Skip to main content
background pattern
Work and income | Te Hiranga Tangata
  • Employers
  • Providers
  • Go to MyMSD login
  • Work homepage

    • Overview

      Find out what services we can offer to help you find work and when you start a new job.

    • Looking for work

      We have jobs available now in various industries and you can search on our job websites.

    • Help with your job search

      From advice on making a plan, to tips on where to look and following up leads.

    • Training and experience

      Our programmes can help you get ready for work with training and work experience.

    • Job Connect on Facebook

      Find out how we can help you get ready to work, find work, and support available while you're working.

    • CVs and cover letters

      We’ve got great templates and advice for writing your CV or cover letter, and filling out job applications.

    • Help with work costs

      Get help to pay for the things you need to start work

    • Job support and advice

      Get all the support and advice you need to stay in work.

    • Health and disability

      If you want to work, we can support you to find the right job for you.

    • Start your own business

      We can help you get your business up and running.

    • Job interviews

      Get advice about how to prepare for and deliver a great interview.

    • Help for 16-19 year olds

      We’ve got extra support for young people to get ready for work and find a job.

  • Benefits and payments homepage

    • Overview

      Take a look at the range of benefits and payments we have available.

    • Not working

      Redundancy, health condition or disability or another reason you can’t work

    • Living expenses

      Food, school costs, power, accommodation or other living expenses you need help with

    • Relationship changes

      You’ve had a relationship break-up, family breakdown or violent relationship end

    • Health and Disability

      Counselling, prescription and GP costs, medical alarms and other costs we can help with

    • Seniors

      Travelling overseas, how to apply, payment rates and dates, overseas pensions, income and other info for Seniors

    • Caring

      Caring for someone else’s child or someone with a health condition, injury or disability

    • Urgent or unexpected costs

      Dental, glasses, car repairs, fridge, washing machine, funeral or other urgent costs you need help with

    • Children

      Childcare, school uniforms, stationery, having a baby and other costs if you have children

    • Moving to New Zealand

      Payments you can get from us, settling into NZ, overseas pensions and more.

    • 16-19 year olds

      Education, training, work and benefit help for 16-19 year olds

    • Benefits and forms

      A-Z list of benefits, forms, benefit rates

  • On a benefit homepage

    • Overview

      Check out what you need to do when you're getting a benefit or other payment from us.

    • Something's changed

      Address, contact details, overseas travel, childcare, relationship or anything else that’s changed.

    • Income

      Declare income and income deduction tables

    • Childcare

      Change in your childcare situation, continue childcare payments, cohort entry schools and other childcare information

    • Going overseas

      Going on holiday or going to live overseas

    • Re-apply

      Re-apply for Jobseeker Support, Sole Parent Support, Temporary Additional Support and more

    • Payments

      Check or stop your payments, payment cards and other information

    • Debt

      Check your debt, repayments and other debt information

    • Rights and responsibilities

      Our commitment to you,  obligations, complaints, benefit fraud and more

  • Housing homepage

    • Overview

      Find out how we can help you with housing.

    • Nowhere to stay

      Get help if you have nowhere to stay right now.

    • Find a house

      Find out where to look for private housing, or apply for public (social) housing.

    • Living in your home

      Get help with accommodation costs, and advice on any housing issues and public housing tenancies.

    • Move house

      Find out how we can help if you’re moving house.

