rather than engineered stone PCBUs . It is also due to the relatively small number of engineered stone PCBUs impacted ( 1,000 businesses total ), with an even smaller number of these businesses ( 100 businesses ) expected to close . As part of sensitivity testing of the model , costs for Option 1 were also calculated at 2 other rates of business closure :
� closures at 15 % ( sole traders / small business ) and 7.5 % ( medium businesses ) had a cost impact of $ 9.3 million to engineered stone PCBUs , and
� closures at 30 % ( sole traders / small businesses ) and 15 % ( medium businesses ) had a cost impact of $ 16.49 million to engineered stone PCBUs .
Costs associated with switching to non-stone products
Under Option 1 , it is assumed that most engineered stone PCBUs would continue to work with natural stone , but a small number ( 5 %) of medium sized engineered stone PCBUs may choose to expand their business to include non-stone products . This would result in new equipment costs of $ 2.1 million over the implementation period .
Medium sized PCBUs are assumed to be more able to expand their offering to include non-stone products than sole traders and small businesses , as they are expected to have better access to the capital required to invest in new equipment , processes and training , and may already be undertaking work with alternative products such as laminate .
4.4.1.2 Other industry PCBUs
It is assumed that 30 % of other industry sole traders , 35 % of small businesses and 40 % of medium to large businesses would choose to acquire a licence to work with previously installed engineered stone ( under the licensing framework for work with legacy products ). Costs include those administrative costs associated with applying for and renewing a licence , and participating in compliance inspections . These have been estimated to be $ 133.0 million , consistent for each option ( see Section 4.3.2 ).
Given that working with engineered stone is not likely to be the primary activity of other industry PCBUs , it is expected that only a very small number of these PCBUs would cease operating as a result of Option 1 ( or the other prohibition options , as costs are consistent in each ). Therefore , no business closure or redundancy costs have been estimated for other industry PCBUs .
4.4.2 Cost to government
Total cost to government of Option 1 is estimated to be $ 108.2 million ( see Table 9 ). These costs fall in to 2 groups :
�
Implementation of a licensing framework for work with legacy products – $ 107.5 million over the appraisal period , and is discussed in Section 4.3.2 .
�
Provision of income and vocational training support for displaced workers – $ 0.7 million over the appraisal period for Jobseeker payments to displaced workers and financial incentive payments to workers and businesses for apprenticeships . As discussed in Section 4.4.1.1 , it is assumed Jobseeker payments are made to workers displaced following the closure of sole-trader and small businesses . Estimated costs include an 8-week period of jobseeker payments , based on an assumption that any periods of unemployment will be relatively short given the tight labour market in the construction sector .
DECISION REGULATION IMPACT STATEMENT Prohibition on the use of engineered stone Page 37 of 107