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  1. Home
  2. On a benefit
  3. Payments
  4. Stop your payment

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On a benefit

  • Changes and income
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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. 

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.

 
Go to My MSD login

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.

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.
Tell us about income you’ve earned or payments you've received

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.

Related

Stop childcare payments
What happens to a client's payments when they die

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