  • Go to the Work and Income home page
When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
  • MyMSD login
  • Online Services
    • Apply online
    • Apply for NZ Super
    • MyMSD
    • Kimi Mahi Mai - Find a Job
    • Check what you might get
    • Apply for COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme
    • Fixing past payment errors
    • Supplier registration
    • List a job vacancy
  • Work
    • Job search
      • 'Kimi Mahi Mai – Find a Job’ website
      • Jobs in MyMSD
      • Where to look for jobs
      • Job search by region
      • Seasonal work
      • Jobs in forestry
    • CVs and cover letters
      • CV templates and tips
      • Cover letter template and tips
      • Applying for job tips
    • Training
      • Mana in Mahi
      • Limited Service Volunteer
      • Work Confidence programmes
      • Training
      • Voluntary work
      • Creative Careers Service
    • Help with work costs
      • Moving for a job
      • Help when you're working
      • Starting your new job
      • Help to stay in work
    • Job interviews
      • Job interview tips
      • Preparing for a job interview
      • Support to apply for jobs
    • Job support and advice
      • Advice when you get a job
      • Advice once you start work
      • Support for women
      • Professional clothing and career advice for men
    • Health and disability job support
      • Help with job search and costs
      • Feeling anxious about work
      • Work and Supported Living Payment
      • Employment Service
      • Employment service for secondary school students
      • Job and Training Support Funds
    • Start your own business
    • Job help for 16-19 year olds
  • Benefits and payments
    • Carers
      • Caring for someone with a health condition, injury or disability
      • Caring for a child with a disability
      • Caring for someone else's child
    • Children
      • Childcare
      • Having a baby
      • School costs
      • Caring for someone else's child
    • Emergencies
      • Civil Defence Payment
      • Cyclone Gabrielle
      • COVID-19
      • Farmers affected by adverse events
    • Health and disability
      • Vehicle modification
      • Contraception
      • Counselling
      • Dental treatment
      • Glasses
      • House modification
      • Medical alarms
      • Healthcare costs
      • Residential care
      • Travel costs
    • Living expenses
      • Heating and power bills
      • Managing your money
      • Public transport fares
    • You're not working
      • Redundancy
      • Health condition or disability
      • Fired or left
      • Deported to NZ
      • Released from prison
    • Relationships
      • Break-up
      • Family breakdown
      • Violent relationships
    • Seniors
      • NZ Super
      • Veterans Pension
      • Payment dates
      • Payment rates
    • Urgent costs
      • Food
      • Accommodation
      • Power, gas and water bills or heating
      • Dental treatment
      • Glasses
      • Whiteware
      • Medical costs
      • House repairs and maintenance
      • Car repairs
      • Bereavement
      • Fire or theft
    • Moving to NZ
      • Overseas pensions
    • 16-19 year olds
  • On a benefit
    • Changes and income
      • Income
      • Change housing details
      • Relationships
      • Change bank account
      • Child enters or leaves your care
      • Change contact details
    • Going overseas
      • On a benefit
      • NZ Super or Veteran's Pension
    • Re-apply
      • Re-apply for Jobseeker Support
      • Re-apply for Sole Parent Support
      • Re-apply for TAS
    • Obligations
      • Jobseeker Support obligations
      • Supported Living Payment obligations
      • Sole Parent Support obligations
      • When you don’t meet your obligations
    • Payments
      • Check your payments
      • Changes to your payments
      • Money management for youth clients
      • Stop your payments
      • Stop your childcare payments
      • Getting a Payment Card
      • Using your Payment Card
      • Balances and transactions on your Payment Card
      • Problems with your Payment Card
    • Debt
      • Pay debt from overseas
      • Pay debt from NZ
      • Pay debt when not on benefit
      • Pay debt while on a benefit
    • Childcare
      • Change in circumstances
      • Continuing pre-school childcare
      • Continuing childcare when your child's at school
      • Stop childcare
      • Childcare absences
      • Move to OSCAR
      • Extending childcare
    • Having another child
    • Arrest warrants
    • Your rights and responsibilities
      • Your obligations
      • Have someone act on your behalf
      • Fraud and investigations
      • Annual review
      • Our commitment to you
  • Housing
    • Nowhere to stay
      • Emergency housing
      • Escaping family violence
      • Leaving prison
    • Find a house
      • Who can get public housing
      • Apply for public housing
      • Waiting for public housing
      • Accepting a public housing offer
    • Living in your home
      • Housing costs
      • Living in public housing
    • Move house
      • Bond Grant
      • Rent in Advance Grant
      • Moving Costs Grant
      • Tenancy Costs Cover
      • Transition to Alternative Housing Grant
      • Transfer to another public housing property
  • Benefits, rates and forms
    • A-Z benefits
    • Benefit rates
    • Forms
    • Income and cash asset limits
  • Pensions
    • Get benefits overseas
    • Get NZ Super overseas
    • Social security agreements
    • Seniors Services
  • Providers
    • Activity in the Community projects
    • Large scale emergency
    • Childcare assistance
      • What's new
      • Registering your childcare service
      • Become an approved OSCAR provider
      • How we can help you
      • Tell us when things change
      • Payment schedules
      • Contacting us if you're a childcare or OSCAR provider
      • Childcare Centre absences due to COVID-19
    • Advocates
    • Health and disability practitioners
      • Guides and forms
      • Roles
      • Assisting people into work
      • Medical certificates
      • Health and disability related benefits
      • Designated health practitioners second opinions
      • Medical appeals
    • Housing providers
      • Property owners and landlords
      • Emergency housing providers
      • Public housing providers
    • Forms
  • About Work and Income
    • Contact us
      • Our locations
      • Senior Services International
      • Overseas pension agencies contact details
      • Veterans
      • Report a suspected fraud
      • Other languages
    • Our services
      • Appointments
      • Cheap as data
      • Become a contracted provider
      • Information for trespassed clients
    • Our privacy notice
      • Collecting your information
      • Using your information
      • Sharing your information
      • Respecting your information
      • Managing your information
    • Making a complaint
      • Review of decision
      • Review of a medical decision
    • News
    • Careers at Work and Income
  • About this site
    • Accessibility
    • Privacy, disclaimer and copyright information
    • Online security
    • Words we use
  • Employers
    • Recruitment
      • List a vacancy
      • Hire an LSV graduate
      • Hire disabled people or people with health conditions
      • Shortlisting
      • Pre-employment drug testing
      • Make an employment offer
    • Extra support and training
      • Flexi-wage
      • Apprenticeship Boost
      • Mana in Mahi
      • Skills for Industry
      • Support once your employee starts work
      • Mainstream programmes
      • Modifications to your workplace
    • Industry partnerships
    • Redundancy support
    • Emergencies and adverse events
    • Employee debt
  • COVID-19
    • People affected by COVID-19
    • COVID-19 support for employers
      • COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme
    • Previous COVID-19 payments
      • Short-Term Absence Payment
      • Wage Subsidies August 2021
      • Wage Subsidy March 2021
      • Resurgence Wage Subsidy
      • Income Relief Payment
      • Wage Subsidy Extension
      • 2020 Wage Subsidy
      • Essential Workers Leave Support Scheme
      • Leave payment
      • Repaying a previous COVID-19 payment
  1. Home
  2. Benefits, rates and forms
  3. A-Z benefits and payments
  4. Training Incentive Allowance

