Disability and additional-needs support for a child in New Zealand

A payment that is not means-tested

Child Disability Allowance is a fortnightly payment made to the main carer of a child or young person with a serious disability, paid in recognition of the extra care and attention that child needs.

The rate is $62.43 a week for each child who qualifies. Work and Income is explicit about the two features that make it unusual: it is a set amount that does not depend on your income, assets or costs, and it is paid into your bank account every two weeks separately from any other assistance you may get. In most cases it will not affect any other assistance from Work and Income.

That combination matters. Many families assume they earn too much to bother applying, and for this particular payment that assumption is simply wrong.

Who qualifies

You may get Child Disability Allowance if you are the main carer of the child, or if there is no main carer, you have care of the child for the time being; you are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident; and the child has been assessed as needing constant care and attention for 12 months or more because of a serious disability.

Two elements of that test deserve attention. It is an assessment of need for care rather than a diagnosis, so the label the condition carries matters less than what looking after the child actually requires. And the 12-month horizon rules out short-term conditions however demanding they are at the time.

Applying, and the two deadlines

The application involves a form that you complete and a medical certificate inside the same form, which your child's health practitioner, for example your doctor, needs to complete. The form tells you what documents you need to provide.

The first deadline is easy to miss: you have 20 working days from the date you first contact Work and Income to complete the application process. Do not request the form and then let it sit while you wait for a GP appointment; book the appointment first, or contact Work and Income once you have one.

The second is the reason to contact them today rather than next month. You may be granted financial assistance from the date you request it. Every week you delay contacting them is a week you cannot get back later, even if the eventual assessment is straightforward.

The other payment worth checking

Child Disability Allowance is not the only route. Disability Allowance is a separate weekly payment for people who have regular, ongoing costs because of a disability, such as visits to the doctor or hospital, medicines, extra clothing or travel.

Work and Income adds a note families often miss: you do not have to be on a benefit to qualify for a Disability Allowance. The two payments do different jobs. Child Disability Allowance recognises the extra care a child needs; Disability Allowance reimburses regular ongoing costs. Ask about both in the same conversation.

What we are not going to guess

Disability Allowance is assessed on your actual ongoing disability-related costs and is subject to its own rules and limits, so we are not going to publish a figure that would be wrong for most families. Work and Income assesses it individually.

Support for education, therapy and equipment sits with different agencies again, including the Ministry of Education for early intervention and Health New Zealand for needs assessment and service coordination. Those routes have their own eligibility rules and we are not going to summarise them from a distance.

Where the health side starts

If your concern is developmental rather than financial, the starting point is your Well Child provider, your general practice or, in the first six weeks, your lead maternity carer. Health New Zealand's information service publishes the routes into needs assessment and disability services, and it is worth asking for a referral in writing rather than waiting to see whether things settle.

What to do first

Contact Work and Income today, because the payment can start from the date you ask. Book the health practitioner appointment for the medical certificate straight away, so you are inside the 20 working day window. Ask about Disability Allowance in the same call. And do not screen yourself out on income, because for Child Disability Allowance your income is not part of the test.

What the application needs

The Child Disability Allowance application form has two halves. You complete your part, and your child's health practitioner, for example your doctor, completes the medical certificate inside the same form. The form itself tells you which documents you need to provide.

Book the practitioner appointment first or at the same time as you contact Work and Income, because the 20 working day window to complete the process starts from the date you first make contact, and a GP appointment can easily use most of it.

Why the payment does not affect other help

Child Disability Allowance is paid separately from any other assistance you may get, and in most cases it will not affect other help from Work and Income. It is a set amount that does not depend on your income, assets or costs, which is unusual in the New Zealand system and the reason it is worth applying for even if you have been turned down for income-tested help before.

If your child has ongoing costs as well

Disability Allowance is the separate payment for regular, ongoing costs arising from a disability, such as visits to the doctor or hospital, medicines, extra clothing or travel. You do not have to be on a benefit to qualify for it. Ask about both payments in the same conversation, because they answer different questions and are assessed differently.