Passing on Child Support payments to sole parents

From 1 July 2023:

• Child Support payments will be passed on, in full, to sole parent beneficiaries by Inland Revenue, giving them more money to support their children.
• most sole parents getting a main benefit will no longer have to apply for Child Support. Instead, they can choose whether or not to apply and whether or not they get these payments via Inland Revenue. This is something that already happens for other people receiving Child Support who also get a benefit.

An additional change will mean parents paying formula-assessed Child Support via Inland Revenue can have this cost taken into account for Temporary Additional Support and Special Benefit.

Who these changes affect

Passing on Child Support will affect people getting Sole Parent Support and those getting the sole parent rate of a benefit. These benefits include Supported Living Payment, Jobseeker Support, Youth Payment or Young Parent Payment.

These changes won't apply for children whose caregiver is getting an Unsupported Child's Benefit.

Child Support payments will be considered income

We'll treat Child Support payments a person receives as income. This means we'll consider Child Support payments when working out if someone can get a benefit and other financial assistance, for example Accommodation Supplement or Childcare Subsidy. How much it affects a person's benefit rate will depend on their situation.

For now, nothing will change. The Government will continue to retain Child Support for sole parents, and sole parents will continue getting their other regular payments from us. We'll have more information available closer to when the shift takes place on 1 July next year.