Identifying reasonable steps

Generally, clients who have received an Advance Payment of Benefit, Special Needs Grants and/or Recoverable Assistance Payments on 3 or more grant dates during the past 12 months must take reasonable steps before they can get any additional payments.

Reasonable steps clients can take are those that will:

• reduce their costs
• increase their income or
• improve their financial management

When identifying possible reasonable steps you must consider each client's individual circumstances. When with the client, it may be useful to review any budget or budgeting worksheet that the client has previously completed to see what costs the client has and check whether they are essential.

You should discuss with the client what they can do to meet the reasonable steps obligation.

Note clients are only required to take specific actions for their reasonable steps when you have discussed the actions with them, e.g. setting an automatic payment to pay for power.

Reasonable steps could include (but are not limited) to:

• seeking part-time or full-time paid employment, or increasing hours to increase income
• having their Child Support payments reviewed (especially if they have a reduction in income)
• cancelling non-essential services e.g. Pay TV services
• quitting smoking - Quitline can provide support, information, and low cost nicotine patches, gum, and lozenges - 0800 778 778
• reducing regular costs by moving to cheaper alternatives eg moving to cheaper accommodation or taking up a less expensive phone or internet plan, or using public transport when those costs are cheaper than the cost of using a private vehicle
• renegotiating debt repayments to a lesser repayment amount e.g. court fines
• refinancing or consolidating debt to reduce interest and repayment amounts
• suspending contributions to KiwiSaver and/or other voluntary retirement schemes
• setting up a separate account and/or automatic payments for bills
• agreeing to MSD setting up a redirection of benefit where there is good cause

Note if the client has completed reasonable steps for Temporary Additional Support, the client should generally be considered to have met the reasonable steps obligation at the next application for a Special Needs Grant, Recoverable Assistance Payment, or Advance Payment of Benefit. You need to check the CMS notes to confirm what steps have been taken.

A client can voluntarily complete a budgeting activity such as doing a budgeting worksheet or seeing a budgeting advisor as a reasonable step.

Clients can also be considered to have met their reasonable steps obligation for a Special Needs Grant if they recently completed a budgeting activity obligation for an Advance Payment of Benefit or Recoverable Assistance Payment.