Pursuant to section 124 (1) (d) of the Social Security Act 1964, the Minister of Social Services and Employment establishes and approves the following welfare programme of special assistance.
Dated at Wellington this 23rd day of July 2002.
STEVE MAHAREY, Minister of Social Services and Employment.
----
P r o g r a m m e
1. Title-This programme is the Student Allowance Transfer Grant Programme.
2. Commencement-This programme comes into effect on 1 October 2002.
3. Purpose-The purpose of this programme is to provide additional support to persons who have dependants and are in hardship during the transfer from receiving state support by way of student allowance to receiving a benefit.
4. Interpretation-(1) In this programme, unless the context otherwise requires:
Act means the Social Security Act 1964;
applicant means a person applying for a transfer grant;
cash assets, in relation to any person, means the assets of that person that can be readily converted into cash, and include:
(a) shares, stocks, debentures, bonus bonds and other bonds;
(b) bank accounts, including fixed and term deposits with any bank, friendly society, credit union or building society;
(c) money invested with or lent to any bank or other financial institution;
(d) the net equity held in any property or land not used as the person's home;
(e) building society shares;
(f) mortgage investments and other long-term loans;
(g) bills of exchange or promissory notes;
(h) the applicant's share in any partnership;
but do not include:
(i) the motor vehicle principally used by the person for his or her personal use;
(j) a caravan, boat, or other vehicle:
(i) the net equity in which is less than $2,000; or
(ii) which is used by the person or a member of his or her family for day to day accommodation;
(k) the personal effects of the person;
dependent spouse, in relation to an applicant, means a spouse who is not entitled to a working-age benefit in his or her own right and whose weekly income, when combined with the weekly income of the applicant, is not more than the combined weekly income limit set out in Table 1 of Schedule 2 of the Regulations;
Regulations means the Student Allowances Regulations 1998 (SR 1998/277);
specified period, in relation to a student allowance, means the period for which the allowance is payable, ending on the earliest of the following dates:
(a) the date the student awarded it ceases to be enrolled in a recognised course of study;
(b) the date determined in accordance with Regulation 23 of the Regulations;
(c) where the allowance is suspended under Regulation 34 or Regulation 35 of the Regulations, the date of that suspension;
student allowance means a basic grant or an independent circumstances grant under the Regulations;
transfer grant means the special assistance under clause 6 of this programme;
working-age benefit means any of the following benefits:
(a) an unemployment benefit;
(b) a sickness benefit;
(c) a domestic purposes benefit;
(d) an emergency benefit (other than an emergency benefit payable under section 17 (2) (c) of the
New Zealand Superannuation Act 2001);
(e) an independent youth benefit;
(f) an invalids benefit;
(g) a transitional retirement benefit;
(h) a widows benefit.
(2) Terms otherwise defined in section 3 (1) of the Act have, unless the context otherwise requires, the meanings so defined.
5. Application of Social Security Act 1964-(1) Sections 12, 62, 63, 63A, 64, 66A, 66B, 74A, 76, 81, 82, 84 and 86J of the Act apply to this programme and to an applicant as if a transfer grant were a benefit.
(2) Nothing in subclause (1) limits the application of any other provision of the Act.
6. Transfer grants-(1) Subclause (2) applies to an applicant who:
(a) applies for a working-age benefit; and
(b) on the date he or she is entitled to that benefit, has a dependent spouse or 1 or more dependent children; and
(c) immediately before that date, is either:
(i) a person awarded a student allowance (other than a person who has lost eligibility to that allowance or a person whose allowance is suspended under any of Regulations 28 to 31 of the Regulations), whether or not that allowance was payable because of income (a specified student); or
(ii) the spouse of a specified student; and
(d) is applying for a working-age benefit because the specified student will cease to receive that allowance by reason that:
(i) he or she will no longer be a secondary student or a tertiary student, as set out in Regulation 7 of the Regulations; or
(ii) he or she will no longer be undertaking a course, or course of study, at a tertiary provider or a secondary school, as set out in Regulation 8 of the Regulations; or
(iii) his or her allowance is to be suspended
under Regulation 34 or Regulation 35 of the Regulations; or
(iv) the specified period will end under Regulation 23 of the Regulations; and
(e) applies for a transfer grant before or within 5 working days after the specified period ends.
(2) The chief executive may grant a transfer grant to an applicant to whom this subclause applies if the chief executive is satisfied that:
(a) the applicant and the applicant's dependent spouse (if any) and dependent children (if any) are suffering hardship; and
(b) the period that will elapse between the end of the specified period and the date the working-age benefit commences is 1 week or more.
(3) For the purpose of subclause (2) (a), the chief executive may consider the persons referred to in that clause to be suffering hardship if:
(a) their combined cash assets are not more than 4 times the weekly rate (before abatement on account of income) of an invalids benefit that would be payable to the applicant and the applicant's dependent spouse (if any), if that benefit were otherwise payable; and
(b) the applicant has no other means to support them.
7. Amount of transfer grant-(1) The amount of a transfer grant is the equivalent of the amount of the working-age benefit that would be payable to the applicant and the applicant's dependent spouse (if any) in the first week of the period referred to in clause 6 (2) (b), if that benefit were otherwise payable in that week.
(2) If the applicant or the applicant's dependent spouse
(if any) have received any other assistance under section 124 (1) (d) of the Act in respect of his, her or their ordinary living expenses during that week, the amount of transfer grant must be reduced by the amount of that assistance.
8. Grants non-recoverable-A transfer grant made under clause 6 is non-recoverable.
Explanatory note
This note is not part of the programme, but is intended to indicate its general effect.
This programme provides for transfer grants to be made to students with dependants who are suffering hardship during the transfer from student allowance to benefit.