Pursuant to section 124(1)(d) of the Social Security Act 1964, the Minister for Social Development and Employment establishes and approves the following welfare programme for special assistance.
Dated at Wellington this 15th day of December 2008.
PAULA BENNETT, Minister for Social Development and Employment.
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P r o g r a m m e
1. Title—This programme is the ReStart Transitional Relief Programme.
2. Commencement—This programme comes into effect on 1 January 2009.
Part 1
Preliminary Provisions
3. Purpose—The purpose of this programme is to provide time-limited transitional assistance to certain persons who have been made redundant from full-time work or have lost full-time work that is self-employment and are in the process of looking for other suitable full-time work.
4. Interpretation—(1) In this programme, unless the context otherwise requires:
Act means the Social Security Act 1964
applicant means a person who has applied or on whose behalf an application has been made for assistance under this programme
beneficiary has the meaning in section 61E of the Act
date of redundancy, in relation to a person who has lost employment by reason of redundancy, means the last date on which that person received any of the following payments in relation to the termination of the person’s employment:
(a) A payment of wages or salary
(b) A payment of any bonus
(c) A payment of any holiday pay
(d) Any payment in lieu of notice terminating the employment
(e) Any payment in lieu of accumulated leave
(f) Any retirement payment
employment trial means full-time employment under an employment agreement which contains a provision to the effect that the employee will serve a period of trial after the commencement of the employment
full-time work, in relation to a person, means employment, including self-employment, for a period:
(a) of 20 hours or more per week, in the case of a sole parent; or
(b) of 30 hours or more per week, in the case of any other single person; or
(c) of 30 hours or more per week when combined with the employment of the person’s spouse or partner, in any other case
non-beneficiary has the meaning in section 61E of the Act
redundancy means a situation when a person’s employment is terminated because his or her employer decides that the person’s position is surplus to the employer’s needs; but does not include a situation when the person’s employment:
(a) is terminated for cause; or
(b) ends because the person has completed a fixed term contract of service; or
(c) ends because the person has completed a period of seasonal work
redundancy payment has the same meaning as in section 80B of the Act
redundancy assistance period, in relation to an applicant, means a period of 16 weeks (whether continuous or interrupted by any period of suspension of ReStart) following the date on which a grant of ReStart is first made to the applicant
ReStart means the special assistance under this programme, comprising:
(a) RePlace assistance under Part 3
(b) ReCover assistance under Part 4
retirement payment has the meaning in section 80B of the Act
self-employment means self-employment of a person in any business, profession, or undertaking carried on
for pecuniary profit and includes work undertaken for reward as an independent contractor, piece worker, or commission salesperson
specified benefit means a benefit listed in section 80(2) of the Act; and includes a payment of temporary additional support, accommodation supplement, or special benefit made under the Act.
(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 1964—Sections 62, 63(a), 74, 74AA, 76, 80A, 80AA, 80BA, 81, 82 (other than section 82(6)) and 82A of the Act apply in relation to this programme and to any applicant for, or recipient of, assistance under it as if that assistance were a benefit.
Part 2
Universal Provisions
6. General eligibility criteria—(1) An applicant is eligible for ReStart if the chief executive is satisfied that the applicant:
(a) has lost full-time work by reason of redundancy on or after 8 November 2008; and
(b) has been in full-time work (whether with the same employer or different employers) for a period of
not less than 6 months immediately before the redundancy occurred; and
(c) has made an application for assistance under this programme not later than 20 working days after the date of redundancy; and
(d) was ordinarily resident in New Zealand at the time the redundancy occurred; and
(e) is actively seeking full-time work and signs a declaration to this effect; and
(f) is not the spouse or partner of another person already receiving ReStart.
(2) An applicant who has ceased, after 8 November 2008, to be in full-time work that is self-employment is eligible for ReStart if the chief executive is satisfied that paragraphs (e) and (f) of subclause (1) apply to the applicant and that the applicant:
(a) is eligible to be granted an unemployment benefit under the Act; and
(b) has been in full-time work for not less than 6 months prior to that cessation; and
(c) has made an application for assistance under this programme within 20 working days of that cessation.
