The Investigation into the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions’ administration of the Business Support Fund report claims the grant program, which was run by the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR) from 30 March to 1 June 2020, had unfairly rejected claims for the grant due to minor errors in applications such as typos or sending links to wrong web address.

Many businesses were also denied the grant as their application was set as ‘draft’ as they awaited further information from DJPR, and when the deadline expired, their application was rejected.

A Government spokesperson has said “the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions has accepted all of the Ombudsman’s recommendations and is reassessing relevant cases to ensure fairness for all applicants.”

With 12,000 rejected claims being reconsidered, this could result in up to $120 million issued to support Victorian businesses.

“The Business Support Fund was supposed to be a lifeline for businesses, and for many it was – but in other cases all it did was add to their stress, anxiety and uncertainty,” said Ombudsman Deborah Glass in the report which was tabled before Parliament on 27 April.

“To the Department’s credit, it engaged constructively with my office from the outset, resolving large numbers of complaints and improving its processes along the way. Many people received their grants while the investigation was ongoing. A draft of this report resulted in the final acknowledgement that thousands more people should have their applications reconsidered.”

The Ombudsman also claims that the DJPR refused to reassess claims even after the Ombudsman highlighted the harshness of its decisions.

Throughout the lifetime of the Business Support Fund, the Victorian Chamber received numerous complaints from our members which were directed to the Victorian Small Business Commission and the Ombudsman.

“The Victorian Chamber advocated strongly for the Business Support Fund and, while the Government acted quickly to offer assistance, we are disappointed that flaws in the system have caused further pain for businesses,” said Victorian Chamber Chief Executive Paul Guerra.

“It’s been a stressful and challenging 13 months for Victorian businesses and the situation was no doubt exacerbated for those who unfairly had their Business Support Fund applications rejected. Like the Ombudsman, we also received complaints about the process and raised these issues with the Government at the time.”

DJPR will contact all relevant applicants via email and/or SMS from 27 April with the goal to have most reassessments completed by 30 June. 

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What went wrong?

In March of 2020, the Business Support Fund was established as part of the Victorian Government’s $500 million economic support package. The fund was set up hastily in nine days during the development of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia as businesses began to struggle as lockdowns were introduced.

The DJPR’s call centre was initially staffed with five workers when the fund was established, but once they had become flooded with applications and complaints, more than 500 people were eventually assigned to work on the grant program.

The Ombudsman claims the slow and disorganised management of the fund led to a litany of complaints with more than 600 complaints being issued by September.

In a complaint to the ombudsman, one business said “my mental health has suffered due to watching my life’s work deteriorate in front of my eyes … I feel sad, frustrated, angry and defeated that through no fault of my own, I am being penalised.”

The complaints acknowledged by the Ombudsman include issues with accessibility for those who did not speak fluent English, had a disability, or were computer literate - as all applications were required to be made online.

By the time applications to the fund were closed on 1 June 2020, more than 95,500 applications had been submitted and grants were paid to 78,000 eligible Victorian businesses.

However, an estimated 12,000 applications were ‘unfairly’ rejected, according to the Ombudsman.

The Business Support Fund provided a total of $2.6 billion to 134,000 businesses during three rounds since its inception in 2020 - assisting more than half of all employing businesses in Victoria.

More information

To access the Victorian Chamber’s guide on grant writing please access our Government Grants page here.