead Beer in Wellington,

Sam Graham

said he applied for the 12-week subsidy and the eight-week extension, and both payments arrived within 24 hours.

‘‘We have a team of two, and the whole process was very simple.’’

He wasn’t worried about his details appearing on the public register, saying it was understandable the public would want to know where the money was going. ‘‘And there’s nothing that would appear on the search tool that’s not already available online.’’

He described the scheme as a ‘‘lifeline’’. ‘‘It isn’t the company’s money. It’s going directly to taxpayers. It’s essentially a benefit for individuals being divvied up by employers.’’

He agreed with Sands: ‘‘There was no stigma around applying for it. We were being told to stay home and save lives, so that’s what we did.’’

In April, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said businesses that applied for a piece of the $11 billion scheme would be named, to help keep employers honest. Eventually, sole traders and the selfemployed would also be named in the publicly available register, he said. At the time, Robertson emphasised the public register was key to making the scheme transparent.

In its email to wage subsidy applicants, MSD said: ‘‘We will be publishing the names of sole traders and contractors/selfemployed payees in due course.’’

In a statement, MSD’s Jayne Russell said the ministry was still trying to figure out privacy and ethical issues associated with publishing the names of very small businesses.

The scheme was announced by Robertson on March 17.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner in a statement said its primary concern with the publication of wage subsidy data was the ‘‘individual privacy of selfemployed/sole traders where the only employee is the business owner.’’

It had received inquiries from people nervous about being identified.

The approach used to protect their privacy was a matter for MSD, it said.

‘‘We have been comfortable that the query tool search parameters provide this protection. We would be equally comfortable with different methods of providing access to this publicly searchable data as long as the privacy of these individuals can be guaranteed. This includes the publication of a single dataset.’’

‘There was no stigma around applying for it. We were being told to stay home and save lives, so that’s what we did.’’