Contacting Work and Income as soon as the client reasonably can

A client who leaves New Zealand without advising Work and Income of their travel can only have their benefit backdated to the day after departure date if they contact Work and Income as soon as they could reasonably have been expected to, given the circumstances.

This may be while the client is still absent from New Zealand, or once they have returned.

For more information see:

• Backdating benefit to the day after departure date

In order to determine whether a client contacted Work and Income as soon as they could reasonably have been expected to, you need to take into account the circumstances of the client.

The reason why the client did not contact Work and Income until after returning to New Zealand may be the same reason why they left New Zealand without advising Work and Income of their absence, or a different humanitarian reason.

Reasons for not contacting Work and Income sooner may include (but are not limited to) that the client:

• did not contact Work and Income due to the stress of the event that led to them leaving New Zealand without informing Work and Income
• left with a humanitarian reason, and then could not access the technology to communicate with Work and Income while absent from New Zealand
• left for a humanitarian reason, and then was temporarily medically unfit while overseas and they have a medical certificate that shows this
• left for humanitarian reason, and then had a death or illness in the immediate family while overseas or on return to New Zealand and/or
• left for a humanitarian reason, and then experienced an adverse event or natural disaster while overseas or on return to New Zealand that meant they were unable to contact Work and Income

Generally, it would be reasonable to expect a client to contact Work and Income within 10 working days of returning to New Zealand. However, you should consider whether the client's circumstances meant they were unable to inform Work and Income in this period.

For more information see:

• Approved travel reasons
• Humanitarian reasons for backdating to day after departure
• Partner with work or work preparation obligations or an exemption
• Partners of a main beneficiary who have youth activity obligations
• Paying a benefit when the client has not advised before departure
• Examples of applying the Absence from New Zealand policy