German government extends coronavirus aid programmes

The familiar funding conditions for bridging assistance are basically being retained as part of "Bridging Assistance III Plus". A new addition is the Restart Premium, with which companies can receive a higher subsidy towards personnel costs.

The following will apply to both programmes (Bridging Assistance III and Bridging Assistance III Plus) in future:

• The maximum monthly subsidy in Bridging Aid III and Bridging Aid III Plus is €10 million.
• The upper limit for funding from both programmes is a maximum of EUR 52 million. This is made up of EUR 12 million from the current EU aid framework consisting of small grants, de minimis and fixed cost aid plus EUR 40 million from the new aid framework of the federal scheme for damage compensation. The new EU regulation on damage compensation applies to companies that are directly or indirectly affected by government closure measures. In future, they will be able to claim damages of up to 40 million euros.

New in the Bridging Aid III Plus programme:

• Companies that bring staff back from short-time working, hire new staff or otherwise increase employment in the course of reopening will receive a personnel cost subsidy ("Restart-Premium") as an option to the existing flat-rate personnel cost subsidy to cover the resulting increase in personnel costs. They will receive a subsidy of 60 per cent of the difference between the actual personnel costs in the month of July 2021 and the personnel costs in May 2021. In August, the subsidy is still 40 per cent and in September 20 per cent. No subsidy will be granted after September 2021.
• In future, legal and court costs of up to 20,000 euros per month will be reimbursed for the restructuring of companies in imminent insolvency to avert insolvency.

New in the Restart Aid Plus programme:

• Restart aid for solo self-employed persons is being extended and is increasing from up to 1,250 euros per month for the period from January to June 2021 to up to 1,500 euros per month for the period from July to September 2021. Solo self-employed persons can therefore receive up to 12,000 euros for the entire funding period from January to September 2021.

The corresponding FAQs on bridging assistance are currently being revised and will be published shortly. Once the programme has been adapted, applications can be submitted via the bridging assistance platform as before.