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Social Security Act 2018

Enforcement: sanctions and offences - Sanctions for breach of young person or young parent obligations - Sanctions: young person obligations

271: Sanction for third failure: cancellation of youth payment and incentive payments

You could also call this:

“Losing payments for young people who break rules three times”

If you’re a young person receiving a youth payment, you need to follow certain rules. If you don’t follow these rules three times without a good reason, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) will take action.

When you break the rules for the third time, MSD will stop your youth payment and any extra payments you might be getting. This is called cancellation.

After your youth payment is cancelled, you won’t be able to get any main benefit for 13 weeks. This means you won’t receive any money from the government during this time.

If you want to get a benefit again after these 13 weeks, you’ll need to apply for it. You’ll also need to show that you qualify for it.

There are some exceptions to these rules, which you can find in sections 320 to 324 of the Social Security Act.

During the 13 weeks when you can’t get a benefit, MSD might approve some activities for you to do. These could be part-time work, work experience, volunteer work, or other activities that help you learn new skills or feel more motivated.

These rules are very important and override any other rules in the Social Security Act.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6783717.

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270: Sanction for first or second failure: suspension of in-hand allowance and incentive payments, or

“Stopping some money for young people who break rules once or twice”

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272: Effect of cancellation of youth payment on accommodation supplement or temporary additional support, or

“What happens to your housing help when your youth payment stops”

Part 5 Enforcement: sanctions and offences
Sanctions for breach of young person or young parent obligations: Sanctions: young person obligations

271Sanction for third failure: cancellation of youth payment and incentive payments

  1. This section applies if MSD is satisfied that a young person (P) who is receiving a youth payment has, without good and sufficient reason, failed to comply with a young person obligation for a third time.

  2. For P’s third failure, MSD must cancel P’s youth payment and any incentive payments.

  3. On cancellation of P’s youth payment under this section,—

  4. P is not entitled to receive any main benefit under this Act for 13 weeks from the date of cancellation; and
    1. to be again entitled to a main benefit under this Act, P must apply for the benefit and establish that P is eligible for it.

      1. This section is subject to sections 320 to 324.

      2. For the purposes of section 320, an approved activity for P during the period of non-entitlement is any of the following approved by MSD:

      3. if P is not already in part-time work, participation in part-time work or work experience:
        1. participation in recognised voluntary work (as defined in Schedule 2):
          1. participation in any other activity that MSD considers will enhance skills or improve motivation.

            1. This section overrides every other provision of this Act.

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