Income charging for weekly pay periods

Information share Child Support payments are charged as income for 4 or 5 weeks for clients with weekly pay periods, depending on the calendar month.

Income for these payments is generally charged automatically, with no involvement from staff.

Main benefits are paid weekly.

If a client getting a main benefit is also getting extra help, such as Accommodation Supplement, this is paid at the same time as their benefit.

Clients who only get extra help are paid weekly.

Clients with a weekly pay period are paid 1 week in arrears. Income is charged from a Monday to the following Sunday.

The first day of the income charge for an information share Child Support payment is the start of the pay period the deemed receipt falls in.

For clients on a weekly pay period, this is the Monday of the week the client got the payment in their bank account.

Example

Ramesh gets Sole Parent Support paid to him weekly on a Tuesday. His ex-partner Amelia pays him $800 of Child Support each month through Inland Revenue.

On Wednesday, Ramesh gets an information share Child Support payment. The deemed receipt is the next business day (Thursday). The income charge starts on the Monday of that week.

However, as Ramesh's Sole Parent Support is paid a week in arrears, income from this week affects his benefit payment next week.

The last day of the income charge for an information share Child Support payment depends on whether the payment is in-cycle or out-of-cycle.

For in-cycle payments, the last day of the income charge is the Sunday before the expected date of the next in-cycle payment.

For out-of-cycle payments, the last day of the income charge is the Sunday before the same date as the deemed receipt in the next month.

When the same date as the deemed receipt does not exist in the next month, the corresponding date is the 1st of the following month. For example, when the deemed receipt is 31 January there is no 31 February, so the corresponding date is 1 March. In this situation, the income charge would end on the Sunday before 1 March.

This means an income charge may be 4 or 5 weeks depending on how many weeks there are between the start date and end date of the income charge.

Example 1

Miri gets an in-cycle information share Child Support payment on 22 September. The income charge starts on the Monday of that week (Monday 18 September).

The last day of the income charge is Sunday 22 October, which is the Sunday immediately before 24 October. 24 October is the expected date of the next in-cycle payment.

Miri is deemed to have received another in-cycle information share Child Support payment on 24 October, and the next income charge starts on the Monday of that week (23 October).

The income charge lasted for 5 weeks, as there are 5 weeks between 18 September and 22 October.

Example 2

Solomon gets an out-of-cycle payment on 9 February. The income charge for the out-of-cycle payment starts on the Monday of that week (5 February). The last day of the income charge is the Sunday before 9 March (3 March).

However, Solomon also gets an in-cycle payment on 22 February. The income charge for the in-cycle payment starts on the Monday of that week (19 February). The last day of the income charge is the Sunday before the expected date of the next in-cycle payment. The next payment is expected on 22 March, so the charge ends on Sunday 17 March.

Both income charges last for 4 weeks, as there are 4 weeks between the deemed receipt dates in February and the end of the charges in March.