Privacy notice for the Parental Assistance Test

Depending on your circumstances, we will collect information about:

• your relationship with your parents
• your parent(s) names, dates of birth and addresses
• whether you can reasonably rely on your parents for financial support
• information relevant to a parental support gap
• evidence needed to confirm your circumstances.

If you tell us that you cannot reasonably rely on your parents for financial support, you’ll need to provide evidence to support this. The information may include, for example:

• a medical certificate
• a protection order
• a death certificate
• a statement from an appropriate professional
• a statement from another person we nominate.

If we already hold information that confirms your circumstances, we may use that information instead of asking you to provide it again. This could include information about your involvement with Oranga Tamariki, or if a carer or guardian received Orphan’s Benefit or Unsupported Child’s Benefit for you.

Information we collect from your parents

To complete the parental income test, we need information about your parents income.

Your parents can provide this information:

• through you
• or directly to us if they choose to.

We use the information we collect to determine whether you’re eligible for Jobseeker Support or an equivalent Emergency Benefit.

We may use the information to:

• determine whether you cannot reasonably rely on your parents for financial support (that a parental support gap exists)
• assess your parents income against the parental income limit.

Reapplying for Jobseeker Support

You may need to complete the Parental Assistance Test again when you reapply for Jobseeker Support.

In some reapplications for Jobseeker Support we use automated tools to make decisions. This is called automated decision-making. We will automatically process a 26-week reapplication and regrant Jobseeker Support when:

• you've confirmed your circumstances with us in the 13 weeks before your benefit expires
• you’ve filled in and submitted your reapplication form in MyMSD before your benefit expires, including:
  • agreeing to your obligations
  • confirming your intent to reapply
• there are no changes in your circumstances
• you do not have a partner
• you've either:
  • attended a Kōrero Mahi - Work check-in seminar after you submitted your reapplication form and before your benefit expires
  • had an interaction with us about work in the 13 weeks before your benefit expires. For example, you've had a conversation with us about what you're doing to get ready to work or look for work.
• If you're 18 or 19 and have completed a Parental Assistance Test, we may also use automated decision-making where:
  • your parental support gap has already been assessed and there are no changes to your circumstances
  • your parents income has not increased where parent consent has been provided.

If your circumstances have changed, or your parent didn’t agree for you to share their income information, a staff member will assess the application.

For more information about how MSD uses automated decision-making see:

Automated decision-making

If you agree, we may need to check information about you with another organisation or person to confirm your circumstances. This could include if you have been involved with Oranga Tamariki, or if someone received Orphan’s Benefit or Unsupported Child’s Benefit for you until you turned 18.

You can choose to provide this information directly to us instead.

You may provide a supporting statement from a registered professional, a contracted youth service provider (your youth coach), or another person nominated by us. We may contact the registered professional or the nominated person to confirm the information provided.

Review of decisions

If you disagree with a decision about your entitlement to Jobseeker Support or an equivalent Emergency Benefit, you can ask us to review the decision.

Information about the review process is available through Work and Income.

Review of a decision

You can ask us to correct information we hold about you if you believe it is wrong.

You may also request access to personal information we hold about you. Where information relates to another person, we will consider that person's privacy when responding to your request.

If you have questions about why we collect your information, how we use it, or your privacy rights, contact us.

For more information about how MSD manages your information, see:

Our privacy notice

We use your information to:

• check your income against the parental income limit
• decide the young person’s eligibility for Jobseeker Support or the equivalent Emergency Benefit.

You may be asked to complete a form to tell us about your income as part of a young person's application, reapplication or when your circumstances change. You will need to provide:

• your name, date of birth and address
• your sources of income
• how often you receive income
• how much income you receive
• evidence of your income, such as payslips.

If you receive a main benefit, we may use the information we already hold to confirm your income if you give us your client number.

How you share your income information

You can choose if the young person (and their authorised agent, if they have one) can know your income details, see the results of our income assessment and tell us about your income when they reapply for Jobseeker Support or report a change in circumstances.

You can change your mind at any time, but you'll need to contact us if you do.

If you agree to share your income information with the young person, it may be easier for the young person if they have to reapply later. They can tell us if your income has gone up.

If you want to keep your income information private, the young person will still need to tell us if there's a change, however you'll need to provide the updated information to us yourself. You can take this to your closest Work and Income service centre or post it to us.

Find a service centre

If your income affects a young person’s benefit assessment, we may need to explain to them how we worked it out. We will only tell them the type of income you got and if it is near or over the parental income limit.

You can ask us to correct information we hold about you if you believe it is wrong.

You may request access to personal information we hold about you. Where information relates to another person, we will consider that person's privacy when responding to your request.

If you have questions about why we collect your information, how we use it, or your privacy rights, contact Work and Income.

For more information about how we manage your information, see:

Our privacy notice