Skip to main content
background pattern
Work and income | Te Hiranga Tangata
  • COVID-19 support
  • Employers
  • Providers
  • Go to MyMSD login
  • Benefits and payments homepage

    • Overview

      Take a look at the range of benefits and payments we have available.

    • Not working

      Redundancy, health condition or disability or another reason you can’t work

    • Living expenses

      Food, school costs, power, accommodation or other living expenses you need help with

    • Relationship changes

      You’ve had a relationship break-up, family breakdown or violent relationship end

    • Health and Disability

      Counselling, prescription and GP costs, medical alarms and other costs we can help with

    • Seniors

      Travelling overseas, how to apply, payment rates and dates, overseas pensions, income and other info for Seniors

    • Caring

      Caring for someone else’s child or someone with a health condition, injury or disability

    • Urgent or unexpected costs

      Dental, glasses, car repairs, fridge, washing machine, funeral or other urgent costs you need help with

    • Children

      Childcare, school uniforms, stationery, having a baby and other costs if you have children

    • Payment issues

      Fixing issues with Accommodation Supplement, Special Benefit and other payments we’ve made

    • 16-19 year olds

      Education, training, work and benefit help for 16-19 year olds

    • Benefits and forms

      A-Z list of benefits, forms, benefit rates

  • Work homepage

    • Overview

      Find out what services we can offer to help you find work and when you start a new job.

    • Looking for work

      We have jobs available now in various industries and you can search on our job websites.

    • Help with your job search

      From advice on making a plan, to tips on where to look and following up leads.

    • Training and experience

      Our programmes can help you get ready for work with training and work experience.

    • Job Connect on Facebook

      Find out how we can help you get ready to work, find work, and support available while you're working.

    • CVs and cover letters

      We’ve got great templates and advice for writing your CV or cover letter, and filling out job applications.

    • Help with work costs

      Get help to pay for the things you need to start work

    • Job support and advice

      Get all the support and advice you need to stay in work.

    • Health and disability

      If you want to work, we can support you to find the right job for you.

    • Start your own business

      We can help you get your business up and running.

    • Job interviews

      Get advice about how to prepare for and deliver a great interview.

    • Help for 16-19 year olds

      We’ve got extra support for young people to get ready for work and find a job.

  • On a benefit homepage

    • Overview

      Check out what you need to do when you're getting a benefit or other payment from us.

    • Something's changed

      Address, contact details, overseas travel, childcare, relationship or anything else that’s changed.

    • Income

      Declare income, wages deduction calculator and tables

    • Childcare

      Change in your childcare situation, continue childcare payments, cohort entry schools and other childcare information

    • Re-apply

      Re-apply for Jobseeker Support, Sole Parent Support, Temporary Additional Support and more

    • Payments

      Check or stop your payments, payment cards and other information

    • Debt

      Check your debt, repayments and other debt information

    • Rights and responsibilities

      Our commitment to you,  obligations, complaints, benefit fraud and more

  • Housing homepage

    • Overview

      Find out how we can help you with housing.

    • Nowhere to stay

      Get help if you have nowhere to stay right now.

    • Find a house

      Find out where to look for private housing, or apply for public (social) housing.

    • Living in your home

      Get help with accommodation costs, and advice on any housing issues and public housing tenancies.

    • Move house

      Find out how we can help if you’re moving house.

