Review of Annual Income

Clients getting Emergency Benefit may have a Review of Annual Income if their equivalent benefit is:

• Supported Living Payment
• Sole Parent Support
• Jobseeker Support - sole parents only
• New Zealand Superannuation

The Review of Annual Income ensures clients getting Emergency Benefit have been getting the correct rate of payment for the past 52 weeks.

Clients do not have a Review of Annual Income if their benefit has not been reduced at any point during the period that income is assessed (the 52-week review period).

Clients who did not get any income during this period will also not have a review.

Note the Review of Annual Income is a separate review process to a Mandatory Review. 

Income received during the 52-week period following the client's commencement date, and each 52-week period after that, is assessed against the benefit paid to the client during this time.

Most types of income are charged against the Emergency Benefit for the review year the income was earned in or the period it relates to. The relevant period may be a period in the past or a future date.

Only income charged during the current review period is considered for the Review of Annual Income.

If the client has transferred between benefits, but has continuously been getting a benefit that can have income charged annually, the commencement date is the date they first started getting an annual benefit.

Non-information share Child Support

Non-information share Child Support payments are charged as income using the general charging rules used for most other types of income.

Any non-information share Child Support payments charged as income during the current review period are included in the Review of Annual Income.

Information share Child Support

Information share Child Support payments are charged forward as income, using defined rules. The income charge is always for 4 or 5 weeks from when the client gets the payment, regardless of what period the payment relates to.

Any information share Child Support payments charged as income during the current review period are included in the Review of Annual Income.

Note the amount of information share Child Support payment charged as income may not be the same amount of Child Support a client got in the review period. This could happen if a client gets an information share Child Support payment shortly before the end of the review period. Only the income charged during the review period can be included in the Review of Annual Income.

Example

Mercutio gets an Emergency Benefit equivalent to Supported Living Payment and gets information share Child Support payments from his child's other parent.

Mercutio's review period for his Review of Annual Income is 6 September to 5 September the following year.

Mercutio gets an information share Child Support payment on 21 August. This payment is charged forward for 4 weeks, from the week beginning 19 August.

Only the income charged from 19 August to 5 September will be included in this years' Review of Annual Income.

The remainder of the 4-week income charge related to that Child Support payment will be included in the following year's review.