Newcastle small business struggle with latest lockdown as lenders see rise in hardship requests

She knows that many are suffering in the pandemic and feels mostly fortunate.

However Mrs Tillman, with husband Anthony the creative force driving behind Newcastle events company Scion Audio, says their business turnover has been decimated, and its certainty destabilised, in the ongoing pandemic. During the 2020 lockdown, she lost both of her elderly parents, who she had been visiting and waving to through a window of their care facility.

"The lockdown took away three months of time with my dad, and five months with my mum, and I remember her saying, 'How long will this go for?' And I didn't believe that we would still be in this situation."

As Hunter businesses hope the snap lockdown will not be extended, local lenders Newcastle Permanent and Greater Bank, who have announced their merger plans, have noted an increase in requests for "hardship support".

"Enquiries and applications [for these] have increased in recent weeks but primarily from customers based in the Greater Sydney area and while enquiries from Hunter-based customers are still low at this stage, we are well prepared and have support mechanisms in place for any customer who is experiencing financial hardship as a result of the COVID lockdowns," Greater Bank CEO Emma Brokate said.

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Newcastle Permanent CEO Bernadette Inglis said since the Sydney and Central Coast lockdown, the Perm had seen a slight uplift in requests for support and had tailored its support to customers.

"We're early days in the Hunter-based lockdown, and so far we haven't seen any uplift in requests, however our team is prepared and ready to support our customers should the support be needed," she said. "We were one of the first to offer support packages in March last year, and we hope these measures offer relief to our customers who may feel the financial strain of the current lockdown measures and the ongoing economic stress."

The Tillmans bought their "one-stop shop" events company in 1999 and,with a range of services from lighting and audio to special effects, have corporate clients including NEX.

Mrs Tillman said that if she compared the company's earnings from July 12 to July 31 in 2019, before the pandemic, to the past two years, its figures had dropped by 91.5% (2020) and 92.5% (2021).

In late July, the Tillmans applied for $10,500 Service NSW COVID19 business grant. At that time, they were not eligible for a $15,000 grant because they could not demonstrate on paper that they had lost 70 per cent of their income, as prior invoices were still being paid.

Last year, the business received two Service NSW grants and relied on JobKeeper for their small "family" of staff.

"We wanted to keep our staff close to us and not lose them, so they worked certain days just to keep that camaraderie and family atmosphere going," she says.

On Friday, Mrs Tillman learned that applications take seven days to process. She is waiting on her claim while facing costs such as insurances and rent.

Her concern remains that many events, as per 2020, will be postponed as the cancellation risk is too high.

"I'm taking cancellations for October and November and we have to assume they won't come back for this year, it's all up in the air," she says. "The uncertainty is the emotional concern and of course we are a small business and we have beautiful relationships with staff and we want to make sure that we don't lose them because they are the most important thing in our business," she said.

She says events firms can't pivot like a cafe and the stakes are higher with long-term planning.

"If a restaurant closes for one week and then re-open, they get people back. For us, people won't say 'Gee whiz, I think I'll do a national event in September' because it takes so much work ... that's the fear I have," she says. "Last year things came back but this time is different and I think the fear is just the fact that you are not sure that you have any guarantees."

Newcastle-raised chef turned online nutrition entrepreneur Jordan Hartley, who has the online food delivery service JHHealth, hoped to apply for a $15,000 federal government support grant until her accountant told her she was ineligible because her billing period fell in the window that she had to prove lost earnings.

"I plan to try and apply... going off a three-week period doesn't represent how much small businesses are struggling in thus far a never-ending lockdown," she said. "I was disappointed and disgusted to see that the majority of people I spoke with also are in the same position as me. The government has given us a three-week window to compare our losses ... When in reality since COVID-19 started I am close to 50 per cent down," she says.

Ms Hartley said her grant ineligibility was painful and "completely ruining" the livelihoods and mental health of business owners.

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