Income

FamilyBoost is a childcare payment to help households pay for the cost of early childhood education (ECE). It's administered by Inland Revenue.

If you get a FamilyBoost payment from Inland Revenue, it is not counted as income.

However you have to tell us if you:

• keep the money you get (or part of it) for 12 months or more - this will be counted as a cash asset, or
• get interest from the payment - the interest will be counted as income.

If you're applying for a one-off hardship payment (e.g. food), we'll consider FamilyBoost payments as part of your available resources.

If you get a scholarship, we'll count this as income for Student Allowance unless it's a:

• TeachNZ Scholarship (but not Career Changer Scholarship)
• New Zealand Scholarship (awarded by NZQA)
• Tuli Takes Flight Scholarship.

If the terms and conditions of the scholarship state that an amount must be paid for your fees, this amount is not counted as income. The rest of the scholarship is counted as income.

How to work out your weekly income

To work out your weekly income:

• take the total amount of the scholarship and minus the amount used for fees (as stated by the terms and conditions), then
• divide the rest of the scholarship by the number of weeks you get the scholarship for.

Example 1

Declan is awarded a scholarship of $2,000. The terms and conditions state that the whole amount of $2,000 must be used for fees.

This means the scholarship is not counted as income for his Student Allowance.

Example 2

John is awarded a scholarship of $10,000. The terms and conditions state that $6,000 must be used for fees so this is not counted as income.

This means the amount of $4,000 is counted as income – even if John decides to use some of it for his fees.

To work out John's weekly income, we would divide the $4,000 by the number of weeks he's getting the scholarship for.

Example 3

Briar is awarded a scholarship of:

• 1 year’s accommodation at a hall of residence, and
• a $2,000 payment.

The terms and conditions state that the $2,000 payment must be used for study-related costs.

This means the amount of $2,000 is counted as income for her Student Allowance - even if she decides to use some of it for her fees. The value of the accommodation at the hall of residence would also be counted as income for her Student Allowance.

To work out Briar's weekly income, we would add the value of the 1 year's accommodation and the $2,000 together. Then we would divide this total by the number of weeks she's getting the scholarship for.

A severe weather event payment is money you get to help you repair or rebuild your home, or replace damaged items. It could be paid to you through:

• insurance payments
• home and or land buyouts
• donations
• Kaupapa Māori pathway grants

These payments have an income and cash asset exemption, which means it won't affect any payments you get from us. This only applies to specific severe weather events, and it only lasts for 12 months.

If you get a Medical Trainee Intern Grant, we may count some or all of it as income. How much we count as income will depend if the grant is paid to you as a lump sum or monthly payment.

Medical Trainee Intern Grant lump sum

If it's paid to you as a lump sum, we won't count any amount that you use to pay for either your:

• course fees
• course costs that are over and above normal course costs, eg:
  • air fares
  • extra accommodation if you're away on placement but still need to pay for your main accommodation.

The rest of the grant will be divided into a weekly amount. This weekly amount will be counted as income for your Student Allowance.

If you're unsure whether your course costs are over and above normal course costs, call us to discuss your situation.

Medical Trainee Intern Grant monthly payment

If it's paid to you monthly, the entire payment will be counted as income.

The monthly total will be divided into a weekly amount and the weekly amount will be counted as income for your Student Allowance.