Pursuant to sections 124(1)(d) and 5 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 16th day of December 2010.
HON PAULA BENNETT, Minister for Social Development and Employment.
---
P r o g r a m m e
1. Title-This programme is the DPB Sole Parent Study Assistance Programme.
2. Commencement-This programme comes into effect on 1 January 2011.
3. Purpose-The purposes of this programme are to:
(a) assist beneficiaries receiving the domestic purposes benefit for solo parents to obtain and retain employment by providing recoverable financial assistance towards their study costs for certain courses of employment-related training; and
(b) ensure that the financial assistance set out in paragraph (a) is provided within the limits and for the reasons prescribed; and
(c) facilitate the recovery of that financial assistance.
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 recoverable assistance under this programme and, where the context requires, includes a person who has been granted recoverable assistance under this programme
approved employment-related training course or course means a course:
(a) at level 4 or above on the national qualification framework; and
(b) that is for the time being approved by the chief executive as employment-related training; and
(c) that is provided by an institution (within the meaning of Part 15 of the Education Act 1989); and
(d) that is a course:
(i) for which the institution receives funding under the Education Act 1989; or
(ii) for which the institution receives other government funding that the chief executive considers is analogous to funding under the Education Act 1989; or
(iii) which is of a kind that the chief executive considers is analogous to a course that is funded under the Education Act 1989
course costs, in relation to a course, means the following necessary and reasonable costs of attending the course: books, materials, and equipment
course provider means the institution providing a course
national qualification framework means the framework for national qualifications developed by
the NZQA under section 253(1)(c) of the Education
Act 1989
NZQA means the New Zealand Qualifications Authority established under Part 20 of the Education Act 1989
recoverable assistance or assistance means the assistance referred to in clause 6(1)
study costs, in relation to a course, means the necessary and reasonable costs of attending the course, including:
(a) course costs; and
(b) cost of transport to and from the course; and
(c) childcare costs, after deducting any amount
for childcare assistance paid under section 61GA
of the Act or under any welfare programme approved under section 124(1)(d) of the Act; and
(d) babysitting or other child minding costs; and
(e) any other cost that the chief executive determines to be a necessary cost of attending the course other than tuition or enrolment fees
(2) Other terms defined in section 3(1) of the Act have the same meanings in this programme.
5. Application of the Social Security Act 1964-
(1) Sections 12, 62, 68A, 71, 74, 74A, 76, 77, 80A,
81, 82(3), (4), and (7), and 84 of the Act apply in relation
to this programme and to the persons referred to in subclause (2) as if the special assistance authorised by this programme were a benefit.
(2) The persons are:
(a) any applicant for assistance under this programme;
(b) any person granted assistance under this programme.
(3) Nothing in subclause (1) limits or affects the application of any other provision of the Act.
6. Eligibility-(1) For the purpose of assisting an applicant to find and retain paid employment, the chief executive may, at his or her discretion, from time to time grant recoverable assistance under this programme to, and towards the study costs of, any applicant who:
(a) is in receipt, in his or her own right of a domestic purposes benefit under section 27B of the Act; and
(b) is enrolled (or is enrolled subject to the payment of tuition fees) in an approved employment-related training course.
(2) Subclause (1) is subject to subclause (5) and clauses
7 and 8.
(3) In deciding whether to grant recoverable assistance under subclause (1) and without limiting the matters the chief executive may consider, the chief executive:
(a) must principally have regard to the matters set out in subclause (4); and
(b) if the chief executive has arranged for the applicant to undertake careers counselling, may have regard to any report of the counsellor on the outcome of that counselling.
(4) The matters referred to in subclause (3)(a) are:
(a) the period during which the applicant has been out of the workforce; and
(b) whether the applicant already has the skills, qualifications, or recent work experience sufficient to obtain employment; and
(c) whether the course is an appropriate one for
the applicant to undertake having regard to the applicant’s personal circumstances.
