Payments relating to a severe weather event

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.

A severe weather event is either:

• Nelson, Marlborough and Tasman flooding (August 2022)
• Cyclone Hale (January 2023)
• Auckland flooding (January/February 2023)
• Cyclone Gabrielle (February 2023).

You need to tell us right away if you get a payment relating to a severe weather event. This is so we can grant you an income and cash assets exemption, to make sure your payments from us are not affected.

Who can get an income and cash asset exemption

You can get an income and cash asset exemption for your severe weather event payment if you:

• are getting payments from us, or applying for one
• have been impacted by one of the severe weather events listed above
• have got one of these payments to repair or rebuild your home, or replace items:
  • an insurance payment
  • home and or land buyouts
  • donations
  • Kaupapa Māori pathway grants.

How long does the exemption last

If you get a severe weather event payment, your exemption will last for 12 months. This is effective from 6 November 2023, and starts from the day you get your payment.

If you get more than 1 payment, each payment will still be exempt for 12 months from the day it was paid to you.

If you were paid before 6 November 2023, that money can affect your payments up until 5 November 2023. We'll check if the change affects the payments you're getting from us and apply the exemption for 12 months from the day you received the payment.

When your exemption ends

After 12 months any remaining money from your severe weather event payment will count as a cash asset, and any interest from it will count as income. This means we'll need to review your payments from us to check you're getting the right amount.

What you need to do

You need to tell us right away if you have received a payment relating to a severe weather event.

You can tell us by:

• using MyStudyLink
• contact us using our online form
• calling us on 0800 88 99 00.