5 March 2024
Sarah Brodrick
[FYI request #25539 email]
Tēnā koe Sarah Brodrick
Official Information Act request
Thank you for your email of 27 January 2024, requesting information about the
Ministry’s Confirming your Circumstances Form.
I have considered your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
The Ministry periodically reviews benefits paid to its clients to ensure they remain
eligible, are receiving the correct benefit, and are receiving the correct rate of
payment. This is done through a periodic review process called a Review of
Circumstances. A Review of Circumstances is completed 26 weeks after a benefit
is granted, and every 52 weeks thereafter. There are a few clients that will not
need a Review of Circumstances.
Clients receiving the following benefits may be required to undergo a Review of
Circumstances:
• Supported Living Payment
• Emergency Benefit
• Emergency Maintenance Allowance
• Orphans Benefit and Unsupported Child’s Benefit
• New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension.
Non-beneficiary clients receiving supplementary assistance will also have a
periodic review.
As part of the Review of Circumstances process, clients are sent either an Annual
Circumstances Letter or a Confirming your Circumstances form.
The following clients are required to complete a Confirming your Circumstances
form:
• All clients receiving Supported Living Payment on the ground of caring for a
person
• Sole parents who have previously received a married rate of benefit
• Any client who was first granted a benefit while under the age of 18
• Reason for grant was separation
• Deliberate debt established at any point in time
• Debt level above $5,000 at any point in time
• Prosecution, warning, or penalty at any point in time
• Suspended due to lack of representation in the past 52-week period
• Suspended due to leaving New Zealand in past 52-week period
The Aurora Centre, 56 The Terrace, PO Box 1556, Wellington
– Telephone 04-916 3300 – Facsimile 04-918 0099
• Low Trust Client Management clients.
The Confirming your Circumstances form is automatically sent to clients 25
working days before their Review of Circumstances is due. Clients are required to
return their completed form and any necessary verification, otherwise their benefit
will be suspended. In exceptional circumstances the 25-working day period can be
extended.
The Confirming your Circumstances form is not available on the Ministry’s website
because the form is system generated based on the information we hold about
each individual client. There is no need for a client to access the form online outside
of this process. Should a client misplace the form then Ministry staff can provide
them with a manual PDF copy.
For policy information regarding the Review of Circumstances in relation to the
Supported Living Benefit, please see the following link to the Map page on the
Ministry’s website:
www.workandincome.govt.nz/map/income-support/main-benefits/supported-
living-payment/changes-and-reviews-supported-living-payment/review-of-
circumstances-01.html.
Map provides operational policy guidelines to staff based on the legislation
administered by the Ministry of Social Development, and I consider the above link
to be the policy most relevant to your request.
You may also be interested in the legislation that relates to the Review of
Circumstances. Section 304 of the Social Security Act 2018 states that “MSD may
review a benefit that has been granted to ascertain all or any of the following:
a) Whether the beneficiary is, or remains, entitled to receive the benefit, or
rate of benefit, that is being paid to the beneficiary
b) Whether the beneficiary was not entitled to receive the benefit, or rate of
benefit, that was paid to the beneficiary.”
You can find further information on section 304 of the Social Security Act 2018
here: www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2018/0032/latest/DLM6783774.html.
I will be publishing this decision letter, with your personal details deleted, on the
Ministry’s website in due course.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
OIA [email address].
If you are not satisfied with my decision on your request, you have the right to
seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman. Information about how to
make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi nui
pp.
Magnus O’Neill
General Manager
Ministerial and Executive Services