Products

  • A-Z benefits
  • Benefit rates
  • Forms
  • Income and cash asset limits

Training Incentive Allowance

If you need help with fees and other study costs for a course you're doing, you may be able to get a Training Incentive Allowance.

The Training Incentive Allowance (TIA) can help pay for things that will help you study, like:

  • tuition fees
  • books
  • childcare
  • equipment
  • transport, and
  • any additional caring costs you have while studying.

The TIA is available for courses at levels 1-7 on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.

Our client Caitlin talks about the Training Incentive Allowance
View transcript of 'Our client Caitlin talks about the Training Incentive Allowance' video

[Music]

The TIA helps me so I don't actually have to save more to pay for day care and pay for stationery. It's all done for me so I don't have to worry about it.

I'm the first person in my family to do tertiary study and that makes me feel a lot better about myself.

The TIA allows me to study and get the job I want, get my qualifications.

'Cause i'm getting all my levels to so I can get a decent job so she is not like disappointed or embarrassed by me.

If I didn't have the money I would probably still be sitting at home doing nothing.

[Music]

To qualify for the TIA, you must be getting one of these payments:

  • Sole Parent Support
  • Supported Living Payment - caring for a person
  • Supported Living Payment - health condition, injury, or disability
  • Young Parent Payment (sole parents only)
  • Emergency Benefit or Emergency Maintenance Allowance (sole parents only)
  • Jobseeker Support (sole parents only) if you can meet your work obligations while studying

You also need to be enrolled in a recognised course of study. This is one that's funded by the Tertiary Education Commission or the Ministry of Education. You can check this information with your training provider.

The study you're doing also needs to:

  • increase your skills for employment
  • be 12 weeks or more, and
  • be at levels 1 to 7 on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.

For each week of study, you can get $129.71, up to a maximum of $5,188.40 in a 52-week period.

You can choose to be paid TIA as either:

  • a weekly amount (for on-going costs like transport, childcare or Wi-Fi)
  • an upfront one-off payment (for costs like course fees, stationery or a laptop), or
  • a combination of both.

If you choose to get weekly payments, you'll get them with your benefit payment the week after your study begins.

Upfront payments are made to retailers, education providers, or StudyLink – so you may need to get quotes.

Example 1

Anna is studying towards a Certificate in Business Administration, which is a 38-week fees-free course.

Anna can get a maximum of $129.71 for 38 weeks, which is $4,928.98 total.

She chooses to use:

  • $999 to buy a laptop
  • $289 to buy a desk
  • $149 to buy learning software.

This is a total of $1,437. After paying for these one-off costs, Anna still has $3,491.98 remaining of her TIA.