  • Go to the Work and Income home page
When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
  • MyMSD login
  • Online Services
    • Apply online
    • Apply for NZ Super
    • Apply for COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme
    • Help while you’re self-isolating
    • MyMSD
    • Find a Job
    • Fixing some payment issues
    • Check what you might get
    • Supplier registration
    • List a job vacancy
  • Benefits and payments
    • Carers
      • Caring for someone with a health condition, injury or disability
      • Caring for a child with a disability
      • Caring for someone else's child
    • Children
      • Childcare
      • Having a baby
      • School costs
      • Caring for someone else's child
    • Emergencies
      • Civil Defence Payment
      • Cyclone Gabrielle
      • COVID-19
      • Farmers affected by adverse events
    • Health and disability
      • Vehicle modification
      • Contraception
      • Counselling
      • Dental treatment
      • Glasses
      • House modification
      • Medical alarms
      • Prescriptions and health practitioner costs
      • Residential care
      • Travel costs
    • Living expenses
      • Heating and power bills
      • Managing your money
    • You're not working
      • Redundancy
      • Health condition or disability
      • Fired or left
      • Deported to NZ
      • Released from prison
    • Relationships
      • Break-up
      • Family breakdown
      • Violent relationships
    • Seniors
      • NZ Super
      • Veterans Pension
      • Payment dates
      • Payment rates
    • Urgent costs
      • Food
      • Accommodation
      • Power, gas and water bills or heating
      • Dental treatment
      • Glasses
      • Whiteware
      • Medical costs
      • House repairs and maintenance
      • Car repairs
      • Bereavement
      • Fire or theft
    • 16-19 year olds
  • Work
    • Job search
      • 'Find a job' website
      • Jobs in MyMSD
      • Where to look for jobs
      • Job search by region
      • Seasonal work
      • Jobs in forestry
    • CVs and cover letters
      • CV templates and tips
      • Cover letter template and tips
      • Applying for job tips
    • Training and work experience
      • Mana in Mahi
      • Limited Services Volunteer
      • Work Confidence programmes
      • Training
      • Voluntary work
      • Work experience
      • Creative Careers Service
    • Help with work costs
      • Moving for a job
      • Help when you're working
      • Starting your new job
      • Help to stay in work
    • Job interviews
      • Job interview tips
      • Preparing for a job interview
      • Courses to help you get a job
    • Job support and advice
      • Advice when you get a job
      • Advice once you start work
      • Support for women
      • Support for men
    • Health and disability job support
      • Help with job search and costs
      • Health and wellbeing support for work
      • Work and Supported Living Payment
      • Employment Service
      • Employment service for secondary school students
      • Job and Training Support Funds
    • Start your own business
    • Job help for 16-19 year olds
  • On a benefit
    • Changes and income
      • Income
      • Change housing details
      • Relationships
      • Change bank account
      • Child enters or leaves your care
      • Change contact details
      • Overseas travel
    • Re-apply
      • Re-apply for Jobseeker Support
      • Re-apply for Sole Parent Support
      • Re-apply for TAS
    • Wages deduction tables
    • Obligations
      • Jobseeker Support obligations
      • Supported Living Payment obligations
      • Sole Parent Support obligations
      • When you don’t meet your obligations
    • Payments
      • Check your payments
      • Changes to your payments
      • Money management for youth clients
      • Stop your payments
      • Stop your childcare payments
      • Getting a Payment Card
      • Using your Payment Card
      • Balances and transactions on your Payment Card
      • Problems with your Payment Card
    • Debt
      • Pay debt from overseas
      • Pay debt from NZ
      • Pay debt when not on benefit
      • Pay debt while on a benefit
    • Childcare
      • Change in circumstances
      • Continuing pre-school childcare
      • Continuing childcare when your child's at school
      • Stop childcare
      • Childcare absences
      • Childcare centre closes due to COVID-19
      • Move to OSCAR
      • Extending childcare
    • Having another child
    • Arrest warrants
    • Your rights and responsibilities
      • Your obligations
      • Have someone act on your behalf
      • Avoid benefit and housing fraud
      • Annual review
      • Our commitment to you
  • Housing
    • Nowhere to stay
      • Emergency housing
      • Escaping family violence
      • Leaving prison
    • Find a house
      • Who can get public housing
      • Apply for public housing
      • Waiting for public housing
      • Accepting a public housing offer
    • Living in your home
      • Housing costs
      • Living in public housing
    • Move house
      • Bond Grant
      • Rent in Advance Grant
      • Moving Costs Grant
      • Tenancy Costs Cover
      • Transition to Alternative Housing Grant
      • Transfer to another public housing property
  • Benefits, rates and forms
    • A-Z benefits
    • Benefit rates
    • Forms
    • Income and cash asset limits
  • Pensions
    • Get benefits overseas
    • Get NZ Super overseas
    • Moving to NZ
    • Social security agreements
    • Seniors Services
  • Providers
    • Activity in the Community projects
    • Large scale emergency
    • Childcare assistance
      • What's new
      • Registering your childcare service
      • Become an approved OSCAR provider
      • How we can help you
      • Tell us when things change
      • Payment schedules
      • Contacting us if you're a childcare or OSCAR provider
      • Centre absences and closures due to COVID-19
    • Advocates
    • Health and disability practitioners
      • Guides and forms
      • Roles
      • Assisting people into work
      • Medical certificates
      • Health and disability related benefits
      • Designated health practitioners second opinions
      • Medical appeals
    • Housing providers
      • Property owners and landlords
      • Emergency housing providers
      • Public housing providers
    • Forms
  • About Work and Income
    • Contact us
      • Our locations
      • Senior Services International
      • Overseas pension agencies contact details
      • Veterans
      • Report a suspected fraud
      • Other languages
    • Our services
      • Appointments
      • Cheap as data
      • Become a contracted provider
      • Information for trespassed clients
    • Our privacy notice
      • Collecting your information
      • Using your information
      • Sharing your information
      • Respecting your information
      • Managing your information
    • Making a complaint
      • Review of decision
      • Review of a medical decision
    • News
    • Careers at Work and Income
  • About this site
    • Accessibility
    • Privacy, disclaimer and copyright information
    • Online security
    • Words we use
    • Site map
  • Employers
    • Recruitment
      • List a vacancy
      • Hire an LSV graduate
      • Hire disabled people or people with health conditions
      • Shortlisting
      • Work experience
      • Pre-employment drug testing
      • Make an employment offer
    • Extra support and training
      • Flexi-wage
      • Apprenticeship Boost
      • Mana in Mahi
      • Skills for Industry
      • Support once your employee starts work
      • Mainstream programmes
      • Modifications to your workplace
    • Industry partnerships
    • Redundancy support
    • Emergencies and adverse events
    • Employee debt
  • COVID-19
    • People affected by COVID-19
      • Help while you're self-isolating
    • COVID-19 support for employers
      • COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme
    • Previous COVID-19 payments
      • Short-Term Absence Payment
      • Wage Subsidies August 2021
      • Wage Subsidy March 2021
      • Resurgence Wage Subsidy
      • Income Relief Payment
      • Wage Subsidy Extension
      • 2020 Wage Subsidy
      • Essential Workers Leave Support Scheme
      • Leave payment
      • Repaying a previous COVID-19 payment
  1. Home
  2. Benefits, rates and forms
  3. A-Z benefits and payments
  4. Community Services Card

