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Work homepage
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Overview
Find out what services we can offer to help you find work and when you start a new job.
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Looking for work
We have jobs available now in various industries and you can search on our job websites.
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Help with your job search
From advice on making a plan, to tips on where to look and following up leads.
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Training and experience
Our programmes can help you get ready for work with training and work experience.
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Job Connect on Facebook
Find out how we can help you get ready to work, find work, and support available while you're working.
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CVs and cover letters
We’ve got great templates and advice for writing your CV or cover letter, and filling out job applications.
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Help with work costs
Get help to pay for the things you need to start work
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Job support and advice
Get all the support and advice you need to stay in work.
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Health and disability
If you want to work, we can support you to find the right job for you.
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Start your own business
We can help you get your business up and running.
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Job interviews
Get advice about how to prepare for and deliver a great interview.
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Help for 16-19 year olds
We’ve got extra support for young people to get ready for work and find a job.
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Benefits and payments homepage
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Overview
Take a look at the range of benefits and payments we have available.
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Not working
Redundancy, health condition or disability or another reason you can’t work
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Living expenses
Food, school costs, power, accommodation or other living expenses you need help with
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Relationship changes
You’ve had a relationship break-up, family breakdown or violent relationship end
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Health and Disability
Counselling, prescription and GP costs, medical alarms and other costs we can help with
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Seniors
Travelling overseas, how to apply, payment rates and dates, overseas pensions, income and other info for Seniors
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Caring
Caring for someone else’s child or someone with a health condition, injury or disability
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Urgent or unexpected costs
Dental, glasses, car repairs, fridge, washing machine, funeral or other urgent costs you need help with
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Children
Childcare, school uniforms, stationery, having a baby and other costs if you have children
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Moving to New Zealand
Payments you can get from us, settling into NZ, overseas pensions and more.
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16-19 year olds
Education, training, work and benefit help for 16-19 year olds
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Benefits and forms
A-Z list of benefits, forms, benefit rates
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On a benefit homepage
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Overview
Check out what you need to do when you're getting a benefit or other payment from us.
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Something's changed
Address, contact details, overseas travel, childcare, relationship or anything else that’s changed.
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Income
Declare income and income deduction tables
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Childcare
Change in your childcare situation, continue childcare payments, cohort entry schools and other childcare information
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Going overseas
Going on holiday or going to live overseas
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Re-apply
Re-apply for Jobseeker Support, Sole Parent Support, Temporary Additional Support and more
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Payments
Check or stop your payments, payment cards and other information
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Debt
Check your debt, repayments and other debt information
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Rights and responsibilities
Our commitment to you, obligations, complaints, benefit fraud and more
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Housing homepage
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Overview
Find out how we can help you with housing.
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Nowhere to stay
Get help if you have nowhere to stay right now.
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Find a house
Find out where to look for private housing, or apply for public (social) housing.
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Living in your home
Get help with accommodation costs, and advice on any housing issues and public housing tenancies.
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Move house
Find out how we can help if you’re moving house.
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Sharing your information
Sometimes we need to share your information with people or organisations and suppliers outside of the Ministry of Social Development.
We share your information when:
We share your information with a number of agencies, including:
- organisations that we contract to deliver services on our behalf, including:
- training, education and career advice
- social housing - to check if you can get help with housing
- employment providers who help you get back to independence
- community services for disabled people
- wellbeing support providers - for example, to help refer you to counselling or mentoring services
- an employer - to help find you work and discuss job interviews we refer you to, eg:
- labour hire companies
- immigration advisors
- immigration consultants acting on behalf of employers
- other government agencies, eg we share information with the Tertiary Education Commission to make sure that course fee payments are correct.
We will only share your information in situations where the law says we are allowed to and we think we should.
Sharing with other government agencies
We share your information with other government agencies when we have an agreement with them, such as:
- Approved Information Sharing Agreement
- Information Matching Agreement, or
- Memorandum of Understanding.
We only share what we are allowed to under these agreements.
What happens when we share your information
When we share your information with another government agency, we look for things like:
- if you've started working
- if you've gone overseas
- if you're getting a payment from ACC.
If we match you to any information that will affect your benefit or payment, we'll send you a letter. This is called an adverse action letter. We will let you know what will happen to your benefit or payment.
You have 5 working days to let us know if you don't agree with the information in this letter. If we don't hear from you in 5 working days, we'll make the changes to your benefit or payment.
Co-operating with legal investigations and meeting legal requirements
Agencies can ask us for information when:
- they want help with:
- their investigation
- their legal proceedings, or
- we need to meet legal requirements.
Example of agencies that can ask us for information are:
- New Zealand Police
- the Courts
- Customs
- ACC
- Oranga Tamariki
- the Ministry of Justice, or
- banks.
We will give them any information they ask for if the law requires us to.
Ensuring the safety and security of people
We may share information if there is a concern for your or your family's safety, or the safety of the public.
This is usually with:
- Oranga Tamariki, if we have concerns about a child's safety
- New Zealand Police, if we have concerns about a person's safety.
Using information for research
We can share information with people doing research about our services.
We will make sure you can't be identified when the research is published. This helps everyone design services that best meet the needs of New Zealanders. It means you, and others who need support in the future, get the best possible services.
Example
We provide information for the Stats NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The IDI is a large research database that is used to understand New Zealand society and economy. It's maintained under Stats NZ's "five safes" privacy and security requirements. This means that they keep the information safe and protect your privacy.
The research links up data across government agencies. It can help answer questions about complex issues that affect New Zealanders.
Sharing publicly available information
We can share information that is already available to the public.
For example, you may have provided details about yourself to the media. We can then give that same information to other parties.
This could be when you:
- sign a consent form
- voluntarily provide information to us, eg, when you fill out a survey.