Budgeting activity obligation

Clients who frequently access Advance Payments of Benefit, Special Needs Grants and Recoverable Assistance Payments may need to meet a budgeting activity obligation. This obligation requires clients to take part in activities that will help them improve their ability to budget and make the most of the resources available to them.

Clients may be required to:

• complete or review a budgeting worksheet
• attend a budgeting course or seminar or
• attend a budgeting advice service

The specific activity the client is required to complete should be the activity that is most likely to meet their needs and be helpful given their personal situation.

Note you must make sure the client is getting their correct entitlement at every interaction with them.

Generally clients are not required to complete a budgeting activity until after they have received Special Needs Grants, Advance Payments of Benefit and/or Recoverable Assistance Payment on at least 3 grant dates during the past 12 months.

Before applying a budgeting activity obligation, you need to ensure that you understand the client's circumstances and how applying the obligation could help them.

A budgeting activity obligation should only be applied if you have been in contact with the client and determined:

• the client is likely to benefit from completing a budgeting activity

• the client's financial situation could improve as a result and

• the client has previously:

  • been offered services to help them build their financial capability, understood how they could benefit from participating, and chose to not take up the services or
  • used a building financial capability or similar service and their circumstances have substantially changed from when they used the service

Before applying a budgeting activity obligation, also consider:

• the number of previous applications for hardship assistance and why the assistance was needed
  • eg is there a pattern of not being able to meet regular, ongoing costs or were there a number of separate unforeseeable events?

• if the current need is related to unforeseeable events, or circumstances out of the client's control
  • eg a recent bereavement or separation, emergency or other adverse event, etc
• why the client has not taken up services to help them build their financial capability if previously offered

If you have decided that the client should have a budgeting activity obligation, discuss which budgeting activity will be most helpful for them, make sure they know the activity they choose is an obligation and explain the consequence if they do not complete the activity.

Note in some circumstances partners must also complete a budgeting activity.

For information on when it would not be appropriate to require a client to complete a budgeting activity see:

• Budgeting activity obligation not applied

Generally clients are only required to complete a budgeting activity after they have received Special Needs Grants, Advance Payment of Benefit and/or Recoverable Assistance Payment on at least 3 grant dates during the past 12 months. However, you can apply the budgeting activity obligation before 3 grant dates.

When deciding whether to apply the budgeting activity obligation before their third grant date you must also consider if the client has:

• received repeated grants for the same costs
• a history of receiving multiple hardship payments
• a significant debt with the Ministry of Social Development