Orphan's Benefit and Unsupported Child's benefit
Information and processes for Orphan's Benefit and Unsupported Child's Benefit, including extra help payments like Extraordinary Care
Fund, School and Year Start Up Payment (SAYSUP), and Establishment Grants.
The Orphan's Benefit (OB) and Unsupported Child's Benefit (UCB) provides income support to the caregiver of a child whose parents can't
support them as their principal caregiver (excl caregivers getting help from Oranga Tamariki or Family Tax Credit).
This can be for several reasons, including where the natural or adoptive parents are deceased, or are unable to look after the child due to
long-term illness / incapacity or a family breakdown.
The rate of payment is based on the child's age. The income and assets of the caregiver won't affect the payment of these benefits. For
UCB, child support will be sought from the child's parents.
Note: if the child is a 16-17 year old, Youth Payment should be considered.
See the following Map links for more information:
Child Support - Paying parent
Orphan's Benefit
Unsupported Child's Benefit
Applying for OB or UCB
Removal of 12 month requirement
Since 1 July 2021, all clients who are taking care of a child for a period of less than 12 months can access OB or UCB as long as they meet all
the other qualifications.
Clients who may now qualify for OB or UCB because of the removal of the 12 month requirement, include those caring for a child because
the child's parent is:
unable to care for the child as they're in prison for a short time (less than 12 months.)
suffering from a serious illness or incapacity and is unable to care for the child (less than 12 months).
Note: This is not a full list, more information on the change will be available in Map.
Principal Caregiver vs Principal Temporary Caregiver
Clients who now qualify for OB or UCB under the new rules are called
Principal Temporary Caregivers. This is applied to clients who are
responsible for a child’s primary day-to day care on a temporary or short term basis that is less than 12 months.
If a client will have the child in care long term (12 months or more) they will still be considered the child’s
Principal Caregiver.
Note: All clients who were granted OB or UCB before 1 July 2021 are considered the child’s Principal Caregiver.
CSR process
Step
Process
This is because MSD cannot determine eligibility, and clients will need to talk to IR about if they are eligible for BSTC.
Child inclusion from a date before their 3rd birthday
The “Pay BSTC” field will default to “N” if a three year old child is being included in OB or UCB because children only qualify up until they
turn three. If the child must be included from a date prior to their third birthday, and they are eligible to receive BSTC (the client is the child’
s “Principal Caregiver”) you will need to:
1. Complete SCHIE as per BAU
2. Enter “Y” in the “Principal Caregiver” field
3. Change “N” to “Y” in the “Pay BSTC” field
4. Press enter.
This will pay BSTC from the date of inclusion up until the day before the child’s third birthday. Once the arrears have been paid out, the
field will default back to “N” overnight.
Referring clients to IR to test their BTSC eligibility | Sending letters
Test BSTC eligibility
If a client is receiving a main benefit and OB or UCB, and the value in the “Pay BSTC” field is “N”, they should be referred to IR to test
eligibility to BSTC.
If IR determines the client is eligible for BSTC, they will give the client a letter to prove that they have discussed this.
Please advise the client that they will need to take this letter to their local office.
Once this letter has been provided, you should:
1. Scan the letter to the client’s CMS record, save it under supporting documents and select WfF tax credits. (See screenshot)
2. Open SWIFTT and go to SCHI
3. Select the correct child and “CHG”
4. Change “N” to “Y” in the “Pay BSTC” field
5. Press enter.
Once this has been changed, BSTC will start paying from FAD.
Note: If you can’t process the action immediately, you should scan the letter to the client’s file. Create a new client event note: Service
Delivery; Financial Assistance; Unsupported Child’s Benefit or Orphan’s Benefit and note that the client has provided proof from IR that
they are eligible to receive BSTC. You will then need to assign it the site’s work queue for processing.
Sending grant letters to OB and UCB clients
Because “Principal Temporary Caregivers” may not be eligible for BSTC, they'll need to be sent a different version of the OB or UCB grant
letter. You should prepare the letter as per BAU, but select the optional paragraph below:
Best Start tax credit
Best Start tax credit is a Working for Families tax credit. You may be eligible to receive this tax credit if any of the children in your care are less
than three years old. The tax credit is income tested for children aged one and older.
If you want to receive the Best Start tax credit, please contact Inland Revenue to check if you are eligible.
Once you have selected this, send the letter to the client as per business as usual.
Review of Circumstances
Clients who receive UCB, either with or without a main benefit, must complete a “Confirming your Circumstances” form at regular intervals
to confirm that their circumstances have not changed since UCB was granted or their last review.
If you are completing a review for a client who was granted UCB as a “Principal Temporary Caregiver” from 1 July 2021 onwards, you will
need to clear the CYC expiry and:
check if the client has now had any UCB children in their care for 12 months or more. You can check what date the child was
included from in “SCHI” in SWIFTT.
if so, select that child in “SCHI” and update the “Principal Caregiver?” flag in SCHIE to “Y”
check the client’s record to see if the client may qualify for other assistance, such as Sole Parent Support.
If it looks like the client may qualify, contact them to discuss their circumstances and test eligibility.
If the client is eligible and would like to apply for further assistance following your conversation, please direct them to the online
application. Create a request for financial assistance in their CMS record and manage any other actions as per business as usual.
Note: OB clients do not complete a CYC. If you engage with an OB client at any point from 1 July 2022 onwards, please ensure that you
check if they were granted OB as a “Principal Temporary Caregiver”. If they were, and the child has been in their care for 12 months or
more, please update the “Principal Caregiver” flag and test eligibility to other assistance if it looks like they may qualify.