(5) The chief executive may refuse to grant recoverable assistance under subclause (1) if he or she is satisfied that the applicant, having previously been granted financial assistance to attend a course under this programme, the Training Incentive Allowance Programme, the Course Participation Assistance Programme or the Recoverable Assistance for Study Costs Programme, has:
(a) failed or refused to answer any question put to him or her by an officer of the department as to whether the applicant completed that course and the result or results the applicant achieved in that course; or
(b) failed to complete that course without, in the opinion of the chief executive, a good and sufficient reason.
7. Ineligibility-Recoverable assistance must not be granted:
(a) to a person who is entitled to or is receiving assistance under the Training Incentive Allowance Programme; or
(b) to a person whose course is for, or towards,
a postgraduate diploma, postgraduate certificate, bachelor with honours degree, masters degree, or doctorate degree; or
(c) to a person who has not exhausted his or her entitlement to receive a loan for course-related costs under the Student Loan Scheme.
8. Application process-(1) An application for recoverable assistance under this programme must be made on a form approved for the purpose by the chief executive.
(2) No application may be granted unless the applicant supplies any supporting evidence the chief executive reasonably requires to decide if the application should be granted, including:
(a) written confirmation from the course provider of
the applicant’s enrolment (or enrolment subject to payment of fees); and
(b) evidence of the nature and duration of the course; and
(c) evidence of the applicant’s study costs.
9. Amount of assistance-(1) The amount of any grant of recoverable assistance must not exceed $500.00 and the total
of the grants of recoverable assistance made to an applicant must not exceed $500.00 in a calendar year.
(2) In determining the amount of any grant, the chief executive must have regard to the amount of the applicant’s study costs, the manner in which they are required to be paid, and the time or times that they are required to be paid.
10. When assistance starts-No grant under clause
6(1) may be made earlier, or for any period earlier, than:
(a) the date on which the course begins, if the application is received within 28 days of that date; or
(b) the date on which the application for it is received,
if received more than 28 days after the course begins; or
(c) the date on which the applicant’s benefit referred to in clause 6(1)(a) commences.
(2) No grant may be made before 2 February 2011.
11. When assistance ends-No grant under clause 6(1) may be made after the earlier of the following dates:
(a) the date on which the course ends;
(b) the date on which the applicant ceases to be entitled to receive the benefit referred to in clause 6(1)(a).
12. Rules as to recovery-(1) Section 85A of the Act provides that the amount of any recoverable assistance granted and paid to an applicant under this programme
is a debt due to the Crown (in these rules, the debt)
and, in accordance with section 86 of the Act, may be recovered by the chief executive from the applicant (in these rules, the debtor).
(2) The chief executive must not take any steps to recover the debt before the earlier of:
(a) the date on which the debtor ceases study in the course for which the recoverable assistance was granted; or
(b) the date on which the debtor ceases to be entitled
to receive the benefit referred to in clause 6(1)(a).
(3) After granting recoverable assistance under this programme, the chief executive must negotiate a
repayment plan with the debtor that requires repayment
of the debt at a rate not less than $4.00 a week. In exceptional circumstances, the chief executive may agree
to a repayment rate of less than $4.00 a week.
(4) The chief executive may, from time to time, review the rate of repayment of the debt and may increase, decrease, or make no alteration to the rate.
(5) If the debtor does not agree to a repayment plan or make repayments of the debt in accordance with a repayment plan, the chief executive may exercise any powers to recover the debt in accordance with section 86 of the Act.
(6) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this clause prevents the debtor from making voluntary repayments of the debt at any time.
Explanatory Note
This note is not part of the programme, but is intended to indicate its general effect.
This welfare programme, which comes into effect on
1 January 2011, to enable applications to be processed, enables short-term recoverable assistance of a maximum amount of $500.00 in a calendar year to be granted towards the study costs on and after 2 February 2011 of people in receipt of the domestic purposes benefit for solo parents who are studying in approved employment-related training courses at level 4 or above on the National Qualifications Framework.