Disability Allowance

There are certain types of costs that can be included for Disability Allowance. They must be additional and ongoing costs that you have because of your disability. Each of these costs also has certain criteria it needs to meet to be included. 

Your health practitioner (for example your doctor) will also need to confirm you need them because of your disability. You'll need to provide proof of your costs so keep all your receipts.

Costs that can be included are:

• Alternative treatment
• Ambulance fees and subscriptions
• Authorised consumables
• Clothing
• Counselling
• Day care for the elderly disabled
• Gardening, lawns and outside window cleaning
• Gym and swimming pool fees
• Medical alarms
• MedicAlert costs
• Medical fees
• Nicotine replacement products
• Prescription fees
• Power, gas and heating
• Rental equipment
• Rest home costs for a private paying patient
• Special foods
• Telephone
• Travel to counselling
• Travel because of your disability
• Vitamins, supplements, herbal remedies and minerals.

Talk to us if you're not sure whether a cost can be included for the Disability Allowance.

Examples of proof you'll need to provide

Cost	Proof you'll need to provide
Doctor's, specialist's and hospital fees that aren't already subsidised	Receipts or invoices showing the date, cost and reason for your visit.
Prescription fees	Receipts or print-outs from your chemist/pharmacy showing the date, cost, and the items you received.
Travel costs	Tickets or receipts showing the date, cost and how you travelled (if you travelled in your own car, we need to know the cc rating of your car and how far you travelled).
Power, gas and heating	Your summer and winter electricity bills.
Medical alarms	Your doctor needs to complete the 'Disability Allowance Medical Assessment for Medical Alarm' form. You'll also need to provide the contract or receipt for the installation/rental of the medical alarm.
Special foods	Receipts for your special foods.

We pay up to a maximum of $82.85 a week for Disability Allowance. This payment is not taxed.

How much you get depends on the extra costs you have because of your disability.

How it's paid

The Disability Allowance is usually paid straight into your bank account with any other payments you get from us. This could be weekly or fortnightly, it depends when you get paid.

If you don't get any payments from us, it will be paid to you weekly.

What we pay for

The Disability Allowance can help pay for a number of things. Your health practitioner (for example your doctor) will need to confirm you need them because of your disability.

Here are some of the costs we may be able to help with. You'll need to provide proof of your costs so keep all your receipts.

Examples of costs we may help with...	Proof you'll need to provide
Doctor's, specialist's and hospital fees that aren't already subsidised	Receipts or invoices showing the date, cost and reason for your visit.
Prescription fees	Receipts or print-outs from your chemist/pharmacy showing the date, cost, and the items received.
Travel to your doctor, specialist, hospital or counsellor	Tickets or receipts showing the date, cost and how you travelled (if you travelled in your own car, we need to know the cc rating of your car and how far you travelled).
Heating	Your summer and winter electricity bills.
Medical alarm rental and monitoring	The Disability Allowance - Medical Assessment for Medical Alarm form completed by a health practitioner, and the contract or receipt for the installation/rental of the medical alarm.
Special foods	Receipts for your special foods.

We can grant you the financial assistance you’re entitled to from the date you first contact us if you complete your application within 20 working days of that date.

Before you start

Applying for someone else

You can apply for a Disability Allowance on someone else's behalf, but only if they've filled out a form to appoint you as their agent.

You can apply on behalf of a child if they're 18 or under and financially dependent on you.

Applying for counselling or medical alarm costs

If you're applying for counselling or medical alarm costs, there are extra forms to complete:

• Counselling - you, your doctor and counsellor also need to complete a Disability Certificate - Counselling form
• Medical alarms - your doctor also needs to complete a Disability Allowance - Medical Alarm Assessment form

Your doctor should have these forms at their office. If they don't, you can either:

• download and print these from our website
• pick one up from your nearest service centre, or
• call us 0800 559 009 and we'll send one out to you.

Applying for special food costs

If you’re applying for special food costs, you can use the Disability Allowance – special foods information form to help you work out your extra costs.

The form is available to help you identify categories and tell us what your extra costs are. You’ll still need to provide proof for the costs.

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New client or only getting childcare payments

If you're not getting any payments from us, or only getting childcare payments, you can either:

• apply online through MyMSD, or
• fill out a paper Extra Help application form.

If you can't apply online or fill out the form, call us.

Apply online

1. Apply online through MyMSD. We'll check if you can get any other payments at the same time.
2. Provide proof of your costs. You can upload this to MyMSD as part of your online application.
3. Get your doctor to complete the Disability Certificate. They should have this form at their office. If they don't, you can either:
   • pick one up from your nearest service centre
   • call us 0800 559 009 and we'll send one out to you.
4. Get the Disability Certificate (and any other forms) to us by either:
   • dropping it in to your nearest service centre
   • posting it to your nearest service centre, or
   • uploading it to MyMSD (you'll need to call us first).

After you've applied we may ask you to call us to book an appointment. This could be a phone appointment or a face-to-face appointment. 

Fill out paper application form

You can fill out the Extra Help application form. Your health practitioner (e.g., your doctor) will need to complete the Disability Certificate inside this form. You'll also need to provide proof of your costs.

You can get your application form/s and proof of costs to us by either:

• dropping them in to your nearest service centre
• posting them to your nearest service centre, or
• uploading them to MyMSD (you'll need to call us first).

After you've applied you may need to call us to book an appointment. This could be a phone appointment or a face-to-face appointment.

If this is your first time applying for a benefit or ongoing payment, you need to bring your ID into a service centre so we can check it.

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Existing client

If you're already getting payments from us (for example a benefit or Accommodation Supplement) you can complete a Disability Allowance application form.

Your health practitioner (for example your doctor) will need to complete the Disability Certificate inside this form. You'll also need to provide proof of your costs. 

You can get your application form/s and proof of costs to us by either:

• dropping them in to your nearest service centre
• posting them to your nearest service centre, or
• uploading them to MyMSD (you'll need to call us first).

After you've applied we may book an appointment with you if we need more information. This could be a phone appointment or a face-to-face appointment.

If you can't fill out the form, call us on 0800 559 009. 

If your costs or circumstances change

If you're already getting Disability Allowance and your costs to manage your disability or your circumstances change, you need to let us know.

If you're not sure what costs are included in your Disability Allowance, you can check in MyMSD.

If you have any new or increased costs, you will need to provide a medical certificate and proof of your costs (such as receipts or invoices). The medical certificate must be completed by your medical or nurse practitioner.

Renew your medical certificate

You may need to get your health practitioner to complete another Disability Certificate. It depends on your situation.

If you get a Disability Allowance, we will review your circumstances at least once every 52 weeks (one year). This is to make sure you are getting the correct assistance and amount.

As part of this, we might ask you to fill out a Confirming your Circumstances form. It's important to fill out the form and return it promptly - if you don't respond before the due date, Disability Allowance payments will stop.

The information on this page is available in alternate formats.

New Zealand Sign Language

Watch the New Zealand Sign Language video on Youtube:

Audio

Listen to an audio recording of our Disability Allowance information:

Braille

Large print

Download the large print files for Disability Allowance information:

Plain language

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