Products

  • A-Z benefits
  • Benefit rates
  • Forms
  • Income and cash asset limits

Community Services Card

The Community Services Card can help you and your family with the costs of health care. This means you could pay less on some health services and prescriptions. Always carry your card with you to make it easy to get the benefits.

Information
  • You don't have to be on a benefit to qualify for the card.
  • You can also use the card for your dependent children under 18.

We administer the Community Services Card on behalf of the Ministry of Health.

Who can get it

You may get the Community Services Card if you:

  • are 16 or over
  • either:
    • are a New Zealand citizen
    • are a permanent resident, or
    • have, or have applied for, refugee or protection status
  • normally live in New Zealand and intend to stay here.

If you’re a dependent child, you can only get a Community Services Card, if your parent or caregiver is getting the:

  • Orphans Benefit
  • Unsupported Child's Benefit, or
  • Child Disability Allowance.

It also depends on how much income you and your partner get. By income, we mean any money, goods and services you or your partner get from any source, such as:

  • wages or salary
  • NZ Superannuation
  • private pensions (if you get NZ Super and a private pension, only half of your private pension is counted as income)
  • overseas pensions
  • interest or dividends from investments
  • Child support
  • Paid Parental Leave
  • Working for Families Tax Credits from Inland Revenue
  • ACC payments
  • income from rents

Income limits

You may be able to get a card if you're... And your yearly income (before tax) is less than...
Single - living with others $31,705
Single - living alone $33,646
Married, civil union or de facto couple - no children $50,313
NZ Superannuation single, sharing accommodation $33,713
NZ Superannuation single, living alone $35,861
NZ Superannuation married, civil union or de facto relationship - no children $53,821
Family of 2 $61,455
Family of 3 $75,645
Family of 4 $87,269
Family of 5 $98,687
Family of 6 $111,255

For families of more than 6, the limit goes up another $11,277 for each extra person.

Family: in this table, a family includes either 1 or 2 adults and the dependent children they care for. For example, a family of 2 is made up of 1 adult and 1 dependent child. A family of 3, can be made up of either 1 adult and their 2 dependent children or 2 adults and 1 dependent child.

What the card can help with

The Community Services Card can reduce the cost of:

  • visits to a health practitioner (eg, a doctor or nurse) if you're enrolled at their practice (for yourself, and your dependent children aged 14-17)
  • ACC visits to a general practice if you're injured (you may not need to be enrolled at their practice - it depends on the practice)
  • prescription fees
  • fees for after-hours health practitioner visits
  • glasses for children under 16
  • emergency dental care provided by:
    • hospitals, and
    • approved dental contractors (ask the dental provider if they are an approved contractor)
  • travel and accommodation for treatment at a public hospital you've been referred to outside your area:
    • at least 80km away for adults
    • at least 25km for children
  • home help.

What the card won't cover

If your child is under 14 and visits their health practitioner (eg, doctor) at their enrolled practice, it will usually be free. If the health practitioner has an extra charge, the Community Services Card won't cover it. You'll need to pay for it.

If you need a prescription, there may be part-charges or other pharmacy fees to pay. The Community Services Card won't cover this. You'll need to pay for it.

How to apply

Information

You don't need to apply for a Community Services Card if we automatically send one to you.

