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Social Security Act 2018

Administration - Review of entitlement to, or rate of, benefit granted

304: Review of entitlement and rate payable

You could also call this:

“Checking if your benefit amount is correct”

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) can check your benefit to make sure you’re getting the right amount. They can look at whether you should be getting the benefit now, and if you should have gotten it in the past.

MSD can also check if your child support payments are counted as part of your weekly income. They can only do this for certain reasons that are listed in the law.

These rules also apply to special help you might get from certain programmes.

If you don’t agree with MSD’s decision after they check your benefit, you can ask for it to be looked at again. You can ask a committee to review it, or you can appeal to different authorities or courts. There’s even a special medical board for some cases.

This law also covers special help given through approved programmes.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6783774.

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Part 6 Administration
Review of entitlement to, or rate of, benefit granted

304Review of entitlement and rate payable

  1. MSD may review a benefit that has been granted to ascertain all or any of the following:

  2. whether the beneficiary is, or remains, entitled to receive the benefit, or rate of benefit, that is being paid to the beneficiary:
    1. whether the beneficiary was not entitled to receive the benefit, or rate of benefit, that was paid to the beneficiary.

      1. MSD may review under this subpart whether a person’s information share child support payment is or was all or any of their weekly income under Part 3A of Schedule 3, but only on all or any of the review grounds specified in section 304A(1)(a) to (g) for the purposes of this subsection.

      2. For the purposes of subsection (1A), the review grounds specified in section 304A(1)(a) to (g) for the purposes of subsection (1A) include, without limitation, any 1 or more additional grounds prescribed by regulations made under section 418(1)(ja).

      3. This subpart applies, so far as applicable and with all necessary modifications, to special assistance granted under a programme approved under section 100 or 101.

      4. Rights to seek a review of, or to appeal against, a decision on a review under this subpart are given by the following subparts of Part 7:

      5. subpart 2 (reviews by benefits review committee):
        1. subpart 3 (appeals to appeal authority):
          1. subpart 4 (appeals to courts):
            1. subpart 5 (appeals to medical board).

              1. Subsection (3) is by way of explanation only.

              Compare
              Notes
              • Section 304(1) heading: inserted, on , by section 32(1) of the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 27).
              • Section 304(1A) heading: inserted, on , by section 32(3) of the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 27).
              • Section 304(1A): inserted, on , by section 32(3) of the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 27).
              • Section 304(1B) heading: inserted, on , by section 32(3) of the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 27).
              • Section 304(1B): inserted, on , by section 32(3) of the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 27).
              • Section 304(2) heading: inserted, on , by section 32(2) of the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 27).
              • Section 304(3) heading: inserted, on , by section 32(4) of the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 27).