Parental Assistance Test

To qualify for Jobseeker Support Student Hardship some young people must meet the Parental Assistance Test. This assesses whether the young person can reasonably be expected to rely on their parents for financial support. To meet the Parental Assistance Test they must:

• meet the Parental Income Test or
• have a Parental Support Gap with all their parents

A young person must meet the Parental Assistance Test if they:

• are not included as a dependent child in another person's benefit
• do not have dependent children
• do not get Foster Care Allowance for a child (and neither does their partner, if any) and
• are 18 or 19 years old or
• are 16 or 17 years old and have a partner aged 18 or older who is the primary or an included partner

Note when 2 young people are in a relationship, the Parental Assistance Test applies to each person individually.

For the Parental Assistance Test, a dependent child of a young person is a child who:

• is or will be included in the young person's Jobseeker Support Student Hardship
• the young person or their partner gets Orphans Benefit or Unsupported Childs Benefit for

A parent is a natural (birth), adoptive or step parent of a young person. A step parent is someone in a relationship with a young person's natural or adoptive parent. When a relationship between a natural or adoptive parent and a step parent ends, the step parent is no longer a parent of the young person.

A parent does not include a person acting in place of a parent such as a caregiver, guardian, relative (e.g. grandparent) or whāngai parent.

A young person is not required to meet the Parental Assistance Test straight away if they:

• were getting Jobseeker Support Student Hardship before 2 November 2026 and are still getting it on 2 November 2026 or
• are applying for Jobseeker Support Student Hardship on or after 2 November 2026 and have an application date or entitlement date before 2 November 2026

These young people can get Jobseeker Support Student Hardship without meeting the Parental Assistance Test until their grant ends.

The only exception is when a young person is being included in Jobseeker Support Student Hardship. In this situation, they must meet the Parental Assistance Test to be included unless they have met it in the last 26 weeks.