Jobseeker Support Student Hardship obligations

While you receive Jobseeker Support Student Hardship, you have full-time work obligations. This means you must be available for, and take reasonable steps to find, suitable employment of at least 30 hours or more per week.

You may not need to meet your work obligations in certain circumstances, eg you have a health condition or disability that affects your ability to work.

Have a partner

If you have a partner, there are obligations they need to meet as well.

If you get any income, you need to let us know as it could affect how much you get for your Jobseeker Support Student Hardship.

If your relationship status changes, you must tell us straight away as it could affect how much you're paid.

If you have a baby, or a child enters or leaves your care, you must tell us as soon as possible as it could affect your payments.

Social obligations

When required, you and your partner need to take all reasonable steps to ensure your child is:

• enrolled with a health practitioner or enrolled with a medical practice that is part of a Primary Health Organisation
• up-to-date with their core Well Child/Tamariki Ora checks (for children aged under 5 years)
• enrolled in and attending one of the following from the age of 3 until they start school:
• an approved early childhood education programme, or
• Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu - The Correspondence School, or
• another approved parenting and early childhood home education programme
• enrolled in and attending school from the age of 5 or 6 (depending on when they start school).

You need to tell us straight away if you're going overseas so we can talk to you about how it affects your payments.

If you have work obligations and a potential employer requires you to pass a drug test, you have to take and pass the test.

This also applies to employment-related training where a training provider uses drug tests as part of the admission process, eg, a drug test is required as part of a course to get a heavy truck licence.

Work obligations and drug tests

Many employers expect all people applying for a job to pass a drug test. Around 40 per cent of jobs listed with us require applicants to pass a pre-employment drug test.

There are some circumstances where you will not be sent to jobs that need you to take and pass a drug test. This includes if we know that you're either:

• dependent on drugs, or
• undergoing or waiting for drug treatment, or
• taking prescription medication that could cause you to fail a drug test.

Not clearing an arrest warrant will mean benefit payments are affected or stopped.

Affect on payments

If you or your partner has an uncleared warrant for criminal matters, you'll be told that unless it’s cleared, or you've taken reasonable steps to try and clear the warrant, your benefit will stop (if you have no dependent children) or reduce by up to half (if you have dependent children).

If your arrest warrant for criminal matters hasn’t been cleared 28 days after its issue, you'll get a letter telling you that you have 10 working days to clear it.

If the New Zealand Police considers that you're a risk to public safety, your benefit can be stopped or affected immediately, without telling you first.

What you need to do

Only a court can issue and clear warrants to arrest.

To clear your warrant to arrest you need to:

• go to the criminal counter at a courthouse. It’s best to go to the court where the warrant was issued, but it can be done at any courthouse. You can’t clear a warrant over the phone
• tell them you want to make a “voluntary appearance” to clear your warrant
• try to arrive early in the day. If you leave it too late you may not be able to clear the warrant that day.

You can go to a police station to start the process of clearing your warrant if you can’t get to a court.

What happens next

The court will let you know if the warrant can be cleared straight away or if a Judge needs to make the decision.

• If the warrant can be cleared straight away, the court will give you a “Notice of bail”.
  The Ministry of Justice lets us know when this has been done.
  You only have to bring the “Notice of bail” into your local office if your benefit has already been stopped or reduced.
• If the decision has to be made by a Judge you’ll be given a “Notice of hearing to withdraw an outstanding warrant to arrest”. You’ll then be given a new court date.
  You need to bring your "Notice of hearing" into your local office.

Payments will only be restarted from the date your warrant is cleared and any missed payments won’t be backdated. Other payments from us may also be affected.

If you don't meet your obligations, and you don't have a good reason, your benefit could reduce or stop. We'll send you a letter to let you know that your payments have been affected and how you can re-start them.