Payment rates and how we paid the COVID-19 Income Relief Payment

Find out how much the COVID-19 Income Relief Payment was and how it was paid.

Information

The COVID-19 Income Relief Payment has now stopped. The final day of the Income Relief Payment 4 February 2021.

If you need financial help, use our Check What You Might Get guide to see what payments you could qualify for.

Check What You Might Get

What you could get

The Income Relief Payment was paid for up to 12 weeks while you don't have a job.

Depending on how often you worked, you could get:

  • $490 per week if you were previously working 30 hours or more a week
  • $250 per week if you were previously working 15 hours to 29 hours a week.

You did not need to pay tax on this payment.

The Income Relief Payment stopped after you had 12 weeks of payments, or if your situation changed and you no longer qualified.

Your responsibilities while you were getting the Income Relief Payment

While you were getting the Income Relief Payment, you may also have been able to get help with some of your living costs or urgent costs. It depends on your situation and income.

Help with living expenses

  • In a relationship

    If you have a partner:

    • both partners could apply and qualify for the Income Relief Payment
    • for most couples, payments were split evenly between both partners.

    If you have a partner and you're getting NZ Super or Student Allowance, your payments were made to the person who qualified for the Income Relief Payment.

  • Students

    Student Loan

    You may have been able to get Student Loan for living costs as well as the full-time or part-time rate of Income Relief Payment, depending on the hours you worked.

    Student Allowance

    You may have been able to get Student Allowance as well as the Income Relief Payment - but only at the part-time rate of $250 per week.

  • NZ Super and Veteran's Pension

    Single

    You could get the Income Relief Payment as well as your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension.

    In a relationship

    Before 9 November 2020, you could include your partner in your NZ Super or Veteran’s Pension payments.

    You could do this if you qualified for NZ Super or Veteran’s Pension but your partner didn’t (eg, they were under 65).

    Your partner was included in your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension

    If your partner was included in your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension payment and you excluded them to get the Income Relief Payment, you cannot include them again after your Income Relief Payment stopped. This is because you can no longer choose to include your partner in your NZ Super or Veteran's Payment from 9 November 2020.

    Your partner is not included in your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension

    You could get the Income Relief Payment as well as your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension.

linksRelated links

Who could get the Income Relief Payment
How applications were made for the Income Relief Payment