Confirming your circumstances

For certain payments, we must review your circumstances at least once every 52 weeks (one year). This helps us make sure you're getting the correct assistance and amount.

We'll confirm your circumstances each year if you're getting:

• Supported Living Payment
• Emergency Maintenance Allowance (that expires in 52 weeks or more, or has no expiry date)
• Emergency Benefit (that expires in 52 weeks or more, or has no expiry date)
• New Zealand Superannuation (if you have a partner included in your payment who does not qualify to get it)
• Accommodation Supplement (except people also getting the Youth Payment and Young Parent Payment)
• Disability Allowance
• Orphan's Benefit
• Unsupported Child's Benefit.

As part of this review, we might send you a Confirming your Circumstances form. This will cover information about your:
family (if you have a partner or children), work, income, assets, accommodation, costs, and living arrangements.

It's important you fill in and return the form promptly, even if nothing has changed. If you don't respond to the form before the due date, your payments will stop.

In some limited situations, we may be able to give you more time to complete your form or give you an exemption. You need to contact us before it's due, because payments will automatically stop on the due date.

We may also ask you to provide proof of your costs or income, and attend an appointment with us.

Step 1 - Complete the form

The form will be sent either online in MyMSD or in the post, if you still get paper letters from us. The form will be pre-filled with some information we already hold about you.

You'll need to:

• check the information on the form
• update any information that's changed or new
• return the completed form to us before the due date.

If you get your form in MyMSD, you can complete and submit it in MyMSD. If you get your form in the post, you can still complete and submit it online if you have a MyMSD account. Or you can complete the paper form and return it to the address that's on the form or take it into one of our service centres.

MyMSD is a fast and secure way to get the form back to us. If you submit your form online and have declared a change, you will be directed to the next steps page and may have the option to upload documents (evidence) or make an appointment.

The form will be processed

If you submit the form in MyMSD and your circumstances have not changed, your form will be processed using Automated Decision-Making.

Automated decision-making

If you return a paper form, our staff will manually process it.

If your circumstances have changed, our staff will process your form and let you know what will happen next.

Step 2 - Provide more information, if needed

We will call you or send you a letter if you need to provide more details or proof for the information in your form.

You can:

• upload your documents in MyMSD
• post your documents to us, or
• drop your documents into a service centre.

Sometimes, we may book you an appointment as well. If we do, you can bring your documents with you to your appointment.

Step 3 - Attend an appointment, if needed

Some changes may require you to attend an appointment. For example:

• if you have entered a relationship or left one, or
• if a child has come into your care, or left your care
• if you get Supported Living Payment to care for someone, but you're no longer caring for that person.

If you need an appointment, we'll book one for you. Then we will call you or send you a letter to let you know the details of the appointment.