Stop your payment
If your situation has changed so much that you should no longer get your benefit or payment, you need to stop it as soon as possible. If you don't, you may get a debt.
How to tell us
You need to call us right away if you're receiving:
- Unsupported Child Benefit
- Orphans Benefit
- Child Disability Allowance (CDA)
- Special Benefit.
If someone has died
Please call us if someone getting a benefit has passed away. If they were getting NZ Super or Veteran's Pension you can tell us by filling out our online form.
Register a senior's death with usexternal
NZ Super
To stop your New Zealand Superannuation or Veteran's Pension payment, you'll need to contact Senior Services on 0800 552 002
All other benefits and payments
You can stop any other benefit or payment online, using MyMSD. You need to log in, and select the ‘Something has changed’ option.
You'll need to tell us:
- the reason for stopping payment
- the date your situation changed
- details relating to your change in situation eg, employer name and contact details.
You can also tell us if you want to stop your payment temporarily, eg if you've got a short work contract or seasonal work.
If you are stopping a main benefit payment (eg Jobseeker Support or Sole Parent Support) you can choose to transfer to the Working for Families payment automatically if you qualify.
If you have debt with us, you can arrange debt repayments at the time you stop your payments.
If you get the Youth Payment or Young Parent Payment make sure you also contact your Youth Service provider directly to tell them about your change in circumstances.
Find your nearest provider (Youth Service)external
What happens next
It will take up to 5 working days for the change to be processed.
If you're a social housing tenant or on the social housing register
After your benefit payments have stopped, you'll need to continue to tell us about any changes to your income, because it may affect your Income Related Rent or eligibility for social housing. Otherwise:
- your rent may be increased to market rent if you're a social housing tenant
- you won't be offered a property if you're on the social housing register.
What happens if you don't tell us
If we find out later that any information you give us is not true, or that you knew information you should have told us and did not tell us, we may stop your payments. You might need to pay money back, we may impose a penalty, and you could be prosecuted.