31 May 2019
Ms Tara Jane
[FYI request #10243 email]
Dear Ms Jane
Thank you for your request made under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA), received
on 3 May 2019. You requested the following:
1) What is the current total, preferably including data over the last year, of money
held by the IRD that has not yet been paid to the receiving parent?
2) What is the mean time lapsed between receipt of money from the paying
parent, and payments made to the receiving parent?
3) What is the process by which the IRD verifies whether CS payments received
are to be distributed to WINZ or the receiving parent?
I will address each of your questions separately below.
Question 1
The table below shows the receiving carer entitlement held by Inland Revenue over the
past twelve months. Generally, where receiving carer entitlement is held by Inland
Revenue, we do not hold a valid bank account or contact address. Once a contact
address is established, Inland Revenue will contact the receiving carer to arrange for
their entitlement to be paid.
Period
Receiving carer
entitlement held ($)
March 2019
11,558,388
February 2019
11,469,976
January 2019
11,464,799
December 2018
11,856,301
November 2018
11,691,342
October 2018
11,460,505
September 2018
11,257,771
August 2018
11,017,147
July 2018
10,831,020
June 2018
10,712,499
May 2018
10,615,781
April 2018
10,505,204
Note: the amount of receiving carer entitlement held is a running total.
Question 2
The mean time elapsed between receipt of money from the paying parent and payment
made to the receiving parent is 16 days. This time period is for domestic cases only.
Cases where money is being collected on behalf of the Australia Department of Human
Services (DHS) has been excluded.
Ref: 19OIA1031
IN CONFIDENCE
Since 1 July 2000, New Zealand and Australia have operated a reciprocal agreement
under which New Zealand collects child support for Australia, and vice-versa. Where a
receiving carer living in Australia applies for child support, and the liable parent lives in
New Zealand, the DHS can transfer collection of the case to New Zealand.
Question 3
When a liable parent makes a child support payment, it is allocated to the receiving
carer's child support account using mandatory payment allocation rules.
These payments are then either:
• Paid to the receiving carer; or
• Retained by the Crown to offset the receiving carer's benefit.
Payments are allocated to the receiving carer's account in this order and paid as follows:
Type of entitlement
Allocation of Payment
1. Urgent maintenance orders
Paid to the receiving carer
2. Lump sum orders
Paid to the receiving carer
3. Child support for months where the Paid to the receiving carer
receiving carer was not receiving a sole
parent rate of benefit
4. Child support for months where the Paid to the receiving carer for
receiving carer was receiving a sole parent days when not in receipt of
rate of benefit for part of the month only
benefit
5. Child support for months where the Payment retained by Crown
receiving carer was receiving a sole parent
rate of benefit for the full month
6. Domestic maintenance
Paid to the receiving carer
If a receiving carer receives a sole parent rate of benefit, the child support payments
that would otherwise be paid to them are instead used to repay some, or all, of the cost
of their benefit. The amount retained is called ‘Crown entitlement’.
Crown entitlement is calculated by comparing the receiving carer's daily rate of base
benefit to their daily child support entitlement. The lesser of the two is the Crown
entitlement. If the child support entitlement for a period is more than the Crown
entitlement, the excess amount will be paid to the receiving carer.
The maximum amount of child support which can be retained as Crown entitlement is
the amount of the receiving carer's base rate of benefit. Any child support payments
above this maximum must be paid to the receiving carer.
Ref: 19OIA1031
IN CONFIDENCE
The base rate of benefit is the amount of gross benefit less:
•
PAYE
•
Income deductions, if the receiving carer has other income
•
ACC deductions, if the receiving carer is receiving ACC.
The following types of financial support cannot be retained as Crown entitlement:
•
Domestic maintenance
•
Court ordered child support, payable either in a lump sum or as urgent
maintenance.
These payments must be paid directly to the receiving carer. For more information,
please refer to section 145 of the Child Support Act 1991available on the New Zealand
Legislation website
(legislation.govt.nz).
Thank you for your request. I trust that the information provided is of assistance to you.
Yours sincerely
Sue Gillies
Segment Management Lead – Families
Ref: 19OIA1031
IN CONFIDENCE
