Two aspects
of the support offered to traders during the renewal process are the Trader Support Program and the Trader Support Fund. One is primarily
about business support, including business partners, training, tools and other
measures like rent abatement, and one is about financial support for traders
experiencing hardship due to renewal.
The aim of
these two components is to diminish the impact that renewal might have on
trading and to prepare traders for what lies ahead. The support program will be
relevant not just for renewal but also for addressing the retail revolution.
On 27th
August we published an article titled “What Does The Trader Support Fund Mean?”
and we raised some questions about its operation. While
the City of Melbourne has no legal requirement to provide a fund to support
traders, it is keen to see some sort of safety net in place. There have since
been discussions within the TRC and between concerned traders and the QVMPR
/COM/QVM/TRC. Those discussions have been around both the Support Program and
the Support Fund and we can convey the following -
TRADER
SUPPORT PROGRAM
All parties
agreed that given that the Support Program’s aim and purpose is to help
minimize impact to businesses it cannot be a 'tick the box' exercise, hence a
major emphasis was discussed around the need to constantly and progressively
monitor results and the efficacy of the Support Program - i.e. Asking Trader
participants to review their participation and the assistance provided by
various information and advice providers.
With that in
mind further thinking and work is currently underway to ensure that the Program
can achieve its aims to assist and support Traders during the renewal works
(Including the selection of professional independent business experts who can
work one on one with Traders as Business Partners etc.)
TRADER
SUPPORT FUND
The release
of the Establishment Rules of the Trader Support Fund prompted some Traders to
raise specific concerns and questions and these have been addressed as follows:
a) The
Agenda Item relating to the Fund at the
CoM's 28/8/17 Council Meeting was amended so as to allow for Trader feedback on
the setting up and running of the Fund.
b) As a
result feedback has been sought from the TRC and Traders.
c)
Discussions have taken place regarding the specific questions and concerns
already expressed by Traders (see below).
d)
Opportunity for trader feedback is still available. Traders can view the draft
Establishment Rules of the Trader Support Fund on the City of Melbourne website(click here) and provide feedback by emailing qvmrenewal@melbourne.vic.gov.au
by Friday 29th September.
MAIN
CONCERNS
Among the
main concerns expressed by Traders relative to the Establishment Rules and Fund
were:
1) The Fund
is only capable of supporting a minimal downturn in total retail sales at the
Market. (Currently $8m has been allocated over 5 years for both the Support
Fund and the Support Program)
2) Given
that serious limitation, the Fund needs to be administrated so as to ensure the
most efficient and fairest possible use of those limited funds.
3) Concerns
around the Establishment Rules prescriptive approach and the need for more
discretion and flexibility to be written into the Rules.
4) The need
for the Fund's Establishment Rules to more closely recognize and reflect the
vast divergence in the types of businesses that trade at the Market and their
exposure to risks and hence their 'safety net' requirements whilst at the same
time ensuring that funds are not exhausted inappropriately.
5) And
finally the inclusion of a review procedure that will permit Claim denial
decisions to be able to be reviewed.
Further
discussions are to take place.