Help when you're working

Work Bonus

If you don't have any work obligations and you go off the benefit into work, you may qualify for Work Bonus. This payment provides some financial support for the first few weeks you work.

Finding or starting work - help with costs

We may be able to pay for things you need to find or start a job, such as clothes for work or a job interview, travel, living expenses until your first pay, or other things.

Flexi-wage

We may be able to pay a subsidy to an employer for wages and/or pay for training so you can get the skills you need to do the job. This can be paid while you're working.

Working for Families Tax Credits

If you have dependent children aged 18 years or younger, you may qualify for Working for Families Tax Credits from Inland Revenue. Working for Families Tax Credits are entitlements for families with children. There are 4 types of payments and you may qualify for one or more, depending on your personal situation.

When you start work and your benefit stops, we'll tell Inland Revenue so you don't have to, and they'll be in touch about your payments.

To find out more about Working for Families Tax Credits call Inland Revenue on 0800 227 773 or visit:

Help with childcare costs can include:

• Childcare Subsidy - if you have pre-school children who go to an early childhood education service
• OSCAR Subsidy - can help pay for your children's care before or after school and in the school holidays, if you have school-age children and you're working, training or taking part in a work-related activity
• Early Learning Payment - helps pay the costs of early childhood education for children aged 18 months to 3 years who are from families enrolled in selected Family Start or Early Start programmes. If you're enrolled in Family Start or Early Start you'll be assigned a family/whānau worker who will contact Work and Income for you.

You may be able to get the Accommodation Supplement to help with your rent, board or the cost of owning a home.

Whether you get the Accommodation Supplement will depend on your accommodation costs, your assets and your income. You must also be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and normally live here.

You won't qualify if you or your partner are tenants living in a social housing property. We may be able to help with other housing-related costs.

If you are a low income ratepayer you may qualify for a rates rebate of up to $500 under the Rates Rebate Scheme. For more details about the Rates Rebate Scheme contact your local council.

You need to advise us if you receive a rates rebate. Please contact us to find out how a rebate may affect your Accommodation Supplement.

The Community Services Card can help with the costs of visiting your doctor and getting prescriptions. It is a family card so you can use it for dependent children aged under 18 years.

If you already have a card you can keep using it - and when it runs out you can apply for another one.

To qualify, your yearly income must be under a certain limit - depending on your personal situation. To find out if you qualify, call our Community Services Card national centre on 0800 999 999

You may also qualify for the Pharmaceutical Subsidy Card if you or your children need a lot of prescriptions each year. To find out more about this card, talk to your pharmacist.

If you don't qualify for the Community Services Card you may be able to get the High Use Health Card if you visit the doctor often for an ongoing medical condition. You can't use it for other family members. Ask your doctor about this card.

If you, or a child you're caring for, has a disability or health condition, we may be able to help.

The Disability Allowance helps with the extra costs you, your partner or child have because of a disability or health condition. For example, regular visits to a health practitioner, medicines, extra heating, special food or travel.

The Child Disability Allowance can help if you are the main caregiver of a dependent child who has a serious physical or intellectual disability. It is not taxed and doesn't depend on your income or costs. The child must be aged under 18 years, and need constant care and attention for at least 12 months because of their disability.

You may be able to get both the Child Disability Allowance and the Disability Allowance for the same child.

If you have dependent children, you may be able to get the New Employment Transition Grant to help with your costs if you lose income in your first 6 months of working. This grant can help if you were on a parent rate of benefit before you started working and you miss out on income in your first 6 months of working because:

• you, your partner or child are sick or
• you have problems with your childcare arrangements.

Away from Home Allowance

If you have dependent children aged 16 to 17 years living away from home to go on a tertiary or training course, you may be able to get this to help with their living costs.

To qualify you must be on a low income and eligible for family tax credit for the child - and your child must be attending an approved course. How much you get depends on your income, where the child lives and what their accommodation costs are.

It's important to get in touch with Inland Revenue to talk about child support when you're working. If you were paying child support from a benefit, you will now need to organise the payments yourself - please call Inland Revenue to discuss your options. You may be entitled to receive Child Support from Inland Revenue once it's been collected from the other parent.

For more details on child support, contact Inland Revenue child support on 0800 221 221 or visit:

If you're finding it hard to make ends meet, we may be able to help. Conditions apply, including needing to have income and/or assets under a certain amount.

The Special Needs Grant is a one-off payment to help out with urgent things that you really don't have any other way to pay for, like food, bedding and emergency dental or medical treatment.

You won't usually have to pay back the Special Needs Grant. There are other conditions so talk with us about your circumstances.

The Temporary Additional Support can help if you're finding it hard to meet your essential costs while trying to reduce these costs or increase your income.

You will not get the Temporary Additional Support if you currently receive the Special Benefit. Your Special Benefit will continue until you no longer need it.

The Recoverable Assistance Payment may be available if you're not getting a main benefit and you need something you can't afford to pay for right now (such as rent or school uniforms).

If you have a benefit debt to pay back, you need to make arrangements to pay back your debt, or increase your payments. Call us free on 0800 558 008 and we'll help you sort it out. It's important you do it as soon as possible.

Here are some of the ways you can pay off your debt:

• automatic payment from your bank
• through deductions from your wages
• over the counter at any New Zealand Post outlet.

If you're a sole parent you don't have to increase your payments for the first 91 days of working. That way, you have time to organise other income like child support.

You might not have to pay back your debt straight away if you have just started work, talk to us about this.

We'll share information about how we can help you get ready to work, find work, and support available while you're working.