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Social Security Act 2018

Administration - Commencement, stand downs, ending, and expiry and regrant - Restoration of entitlement after suspension, reduction, non-financial sanction, cancellation, or non-entitlement

324: Effect of participation in certain activities on non-entitlement period

You could also call this:

"Doing approved activities can end your wait time for a benefit sooner"

Illustration for Social Security Act 2018

If you are not entitled to a benefit for 13 weeks because of something that happened, this rule applies to you. You might be doing something approved by the Ministry of Social Development, like activities mentioned in section 146(1)(d), voluntary work, or part-time work.

If you do one of these approved activities for 6 weeks in a row, the rest of your non-entitlement period will end. Then, if you want to get a benefit again, you need to apply for it and show you are eligible.

If you apply for a benefit while doing an approved activity, the Ministry of Social Development must give you a benefit. But if you do not finish 6 weeks of the activity, or if you stop doing it before your non-entitlement period ends, you might have to pay back the benefit money you got.

You will not have to pay back the money if you stop doing the activity because you are no longer required to look for work or you got an exemption from looking for work under section 158.

If you are still getting the benefit after you finish the activity or your non-entitlement period, you will not have to pay back the money. Any money you do have to pay back will be a debt to the government, and they can take it back from you under rules made using section 444.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6783799.

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"Getting a job can help you get your benefit back sooner"

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Part 6Administration
Commencement, stand downs, ending, and expiry and regrant: Restoration of entitlement after suspension, reduction, non-financial sanction, cancellation, or non-entitlement

324Effect of participation in certain activities on non-entitlement period

  1. This section applies to a person who is subject to a 13-week period of non-entitlement under section 225, 238, 271, or 282, and is participating in 1 or more approved activities, which are any of the following approved by MSD for the purpose:

  2. activities of the kind referred to in section 146(1)(d):
    1. recognised voluntary work (as defined in Schedule 2):
      1. part-time work (in the case of a part-time work-tested beneficiary).

        1. If a person to whom this section applies participates satisfactorily in the approved activity or activities for a continuous period of 6 weeks,—

        2. the remainder of the period of non-entitlement lapses; and
          1. if the person wishes to again become entitled to a main benefit under this Act, the person must apply for the benefit and establish the person’s eligibility for it.

            1. Despite subsection (2)(b), if the person applies for a main benefit under this Act, MSD must grant the person a main benefit under this Act during the person's satisfactory participation in the approved activity or activities.

            2. Payment of a benefit granted under subsection (3) is subject to the condition that the person is liable to repay the whole of any amount paid during the non-entitlement period if the person fails—

            3. to complete a continuous period of 6 weeks of satisfactory participation in an approved activity or activities; or
              1. (if the period remaining until the end of the non-entitlement period is less than 6 weeks) to continue satisfactory participation until the end of the non-entitlement period.

                1. No obligation to repay under subsection (4) arises if the reason for the person's failure is that the person—

                2. ceases to be a work-tested beneficiary or a beneficiary who is required to comply with obligations under section 162, 164, 166, or 167; or
                  1. obtains, under section 158, an exemption from the work test or from obligations under section 162, 164, 166, or 167.

                    1. If the person is still entitled to the benefit at the end of the period of satisfactory participation or non-entitlement (as the case may be), payment of the benefit is no longer subject to the condition in subsection (4).

                    2. Any amount the person is liable to repay under this section is a debt due to the Crown under regulations made under section 444, and subject to recovery under regulations made under section 444, from the person.

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