Financial support for individuals and whānau
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Help with money
Essential costs
If you’ve lost your job or had your hours reduced you may be able to get a benefit or some other financial help from Work and Income.
Work and Income can help with urgent costs like:
- food
- accommodation costs, for example rent or mortgage, board, emergency housing, moving house
- repairs or replacing appliances
- emergency dental treatment
- emergency medical treatment
- water tank refill.
You can also call Work and Income on 0800 559 009.
Guidance for those under financial stress
If you're worried about your ability to finance existing loans as a result of COVID-19 you should contact your bank or finance company as soon as you can.
Banks and other lenders will work with customers who are struggling financially. Borrowers have a legal right to ask for changes to their repayments. There are a range of options available to help you through this time.
Budgeting and financial guidance
The government-funded services Sorted and MoneyTalks can help with budgeting or other financial guidance.
Sorted can help with tips, guides and tools support online or you can email office@sorted.org.nz
Read more information on the Sorted website (external link)
You can also talk to financial mentors at MoneyTalks. Call 0800 345 123, text 4029 or email help@moneytalks.co.nz
Read more on the MoneyTalks website (external link)
Power bills
If you're worried about the costs of your power bills, talk to your retailer about other options such as moving to a more affordable plan.
If you're vulnerable, in financial hardship or medically dependent, you should tell your retailer.
Electricity Authority advice to save on power bills (external link)
Wage subsidy and leave schemes
COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme
The COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme provides a payment to businesses to pay their workers who need to take leave due to COVID-19 public health guidance.
Information about the COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme and how employers can apply (external link)
Wage subsidy schemes
Wage subsidies were available to support workers who were financially impacted by COVID-19. Three schemes were available:
- Resurgence Wage Subsidy
- Wage Subsidy Extension
- Wage Subsidy Scheme
The wage subsidy schemes have now ended.
Information on the Resurgence Wage Subsidy (external link)
Redundancy support
As the impact of COVID-19 increases, experiencing job loss could be a reality for many. If you’ve lost your job or you run a business and are faced with laying off your employees, there may be support options available to you. Work and Income offer a range of information and support to employees who are made redundant.
Find out more on the Work and Income website (external link)
Work and Income has also information for employers who are considering redundancies.
Read details on the Work and Income website (external link)
COVID-19 Income Relief Payment
The COVID-19 Income Relief Payment is another option for people who have recently lost their jobs.
You may be eligible if you lost your job (including self-employment) from 1 March 2020 to 30 October 2020, due to the impacts of COVID-19. You can get up to 12 weeks of payments to help with living costs and give you time to look for other work.
It offers:
- $490 a week if you lost full-time work
- $250 a week if you lost part-time work.
Protection for renters and tenants
If you're renting and are struggling to pay your rent, you may be eligible for support to help you stay in your rental property.
Get help with housing costs from Work and Income (external link)
There was a freeze on rent increases which meant landlords could not increase rent for their rental properties. The freeze on rent increases ended on 25 September 2020.
Information for landlords and tenants at the Tenancy Services website (external link)
Mortgage repayment deferral scheme
New Zealand’s retail banks are able to defer repayments for some mortgages until 31 March 2021. This applies to:
- residential mortgages
- agriculture loans, and
- SME loans.
You have to be financially affected by COVID-19. These loans will not be viewed as being defaulted.
If you get a mortgage repayment deferral from your bank you may be able to defer principal and interest payments on your loan. Banks and customers have flexibility over the term of any deferral. However, the Reserve Bank’s concessionary loan guidance will expire on 31 March 2021.
This package is in addition to what banks are already doing individually to help affected customers.
Key details of this scheme
Interest on these loans will still increase, and deferred interest will be added to the principal amount of the loan.
Banks will assess each customer that asks for a deferral. The Reserve Bank’s guidance is that lenders should only approve a deferral if:
- there’s a need for it
- there’s a benefit to the borrower, and
- the lender thinks there’s a reasonable chance of that customer resuming payments when the deferral period ends.
Banks will have different approaches to how they manage the process for customers to opt into a mortgage deferral. Those details, including eligibility criteria, will be available on bank websites.
Customers should contact their bank for further details or queries about the scheme.
NZ citizens and residents living in Australia
Access to Australian superannuation
All New Zealand citizens and permanent residents living in Australia, who meet the Australian Government’s eligibility criteria, will now be able to access up to AUD$20,000 of their Australian superannuation.
How to apply for payment from your Australian superannuation (external link)
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