(3) Subclause (1)(c) and (2)(c) are subject to clause 7 and 8.
7. Extension of the application period—(1) Any person whose redundancy occurred in the period beginning on
8 November 2008 and ending on the date this programme
is approved may make an application for ReStart before
16 January 2009 unless otherwise eligible to apply at a later date.
(2) The chief executive may extend the period of 20 working days within which an application for assistance must be made if in any particular case he or she considers there is good and sufficient reason why the applicant could not reasonably have made application within that period.
8. When both members of a couple made redundant—(1) If a person (“A”) has been granted ReStart, no separate grant of ReStart may be made to A’s spouse or partner (“B”) during the redundancy assistance period.
(2) B may be granted ReStart if B makes an application for it within 20 working days after A’s assistance ends in accordance with clause 11.
(3) Subclause (2) is subject to clause 7(2).
9. When assistance starts—Grants of ReStart may start to be made on the latest of the following dates:
(a) The date on which this programme commences.
(b) The date on which the applicant became eligible to receive it.
(c) The date the application for it was received.
(d) If the applicant applies for ReStart at the same time as he or she applies for a specified benefit to which a stand-down or non-entitlement period applies, the date on which that benefit commences.
10. Suspension of assistance—(1) Grants of ReStart to an applicant must be suspended:
(a) during any period of up to 28 days in which the applicant undertakes full-time work; or
(b) during the period in which the applicant undertakes an employment trial of up to 90 days, but only one suspension may be made under this paragraph.
(2) Grants of ReStart to an applicant may be suspended during any period in which an applicant is absent from
New Zealand if the chief executive considers that during that absence, the applicant will continue to seek full-time work.
(3) Any period in which grants of ReStart are suspended under subclause (1) or (2) does not count towards the calculation of the redundancy assistance period in respect of the applicant.
(4) When a period of suspension under subclause (1) or (2) ends, the chief executive must resume grants of ReStart for any unexpired part of the redundancy assistance period if the applicant remains eligible for the assistance concerned.
11. When assistance ends—(1) If it has not ended earlier, eligibility for ReStart ends not later than the date the applicant dies, or any of the following earlier applies:
(a) The applicant engages in full-time work for a
period of more than 28 days, except in the situation described in paragraph (b)
(b) if the applicant’s spouse or partner is engaged
in full-time employment, the applicant engages in full-time employment for a period of more than
28 days
(c) the applicant, while undertaking a period of full-time work or an employment trial to which a period
of suspension under clause 10 applies, becomes voluntarily unemployed without good or sufficient reason or loses his or her employment by reason of misconduct
(d) the applicant undertakes a second employment trial within the redundancy assistance period
(e) the chief executive considers that the applicant is no longer actively seeking full-time work
(f) the redundancy assistance period ends.
(2) Eligibility for ReStart of a particular kind ends if an applicant has any other change of circumstances that means he or she is no longer eligible for ReStart of that kind
(for example the applicant ceases to be eligible for RePlace assistance because he or she is no longer eligible for accommodation supplement), but without affecting the applicant’s eligibility for ReStart of another kind
(for example, for ReCover assistance).
Part 3
RePlace
12. Purpose—The purpose of RePlace is to provide assistance to eligible persons to help them meet on-going accommodation costs such as mortgage payments or rent.
13. RePlace assistance—The chief executive must grant RePlace assistance to an applicant who is eligible for ReStart if the chief executive is satisfied that:
(a) the applicant has not received a redundancy payment exceeding $25,000 (after the deduction of income tax) in respect of his or her redundancy; and
(b) the applicant is receiving an accommodation supplement under the Act; and
(c) the amount of that accommodation supplement is:
(i) the appropriate weekly maximum amount set out in Part 2 of Schedule 18 of the Act; or
(ii) would, but for the abatement on account of the applicant’s income under Part 1 of that Schedule, be that appropriate weekly maximum amount.
