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 emergency
      • Rural help
    • 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
      • Training support funding
    • 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
      • Teacher only days
    • 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 and rent in advance
      • Moving costs
      • Securing a private rental
      • Moving out of public housing
      • 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
      • Modification Grant
    • 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. Providers
  3. Advocates

Providers

  • Activity in the Community projects
  • Large scale emergency
  • Childcare assistance
  • Advocates
  • Health and disability practitioners
  • Housing providers
  • Forms

Advocates

An advocate can deal with Work and Income on someone's behalf.

We are committed to seeing that people get all the assistance they are entitled to and will work with them and their representatives to see that this happens. We know that some people have difficulty in explaining their needs and as a result, do not always obtain their full and correct entitlements. You as an advocate provide a voice for these people.

What an advocate can do

When an advocate deals with Work and Income on someone's behalf, they can only do what the person they represent has said they can do. This consent must be in writing unless the person is present with the advocate. In that case verbal consent is enough.

Written consent needs to say what an advocate can do. It can also say what an advocate can't do. It must be signed by the advocate and the person giving consent.

Information

We'll only deal with an advocate within the terms of the consent.

The goals of advocates and Work and Income are the same: to do the best we can for the person and their family. This means that they get their full and correct entitlement. We are committed to working with advocates to make this happen.

We have a formal relationship with the National Beneficiary Advocate Consultative Group (NBACG). The NBACG represent a national network of beneficiary advocacy groups.

Benefit advocates who work for one of these advocacy groups should follow the operation practice of the NBACG when working with Work and Income and the Ministry of Social Development.

Advocates Terms of Reference

Information about the relationship between the NBACG and us and the operational practice to follow for advocates who work under the NBACG.

If you're an advocate who isn't covered by the NBACG there is more information about how we'll work with you in the following document.

The Ministry's Working Relationship with Client Representatives

National Beneficiaries Advocacy Consultative Group

The National Beneficiary Advocate Consultative Group (NBACG) represents a national network of beneficiary advocacy groups. They meet with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) quarterly with a mutual commitment to work together and resolve issues for the people we jointly serve.

Some of the aims of the meetings are to:

  • create a culture of collaboration and relationship building
  • discuss ongoing areas of concern and, where there are mutually agreed problems, to identify what action is to be taken
  • define operation practice for benefit advocates who work under the NBACG.

The objective of the escalation process is to efficiently and effectively deal with matters of disagreement.

If you're an NBACG advocate you should refer to the Advocates Terms of Reference for information on the escalation process and the operational practice you should follow.

Advocates Terms of Reference

Information about the relationship between the NBACG and us and the operational practice to follow for advocates who work under the NBACG.

A quick guide to the escalation process for NBACG advocates

Where an issue arises, advocates will:

  • discuss and attempt to resolve the situation with the site;
  • discuss and attempt to resolve the situation with the appropriate regional staff;
  • ask that the issue to be added to the agenda for the next quarterly meeting; and/or
  • refer the issue to the National Relationship Manager for Client Representatives.

The method chosen depends on what the advocate considers is the most appropriate course of action depending on the circumstances.

Any escalation of a client case to National Office must be done in writing.
If the matter still cannot be resolved, the issue will be escalated to the Ministry of Social Development.

Advocates who work under the NBACG should follow the procedures agreed between the NBACG and the Ministry of Social Development in the Advocates Terms of Reference.

Other advocates have the rights described on the following page:

What you can do if you don't agree with us

Your rights when you don't agree with a decision we've made.

These are the manuals and procedures that our staff follow. They are used to help us follow the legislation that determines the assistance someone can get.

Map

Related

Having someone act on your behalf
Complaints about an income support or pension decision

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