Child Disability Allowance medical certificate
Medical and Nurse practitioners: When a person applies for the Child Disability Allowance, you may need to complete a Child Disability Allowance medical certificate.
The Child Disability Allowance medical certificate helps us to understand:
- the child's health condition or disability, and
- the amount of additional care and attention they require.
The Child Disability Allowance is paid to the principal carer of a dependent child or young person under the age of 18 years with a serious disability. It recognises the extra care and attention provided.
The Child Disability Allowance isn't income or asset tested, and is a non-taxable allowance. The full criteria is on our page:
The Child Disability Allowance isn't paid to cover costs associated with the child's health condition, disability or injury. They may be able to get a to disability allowance help with these costs.
When completing our medical certificates, you should follow the standards set out by the Medical Council of New Zealand.
Medical certification (Medical Council of New Zealand)external
Who can complete this medical certificate
The following people can complete the Child Disability Allowance medical certificate:
- medical practitioners, and
- nurse practitioners.
They need to be registered to practice within New Zealand and have a current Annual Practicing Certificate.
Where to find the medical certificate
You can download and print the Child Disability Allowance medical certificate here:
You can also contact your Regional Health and Disability Team who can provide copies for your practice.
Guidance on the severity of a health condition or disability
Eligibility for Child Disability Allowance depends on the amount of care and supervision a child needs due to their health condition or disability, not just the diagnosis itself.
This is because the severity of a condition can vary from child to child, and the care the child needs can change as they get older. Please consider this when deciding how often to review the payment.
Care and attention
The child must need constant care, supervision and attention, over and above the ordinary care and attention required by a child of the same age and gender.
This could mean they need:
- frequent attention from another person in connection with their bodily functions, or
- regular supervision from another person to avoid substantial danger to themselves or others.
Conditions that are likely to qualify
Conditions that are likely to qualify for Child Disability Allowance:
- degenerative neurological conditions (e.g. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy)
- childhood cancers
- conditions requiring palliative care
- cystic fibrosis
- conditions that can cause significant cognitive, developmental or behavioural challenges, for example:
- foetal alcohol spectrum disorder
- cerebral palsy, and
- congenital conditions including Down Syndrome/trisomy 21.
Examples
To help decide if a child qualifies for Child Disability Allowance, we’ve created some examples of scenarios that may or may not qualify, depending on the clinical severity and age of the child:
Information on specific conditions and disabilities (Map)external
For more information, please contact your local health and disability co-ordinator.
Sending medical certificates to us
Keep a copy for your own records then give the original to the patient and ask them to either:
- take it to their local Work and Income office, or
- upload it to MyMSD.
Contact us
If you have any questions or if there's something you'd like to discuss, your Regional Health and Disability Team's details are available on your regional Work and Income Health Pathway.