14. Amount of assistance—(1) The amount of any grant under clause 13 must be calculated according to the following formula:
a = b – c
where:
a is the weekly amount of RePlace assistance
b is the weekly amount of accommodation supplement that would be payable to the applicant if:
(a) the applicant were a beneficiary; and
(b) the appropriate weekly maximum amount set out in Part 2 of Schedule 18 of the Act were increased by $100.00
c is the weekly amount of accommodation supplement that the applicant is receiving.
(2) If the applicant is a non-beneficiary, clause 2 of Schedule 18 of the Act applies as if the weekly amount of RePlace assistance calculated under subclause (1) were an amount of accommodation supplement assessed under that Schedule.
(3) No grant of RePlace assistance may exceed $100.00 per week.
15. Delayed redundancy payments—(1) This clause applies to an applicant who has been granted RePlace assistance and subsequently receives the whole or part of any redundancy payment that would have affected eligibility for RePlace assistance had that redundancy payment been taken into account.
(2) The chief executive may recover any amount of RePlace assistance paid to an applicant to whom this clause applies that is greater than the amount that applicant would have received had the redundancy payment been taken into account in assessing eligibility as an overpayment for the purposes of section 85A(f) of the Act.
Part 4
ReCover
16. Purpose—The purpose of ReCover is to provide an income supplement to families with dependent children in a situation where an eligible person loses both the income from full-time work and in-work tax credits under the Income Tax Act 2007.
17. ReCover assistance—The chief executive must make grants of ReCover assistance to an applicant who is eligible for ReStart if the chief executive is satisfied that the applicant:
(a) was eligible for in-work tax credits under section MD 4 of the Income Tax Act 2007 immediately before the redundancy occurred or as the case may be, ceased full-time work that is self-employment; and
(b) is no longer eligible for in-work tax credits; and
(c) is in one of the following situations:
(i) the applicant, or his or her spouse or partner,
is the principal caregiver of a dependent child;
(ii) in the event the applicant separates from his or her spouse or partner during the redundancy assistance period, the applicant is the principal caregiver of a dependent child.
18. Amount of assistance—The amount of a grant under clause 17 is $60.00 per week for an applicant with up to
3 dependent children and an additional $15.00 per week for each subsequent dependent child.
Part 5
Expiry
19. Expiry—(1) No application for ReStart may be made after 31 December 2010.
(2) This programme expires with the end of the last redundancy assistance period in respect of any applicant granted ReStart on an application made prior to 1 January 2011.
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Explanatory Note
This note is not part of the programme, but is intended to indicate its general effect.
This programme, which comes into effect on 1 January 2009, provides time-limited transitional assistance called ReStart to certain persons who have been made redundant from their full-time work or have lost full-time work that is self-employment and are in the process of looking for other suitable full-time work.
ReStart comprises two separate forms of assistance for eligible persons. ReCover assistance is designed to provide a form of income supplement to people with children who were eligible for in-work tax credits prior to redundancy. RePlace assistance is a form of assistance for people whose assessed rate of accommodation supplement is the maximum applicable rate to help them manage their accommodation costs following a redundancy.
ReCover and RePlace may be granted to a person either separately or together as a package depending on whether the person meets the applicable eligibility criteria. Any ReStart assistance expires at the conclusion of 16 weeks after a grant is first made in respect of either ReCover or RePlace. A grant of ReStart may be suspended because a person undertakes full-time work for up to 28 days, an employment trial for up to 90 days, or is absent from
New Zealand while remaining eligible for ReStart. This period of suspension does not count in the calculation of the 16 weeks of ReStart. In these situations, ReStart will resume when the suspension ends if the person remains eligible.
Applications for assistance under the programme will be accepted until 31 December 2010. The programme expires when the last grant is made under it in respect of any such application.