Her course is taught partly online, so Anna uses $17.50 a week to pay for her internet costs ($665 over 38 weeks). Anna also has an informal childcare arrangement with her neighbour which she pays $60 a week for ($2,280 over 38 weeks). Anna chooses to use TIA to cover both of these costs. So that's an extra $2,945 she uses from her TIA.

Anna’s remaining entitlement to TIA for the year is $546.98. She can access this for other study-related costs which come up while she’s studying.

Example 2

Matt is studying an Introduction to Mechanical Engineering, which is a 25-week course.

Matt can get a maximum of $129.71 for 25 weeks, which is $3,242.75 total.

He chooses to use:

  • $500 to pay for textbooks
  • $1,500 to cover some of his fees.

This is a total of $2,000. After paying for these one-off costs, Matt still has $1,242.75 remaining of his TIA.

Matt spends $50 a week to travel to his course ($1,250 over 25 weeks). He chooses to use the remainder of his entitlement to partially cover his travel costs by getting $49.71 a week for travel costs. Matt has no further entitlement to TIA until next year.

Matt also has a disability and needs specialist software to complete his exams. He has no further entitlement to TIA so he approaches Workbridge to see if they can assist by paying for the software.

Information

You need to apply for TIA every year or if you are starting a new course of study.

Step 1 - Complete application form

You need to complete a Training Incentive Allowance application form. You must give this to us within 28 days of your study starting.

Your training provider also needs to fill out pages 5 and 6 of the application form. If you're able to get fees free, your provider will apply for this for you and let us know in the application form. You must use this towards your course fees first. TIA can be used for any remaining course fees, once Fees Free has been paid.

linksTraining Incentive Allowance (PDF 223.8KB)

About Fees Free

Fees Free means you may be able to get your fees covered for 1 or 2 years' training.

You may be able to get Fees Free if:

  • you are a first-time learner, or
  • your first tertiary education was covered by the Targeted Training and Apprenticeship Fund.
Go to the Fees Free website

Step 2 - Gather documents you'll need to provide

You'll need to gather proof of any costs you want covered under TIA.

This can be things like:

  • receipts
  • quotes, or
  • a letter from the provider.

If the costs are listed on a provider's website, you don't need to provide proof of them. We can check on the website and confirm these costs at your appointment.

Step 3 - Attend an appointment

Call us on 0800 559 009 and we’ll book an appointment for you to come in and see us. You'll need to bring your application form and documents with you to the appointment.

We'll discuss your application with you and check that your study will help you to get into work.

Once we've processed your application, we'll send you a letter to let you know the outcome.

If you find TIA is not enough to cover your study costs, you may be able to get a Student Loan for compulsory course fees and course-related costs.

Student Loan for course-related costs

If you’re applying for TIA and a Student Loan for course related costs, the order in which you apply for (and are granted) these payments can affect the amount you can get.

You might apply for one-off course related costs through the TIA first. If so, the amount you can get for course related costs through StudyLink is reduced by how much TIA you’ve been paid for one-off course related costs. This does not apply for childcare, transport, course fees or disability-related costs.

You might apply for (and be granted) a Student Loan for course related costs first. If so, the full TIA is available for any costs that haven’t already been covered by your course related costs from StudyLink.

Find out more about it on Studylink

Providers will need to refund the fees to us straight away if:

  • we've paid your fees, and
  • you're leaving within your place of vocational education/university/school refund period.

How providers can refund fees

Providers can do this by direct credit with the following details:

Account name: MSD ROBOC 3

Account number: 03-0049-0006243-25

Reference: Add the letter C and client’s 9-digit client number (without spaces or dashes) i.e. C123456789

Code: TIA

Particulars: Client surname and initial

Please then email Crown_Revenue@msd.govt.nz to confirm a refund has been paid and include details of:

  • the amount
  • client surname and initial
  • client’s 9-digit MSD client number
  • what the refund is for i.e. TIA or refund of course fees.

Related

Help with childcare
Help with extra costs because of a health condition or disability

Contact

This information is a guide only.

Please contact us to talk about your individual circumstances.

How we can help

  • Benefits and payments
  • Work
  • On a benefit
  • Housing

Online services

  • Check what you might get
  • Find work
  • Apply online
  • MyMSD
  • How to stay safe online

About

  • About Work and Income
  • About this site
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy, disclaimer and copyright

Contact us

  • Phone numbers
  • Find a service centre
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Feedback
  • Help in other languages
Go to Ministry of Social Development's website Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa / New Zealand Government Shielded Site