NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

No. 31

General principles

1. That the intention of a special benefit under the Act is to alleviate financial hardship and that a special benefit should not be granted unless without the grant, the applicant or a person dependent upon the applicant would suffer financial hardship.

2. That a special benefit should not normally be granted unless the applicant’s deficiency of income over his or her expenditure and commitments is reasonably substantial, and that deficiency is likely to continue for a period that justifies special benefit being granted.

3. That a special benefit should be considered only in respect of costs of the applicant that are essential and not reasonably avoidable.

4. That in considering any application for special benefit, consideration should be given to—

   (a) The applicant’s ability to meet the deficiency from the applicant’s own resources; and

   The assistance that is or might be available to the applicant from other sources to meet the applicant’s deficiency.

   In particular, when considering—

   (c) An application for a special benefit by a full-time student or the student’s dependent spouse, you should take into account the availability of financial support during the academic year under the student allowance or student loan schemes; or

   (d) An application for special benefit for the costs of any essential health services or disability services (as those terms are defined in the Health and Disability Services Act 1993), you should take into account the assistance available under that Act,

   and special benefit should not normally be considered for expenses normally covered by the assistance available under those schemes or that Act unless the applicant has extraordinary expenses and has exhausted his or her entitlements under those schemes or that Act.

Assessment procedure

5. That subject to paragraphs 8 and 9, where—

   (a) An applicant for special benefit has cash assets—

    (i) In the case of a single person, of a value of not more than the equivalent of four times the maximum weekly invalid’s benefit rate payable to a single person; or
   
    (ii) In the case of a married person or a sole parent, of a value of not more than the equivalent of four times the maximum weekly invalid’s benefit rate payable to a married couple; and

   (b) The applicant’s disposable income is less than the appropriate standard costs,

   you should regard as justified the fixing of a special benefit at a rate which is the lesser of a and b where a is an amount equal to the difference between—

   (c) The applicant’s disposable income; and

   (d) The appropriate standard costs less $10 a week,

   and b is an amount equal to 30 percent of the applicant’s allowable costs.

Example

A single unemployment beneficiary with 2 dependent children, whose weekly chargeable income is $210.45 and whose weekly allowable costs are $94.30.

Paragraph 5 (b) calculation

Calculation of the benefit:

Paragraph 5 (c) is the disposable income = $116.15

Paragraph 5 (d) is $136.15 - $10 = $126.15

The difference a = $10

b is 30% of allowable costs = $28.29

A special benefit of $10 a week is justified, subject to paragraphs 8 and 9.

6. That until the transfer to Regional Health Authorities of the responsibility for purchasing care for people with disabilities who are in residential care (intended to take place on 1 July 1995) and subject to paragraphs 8 and 9, a special benefit should be considered justified in respect of a person with psychiatric or physical disabilities who is in residential care and whose chargeable income is less than the specified amount. The rate of special benefit considered justified should be the difference between a and b where a is the specified amount and b is the person’s chargeable income less the appropriate personal allowance.

7. That subject to paragraphs 8 and 9, a special benefit should be considered justified in respect of a person receiving training benefit under the Act who incurs additional accommodation costs because he or she is undergoing training away from his or her usual home. The rate of the special benefit considered justified should be the lesser of—

   (a) The additional weekly accommodation costs incurred; and

   (b) $100 per week.

8. That upon completion of the appropriate calculation set out in paragraph 5, 6, or 7, you shall consider whether there is justification for increasing or decreasing the rate of special benefit paid to the applicant, or to fix or decline to fix an entitlement to special benefit, having regard to the principles set out in paragraphs 1 to 4 and to the following matters: