Qualifications

A young person applying for Young Parent Payment must be a parent or step-parent to a dependent child or children and be either:

• single or
• married, in a civil union or in a de facto relationship, and not married to, in a civil union, or in a de facto relationship with a specified beneficiary

Note for Young Parent Payment purposes, a dependent child of a young person who is married, in a civil union or in a de facto relationship must also be treated as a dependent child of the young person's spouse or partner.

To qualify for the Young Parent Payment the young person must be:

• aged 16 to 19 years old
• undertaking or is available for a full-time course of secondary or tertiary education, approved training or approved work-based learning leading to NCEA level 2, an equivalent qualification (in the opinion of MSD) or a higher qualification or
• would be available but:
  • the young person is in a situation that would qualify them for an exemption from the obligation to undertake education or training or work-based learning or
  • the obligation to be in full-time education, training or work-based learning does not apply to them because their youngest child is:
    • aged under 6 months or
    • aged between 6 and 12 months and there is no suitable place available in a Teen Parent Unit or there is a suitable place available but there are special circumstances to justify the obligation applying later
• have continuously lived in New Zealand for 2 years or more at any one time since becoming a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and
• have no income or an income of less than the amount that would fully abate the benefit

To receive Young Parent Payment on grounds of hardship, the young person must meet the above qualifications except for the residence criteria. However they must:

• be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident but have lived in New Zealand for less than 2 years
• be suffering hardship and
• not qualify for any other benefit

For more information see:

• Age
• Dependent child
• Parental support gap
• Single young people
• Young people who are in a relationship
• Residence
• Two years residence
• Income criteria
• Activity requirements
• Granting on grounds of hardship
• Exemptions from activity obligations