Disability Allowance
Disability Allowance is a weekly payment for people who have regular, ongoing costs because of a disability. These could be visits to the doctor or hospital, medicines, extra clothing or travel.
You don't have to be on a benefit to qualify for a Disability Allowance.
Who can get it
You may get a Disability Allowance if you:
- have a disability that is likely to last at least 6 months
- have regular, ongoing costs because of your disability that are not fully covered by another agency
- aren't getting a Residential Care Subsidy
- are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
- normally live in New Zealand and intend to stay here.
It also depends on how much you and your partner earn.
The income limits for Disability Allowance are:
Your situation |
Weekly income limits before tax |
|---|---|
| Single 16-17 years | $696.60 |
| Single 18+ years | $870 |
| Couple (with or without children) | $1,295.11 |
| Sole parent 1 child | $971.51 |
| Sole parent 2+ children | $1,023.59 |
Your child has a disability
You can apply on behalf of a child if they're 18 or under and financially dependent on you.
You may be able to get both the Disability Allowance and the Child Disability Allowance for the same child.
You can't get a Disability Allowance if you get Board payments from Oranga Tamariki for the child.
Check if you can get Disability Allowance
Find out if you might get this benefit, and what other financial assistance may be available to you.
If you are a student, visit StudyLinkexternal.
The information provided in this page is a guide only. Contact us to talk about your individual circumstances.
Types of costs that can be included
Regular, ongoing disability-related 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, subsidised and unsubsidised
- Power, gas and heating
- Rental equipment
- Residential care services
- Rest home costs for a private paying patient
- Special foods
- Phone
- Travel to counselling
- Travel because of your disability
- Vitamins, supplements, herbal remedies and minerals.
Your health practitioner must confirm you need these costs. You need to provide proof of your costs when you apply.
Contact us to talk about your individual circumstances.
How much you can get
You can get up to $82.85 a week for Disability Allowance.
How much you get depends on the extra costs you have..
This payment is not taxed and you don’t have to pay it back.
How it's paid
The Disability Allowance is paid straight into your bank account, on the same day as any other payments you get from us.
How to apply
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.
Step 1: Fill in application form
What application form you fill out depends on whether you’re already getting payments from us.
If you’re already getting payments from us, fill in the Disability Allowance application form:
If you’re not getting payments from us, or only getting childcare payments
You can either:
- apply online through MyMSD, or
- fill out a paper Extra Help application form.
Step 2: Visit your health practitioner
Ask your health practitioner (e.g. your doctor) to complete a Disability Certificate for you. This will confirm that the disability is ongoing and also verify what extra costs can be included. They will give this back to you, so you can bring it to us.
Step 3: Gather your proof of your costs
You need to provide proof of any costs you’re claiming for, so we know how much to pay you.
This needs to show:
- what it’s for and
- how much it costs (or enough information that we can work this out ourselves).
Some examples of you can provide are:
Cost |
Proof you'll need to provide |
|
Doctor's, specialist's and hospital fees (That aren't already subsidised) |
Receipts or print-outs from your medical practitioner showing the date, cost, and reason for your visit. |
|
Travel costs |
Tickets or receipts showing the date, cost and how you travelled. If you use your own car, we need to know the cc rating of your car and how far you travelled. |
|
Prescription fees |
Receipts or print-outs from your chemist/pharmacy showing the date, cost, and the items you received. |
| 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. |
| Counselling |
You, your doctor and counsellor also need to complete a Counselling form. |
|
Special food costs |
You can use the special foods information form to help you work out your extra costs. Disability Allowance – special foods information formexternal |
Step 4: Get your documents to us
You can get your proof of costs and form (if you applied using a paper form) to us by either:
- dropping it in to your nearest service centre
- posting it to your nearest service centreexternal, or
- uploading it to MyMSD (you'll need to call us first).
If this is your first time applying for a benefit or ongoing payment, you’ll need to bring your ID and any other supporting documents listed in your application form, such as documents relating to your back account, income and residency into a service centre so we can check it.
Step 5: You may need an appointment
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.
While you're getting Disability Allowance
If your costs or circumstances change
If your costs or circumstances change
If you're getting Disability Allowance and your disability costs or circumstances change, let us know. This includes new, increased, stopped, or decreased costs. For any new or increased costs, you'll need to provide a medical certificate and proof of the costs.
Tell us about your change of costsexternal
If you're not sure what costs are included in your Disability Allowance, you can check MyMSD.
Renew your medical certificate
You may need to get your health practitioner to complete another Disability Certificate. We’ll let you know when you need to renew this.
Confirming your circumstances
If you get a Disability Allowance, we will review your circumstances at least once every 52 weeks (one year) 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.
Alternate formats
Open transcript
This video content covers the same details as the factsheets on Disability Allowance.
Open transcript
This audio content covers the same details as the factsheets on Disability Allowance.