Civil Defence Payment

• You don't have to be on a benefit to qualify for a Civil Defence payment.
• In most cases it doesn't matter what your income is or what assets you have.

Who can get it

You may be able to get a Civil Defence Payment if either:

• a Civil Defence emergency has been declared, or
• the event meets the guidelines for a Civil Defence emergency.

You must be in one of these situations because of the emergency:

• you had to leave your home (eg, you've been evacuated or you're on stand-by)
• you were away from your home at the time of the emergency and can't return
• you need help with food, bedding or clothing
• you can't go to work.

You must also:

• not be able to cover your costs from insurance (or you haven't been paid yet)
• not have access to any other help, eg:
• public donations
• other government relief funds
• charitable relief funds.

If you're not sure whether insurance will cover your costs, you may still qualify for a Civil Defence Payment. However if you get a Civil Defence Payment and then your insurance pays for any costs covered by this, you'll need to pay us back.

What you can get depends on your circumstances. You can apply for help with more than one type of cost.

How to apply

You can only apply for this payment during a Civil Defence emergency, we'll update this page with details about how to apply then.

When you apply you'll need to tell us your:

• full name
• date of birth
• contact number
• normal home address
• current address (if you've had to evacuate your home).

If you're applying because you've lost income due to the emergency, you'll also need to tell us your:

• IRD number
• bank account number
• details of any income you've lost so far
• employer's:
  • name
  • address
  • contact person's name and address.

If we need any further information we'll contact you.

What you can get if you:

After you've applied

We'll process your application within 2 working days. Once we've processed it, we'll contact you to let you know the outcome.

We may also need to contact your employer about your application if you're applying because you've lost income.

How it's paid

We'll pay the Civil Defence Payment either to you or to your supplier, depending on what you need help with.

If you're applying because you:	We'll pay the Civil Defence Payment to:
Need to replace food, bedding or clothing	Generally onto a Work and Income payment card (green card), so you can pay this to the supplier or shop. In some circumstances we can pay this direct to you.
Had to leave your home	Generally paid to your accommodation supplier or host. They'll need to be registered with us as a supplier to receive this. If they haven't already registered, they can do this here: Register as a Work and Income supplier In some circumstances we can pay this directly to you, for example if your accommodation supplier is unable to register with us due to the emergency.
Lost income	Your bank account