Support for 18- and 19-year-olds

This form has sections for you, your parents, and a supporting person (if applicable) to complete. 

You will need: 

• your personal details, including your client number
• your parents details, and their client number/s if they have one and are receiving support from MSD
• evidence to support your application, if required. 

Depending on your circumstances, you may also need information about: 

• any Orphan's Benefit or Unsupported Child's Benefit a carer has received for you
• your eligibility to Transition Support Services from Oranga Tamariki
• a parental support gap between you and a parent
• your parents income. 

Parents 

For the Parental Assistance Test, a parent is: 

• your natural (birth) parent
• your adoptive parents
• a step-parent who is married to, in a civil union with, or in a de facto relationship with your natural or adoptive parent. 

Parents do not include parental figures such as whāngai or foster care arrangements. 

Note: The definition of a parent for the Parental Assistance Test for Jobseeker Support Student Hardship differs from the definition used for Student Allowance. 

 If there is no parental support gap, your parent or parents will need to provide: 

• their personal details
• their relationship to you
• information about their income
• proof of income for the last 52 weeks. 

Which parents need to provide income information 

The income information we need depends on your family circumstances and whether you have a parental support gap with one or more parents. 

We may need income information from: 

• your natural or adoptive parent or parents
• a step-parent
• a combination of parents and step-parents.

In some situations, we may not need any parental income information. 

Information for parents about the Parental Assistance Test (Work and Income)

If there’s a parental support gap 

You'll need to give us information to support your application if there's a parental support gap, such as: 

• police reports or safety orders
• court orders or reports
• medical certificates for parents who are ill or in long-term hospital care
• a death certificate or obituary notice for parents who have died
• a supporting statement from a professional who knows your situation, or someone nominated by us. 

 Information about your parents income 

If there’s no parental support gap, you'll need to give us information about your parents income such as wages, ACC payments, Child Support, dividends, rental income and payments from boarders. 

If a parent gets a benefit, they can give us their client number so we can check their benefit payments.

Information we need from a supporting person 

A supporting person may be a registered education, health, justice or social services professional, or someone nominated by us. This could be, for example, a teacher, guidance counsellor, physiotherapist, doctor, nurse, lawyer or someone else we suggest. 

They need to provide: 

• their name and contact details
• their relationship to you
• information about how they know your circumstances
• their professional registration details (if applicable). 

The supporting person will have to complete and sign the statement of support on the Parental Assistance Test form. 
If you're a supporting person providing information about a parental support gap, read:

Providing a statement for a parental support gap (Work and Income)

Send us your documents by: 

• uploading them via Connect, or 

• Post them to us  

Sending evidence - StudyLink

After you submit your Parental Assistance Test form and supporting information, we'll review your application. We may contact you if we need more information or evidence. We may also contact your parents if we need more information to assess your application. 

We'll let you know the outcome of your application as soon as we've made a decision. 

You must tell us about any changes that may affect your eligibility for support. 

Tell us if: 

• your parents income increases
• your relationship with your parents changes, or their relationship with each other changes
• you enter or leave a relationship, or a child enters or leaves your care. 

To tell us about these changes, complete and submit a Parental Assistance Test - Change in Circumstances form.

We use the information you provide to check if you can get Jobseeker Support Student Hardship or an equivalent Emergency Benefit. Our privacy notice includes information for you and your parents about how information is used, shared and managed for the Parental Assistance Test.

Privacy notice for the Parental Assistance Test (Work and Income)

The definition of a parent for the Parental Assistance Test for Jobseeker Support Student Hardship or an equivalent Emergency Benefit differs from the definition used for Student Allowance. 

Parents

What information you need to provide 

Depending on a young person's circumstances, we may ask them for: 

• information about your income
• proof of income, such as payslips
• information about your circumstances if you can't reasonably support the young person. For example, a medical certificate confirming you're in hospital care. 

How we assess parent income 

For most young people, we need their parents income information from the last 52 weeks to assess whether they can financially support them. We will consider the income of up to two parents.  

The parental income limit is $67,225 before tax and is adjusted annually.

Sharing information with us  

We only collect the information we need and use it to help us assess a young person's application. 

You can choose to provide your income information directly to us if you want to keep it private. You can decide if a young person can: 

• know your income details
• see the results of the parental income assessment
• tell us about your income when reapplying or reporting a change in circumstances. 

Parents can provide information directly to us and can use their own RealMe login to send information through Connect. 

Connect 

If I don't want to provide information 

If we don't receive the information we need, it may affect our ability to assess a young person’s eligibility for support. We'll assume the young person can be supported by their parents. If you're unsure about what information to provide, talk to the young person. 

 If a young person can't rely on support from me 

Sometimes a young person may not be able to rely on support from a parent because of their family circumstances. This is called a Parental Support Gap. 

A young person may need to provide information and supporting evidence about their circumstances. This can include information from a registered professional in the education, health, justice or social services sectors who know their situation, and can help us understand why they cannot rely on support from their parent or parents. 

Providing a statement for a parental support gap (Work and Income)

If my income changes 

If you've already provided information to support a young person's application and your income increases, we will need updated information from you. The young person can let us know if this happens. Usually we’ll need to meet with them.

If my relationship changes 

If you've already provided information to support a young person's application and you enter or leave a relationship, we will need updated information from you. The young person can let us know if this happens.