Financial counselling and related services for small regional businesses facing hardship

This program provides financial counselling and related services to small regional businesses facing hardship due to drought, the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019–20 bushfires and flooding events in 2022 and 2023.

Overview

This free, confidential service provides eligible small businesses with individual, tailored support to:

• better understand their financial position
• connect with government programs and assistance schemes
• identify long-term recovery options
• implement plans to improve the viability of their business
• access broader professional advice and support.

Check if you can apply

To be eligible, a small business must:

• employ 19 or fewer people
• be, in the opinion of the financial counsellor, experiencing, or at imminent risk of, financial hardship as a result of drought, COVID-19, the 2019–20 bushfires, or the flooding events in 2022 and 2023
• be located in a regional area (defined as ‘MMM2’ to ‘MMM7’ on the Department of Health’s Modified Monash Model rurality classification)
• be ineligible to access services under the existing Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS) Program.