4 JULY 2013 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 85 2299

work bonus means the special assistance under this programme and work bonus payment has a corresponding meaning.

(2) Terms otherwise defined in section 3(1) of the Act have the same meanings in this programme.

5. Application of the Social Security Act—(1) Sections 12, 62, 63, 72, 74, 74A, 76, 77, 80A, 81, 82 (except 82(6) to (6D)), 83(1) and (2), 84, and 86J of the Act apply to the following as if the special assistance under this programme were a benefit under the Act:

(a) This programme;

(b) an applicant;

(c) the applicant’s spouse or partner (if any).

(2) Nothing in subclause (1) affects the application of any other provision of the Act.

6. Work bonus—(1) On the cancellation of a specified benefit otherwise than because of a sanction under section 117(1)(c) of the Act, the chief executive must, with or without an application for it, grant a work bonus to the specified beneficiary in respect of that benefit if the chief executive is satisfied that:

(a) the specified benefit has been cancelled because the specified beneficiary has obtained employment (qualifying employment) or increased his or her hours of employment; and

(b) immediately prior to the date of cancellation of the specified benefit for that reason (the cancellation date), the specified beneficiary had no work-test obligations under the Act; and

(c) the specified beneficiary or his or her spouse or partner:

(i) notified the department prior to or within 14 days after the commencement of the qualifying employment or (as the case requires) the increased hours of employment; or

(ii) makes that notification to the department after that 14-day period and has, in the chief executive’s opinion, a good and sufficient reason for failing to make that notification within that period; and

(d) neither the specified beneficiary nor his or her spouse or partner (if any) is receiving a main benefit under the Act.

(2) Subclause (1) is subject to subclause (3) and clause 7.

(3) If a person and his or her spouse or partner are both specified beneficiaries in respect of a specified benefit, only one of them may be granted a work bonus in respect of that benefit’s cancellation.

7. Work bonus: ineligibility—(1) No person must be granted a work bonus in respect of the cancellation of the person’s specified benefit if:

(a) the commencement of the qualifying employment or, as the case requires, the increased hours of employment is before 15 July 2013; or

(b) either the person or his or her spouse or partner has received a work bonus payment (including a portion of a work bonus payment under section 83 of the Act) within the period of 12 months preceding the cancellation date of the specified benefit; or

(c) the qualifying employment is unsuitable employment, self-employment, or employment outside New Zealand; or

(d) the specified benefit was suspended or not for the time being payable under the Act immediately before the cancellation date.

(2) Subclause (1)(d) does not apply:

(a) if the specified benefit was suspended or not payable because of a sanction of suspension or reduction under section 117(1)(a) or (b) of the Act; or

(b) if the specified benefit was suspended while the specified beneficiary or, as the case requires, his or her spouse or partner, was undertaking temporary employment; or

(c) to a specified beneficiary if the specified benefit payable at a work-test couple rate was suspended or not payable because of a warrant to arrest issued in respect of the specified beneficiary’s spouse or partner.

8. Rate of work bonus payments—(1) The amount of a work bonus payment must be calculated in accordance with the following formula:

   a = r – $100 × (w – 1)

where:

a is the amount payable in any week

r is the rate, immediately before the cancellation date and before any abatement on account of income or other reduction or deduction under the Act:

(a) of the specified benefit; or

(b) in the circumstances referred to in clause 7(2), of the specified benefit that would have been payable if it had not been suspended or was payable

w is the number of the week the work bonus is payable after its commencement where the first payment is counted as week 1.

(2) However, no work bonus payment is payable if a is less than $10.00.

(3) Despite subclause (1), the amount of any work bonus payment payable to a specified beneficiary to whom clause 7(1)(d) does not apply by virtue of clause 7(2)(c) is one half of the amount of a work bonus payment calculated under subclause (1).

9. Commencement of work bonus—A work bonus granted under clause 6 commences on the day after the date on which the specified benefit ceases to be payable to the specified beneficiary, his or her spouse or partner, or both of them, as a result of its cancellation.

10. Ending of work bonus—A work bonus granted under clause 6 ends on the earliest of the following dates:

    (a) The date on which the amount calculated in accordance with clause 8(1) or (as the case requires) 8(3) is less than $10.00;

    (b) except as provided in paragraph (c) or (d), if the applicant applies for and is granted a main benefit under the Act while receiving a work bonus, the date on which that benefit commences;

    (c) if the applicant applies for a work-tested benefit and the chief executive determines that the applicant is not entitled to a benefit for a period of 13 weeks under section 60H of the Act (voluntary unemployment or loss of employment through misconduct), the date on which the non-entitlement period starts;

    (d) if the applicant is granted a conditional benefit under section 60H(6)(b) of the Act, the date on which that benefit commences.

11. Ministerial direction and welfare programmes consequentially amended—Amend the Ministerial direction and welfare programmes specified in the Schedule in the manner specified in that Schedule.