Before you start

We'll automatically send you and your partner a card if you're getting one of these benefits or payments from us:

  • Accommodation Supplement
  • Emergency Benefit
  • Jobseeker Support
  • Residential Care Subsidy (if you have a partner, they'll need to apply for their own card).
  • Sole Parent Support
  • Student Allowance, if you don't have a partner's who's working (if you do have a partner who's working, you'll need to apply)
  • Supported Living Payment
  • Veterans Pension
  • Youth Payment, or
  • Young Parent Payment.

We'll also automatically send you and your partner a card if you're living in public housing, ie, a Kāinga Ora (Housing NZ) house.

Getting a card for a child you support

We'll automatically send you a Community Services Card for a child you support if you're getting:

  • Orphans Benefit
  • Unsupported Child's Benefit, or
  • Child Disability Allowance

You can sign the card on the child's behalf.

Step 1 - Fill out an application form

If you don't automatically get a card sent to you, you'll need to apply for one.

You can get an application form in any of these ways:

  • download the application form below
  • ring us on 0800 999 999 and ask for one
  • call into a Work and Income service centre
  • ask a health practitioner, eg, your family doctor or pharmacy.

If you get Working for Families Tax Credits, you'll be sent an application form automatically.

linksCommunity Services Card application form (PDF 670.3KB)

Step 2 - Gather your documents

You need to provide 3 documents as proof of identity when you apply for a Community Services Card.

If you get NZ Superannuation, you don't need to provide proof of identity.

What you need to bring when you apply for Community Services Card

Step 3 - Send everything to us

Send your application form and documents to us at the address on the application form. We'll process your application and let you know if we need anything else.

We may send you a letter asking you for proof of your income. We'll explain what you need to send.

  • If you're self-employed, you must send us your latest full set of business accounts and tax summaries.
  • You can ask your accountant to send us your financial details, but they can't sign the application form for you.

Step 4 - Getting your card

If your application is approved, we'll send you a Community Services Card.

On your card is the date it starts and expires. You can continue to use the card until it expires, even if your circumstances change.

Claim back costs you've already paid for

Sometimes your card might start before you get it in the mail. During this time, you may have paid full price for:

  • after-hours health practitioner visits
  • prescriptions.

If you did, you may be able to claim some of these costs back.

To claim them, you need to:

  • fill out the 'Reimbursement of Health Overcharges Application Form'
  • gather all your original receipts
  • send your application form and receipts to:
    PO Box 5054
    Lambton Quay
    Wellington

If your application is approved, we'll work out how much the Community Services Card would have covered.

linksReimbursement of Health Overcharges Application Form (PDF 214.94KB)

Renewing your card

If your card is due to expire, it will need to be renewed. It takes 3 weeks to get a replacement card.

We may automatically send you a replacement card

In some situations, we'll automatically send you and your partner a replacement card before your old one expires. This will happen if you still meet the criteria and you're getting one of these payments from us:

  • Accommodation Supplement
  • Emergency Benefit
  • Jobseeker Support
  • Residential Care Subsidy (if you have a partner, they'll need to re-apply for their own replacement card)
  • Sole Parent Support
  • Student Allowance if you don't have a partner who's working
  • Supported Living Payment
  • Veteran's Pension
  • Youth Payment, or
  • Young Parent Payment.

If you get NZ Super, we may automatically send you a replacement card. It depends on your income.

We'll also automatically send you and your partner a replacement card if you still meet the criteria and:

  • you've living in public housing, ie, a Kāinga Ora (Housing NZ) house, or
  • you get Working for Families from Inland Revenue.

If you don't automatically get a replacement card, you'll need to re-apply for one.

How to re-apply for a replacement card

We'll send you a renewal form before your card expires. You need to fill this out and send it back to your nearest service centre.

Didn't get a replacement card or renewal form

If you don’t automatically get a replacement card or a renewal form, call us on 0800 999 999.

Can't get Community Services Card

If you can't get the Community Services Card, you may be able to get a:

  • Prescription subsidy (if you and your family have collected 20 subsidised prescription items in a year), or
  • High Use Health Card (if you visit a health practitioner, eg, your doctor, at least 12 times in 12 months for an ongoing health condition).

These are both managed by the Ministry of Health.

Prescription subsidy - Ministry of Health
High Use Health Card - Ministry of Health

Related

Home help
Help with glasses
Help from other organisations
Help with other health and disability costs
Prescription subsidy
High Use Health Card
Manuals and procedures

How we can help

  • Benefits and payments
  • Work
  • On a benefit
  • Housing

Online services

  • Check what you might get
  • Find work
  • Apply online
  • MyMSD
  • How to stay safe online

About

  • About Work and Income
  • About this site
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy, disclaimer and copyright

Contact us

  • Phone numbers
  • Find a service centre
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Feedback
  • Help in other languages
Go to Ministry of Social Development's website Go to Govt.nz's website Shielded Site