Pursuant to section 124 (1) (d) of the Social Security Act 1964, the Minister for Social Development and Employment establishes and approves the following welfare programme for special assistance.
Dated at Wellington this 15th day of March 2006.
DAVID BENSON-POPE, Minister for Social Development and Employment.
_______
P r o g r a m m e
1. Title—This programme is called the Community Costs Programme.
2. Commencement—This programme comes into effect on 1 April 2006.
3. Purpose—The purpose of this programme is to help people receiving treatment in certain short-term residential programmes to reintegrate into the community at the conclusion of their residence in the programme by providing financial assistance to meet essential costs in the community they are not able to meet from their personal allowances or other resources.
4. Interpretation—(1) In this programme, unless the context otherwise requires:
Act means the Social Security Act 1964
applicant means a person who applies for community costs payments under this programme, and includes a person to whom CC payments under this programme are granted
cash assets has the same meaning as in the Social Security (Temporary Additional Support) Regulations 2005
community cost, in relation to a resident, has the meaning set out in the Schedule
community costs payments or CC payments means the special assistance under this programme
eligible person means a person who is eligible for CC payments under clause 6 and is not ineligible for
CC payments under clause 7
personal allowance, in relation to a resident, is the amount he or she is not required to contribute towards the cost of his or her care or treatment in a treatment programme from his or her benefit
premises, in relation to a resident, means the place that he or she would otherwise occupy as a home; and includes any room or other accommodation he or she would otherwise occupy as a home as a boarder or lodger
resident means a person who, for the purposes of assessment or treatment (or both), is for the time being resident in a short-term residential treatment programme; and residence has a corresponding meaning
short-term residential treatment programme or treatment programme means a programme of residential care for alcohol or other drug treatment
of an intended duration of not more than 39 weeks
that is funded under the New Zealand Public Health
and Disability Act 2000 or, if not so funded, is certified to provide that care and treatment under the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001.
(2) Terms otherwise defined in section 3 (1) of the Act have the same meanings in this programme.
5. Application of the Social Security Act—(1) Sections 12, 62, 63, 64, 71A, 74, 74A, 76, 77, 80BD (1), 81, 82 (except 82 (6)), 84 and 86J of the Act apply to this programme and to every applicant as if the CC payments under this programme were a benefit under the Act.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) limits the application to this programme of any other provision of the Act.
6. Eligibility for community costs payments—(1) A person is eligible for community costs payments under this programme if he or she is a resident (whether continuously or not) in one or more short-term residential treatment programmes for a period or total period of not more than
26 weeks within a 52-week period commencing on the date of the person’s entry into the treatment programme or, as the case requires, the first treatment programme.
(2) Where a resident has completed a period or total period of 26 weeks residence in one or more treatment programmes within the 52-week period referred to in subclause (1), the chief executive may, during one period of not more than
13 weeks or 13 weeks in total within that 52-week period, continue to treat the resident as an eligible person if the chief executive is satisfied:
(a) it has been clinically determined the resident needs, and would benefit from, further treatment in the treatment programme; and
(b) he or she continues to be a resident (whether continuously or not) in that treatment programme
or in one or more other treatment programmes.
7. Ineligibility—A person is ineligible for CC payments if he or she:
(a) is a person receiving residential care services
funded wholly or partly under the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000; or
(b) is a resident assessed as requiring care within the meaning of section 136 of the Act; or
(c) is a person, or is the spouse or partner of a person,
to whom a special benefit continues to be payable under section 23 of the Social Security (Working for Families) Amendment Act 2004; or
(d) is:
(i) aged 15 or less; or
(ii) the dependent child of a person; or
(iii) a child for whom payments are being made under section 363 of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989; or
(e) has cash assets (including the cash assets of his or her spouse or partner (if any)) of more than:
(i) in the case of a single person, the amount in clause 1 of Schedule 31 of the Act; or
(ii) in the case of a person who is married or in a civil union or is a sole parent, the amount in clause 2 of that Schedule; or
(f) is a person whose income (including the income
of his or her spouse or partner if any) is more than the appropriate amount set out in Part 2 of Schedule 31 of the Act.
8. Application form must be completed—(1) Community costs payments may be granted to an applicant only if an application form for the purpose is completed in writing by or on behalf of the applicant.
(2) The form must be provided by the chief executive.
(3) The form must, when completed, set out the information required to allow:
(a) the applicant’s eligibility for CC payments to be assessed; and
(b) the rate of any CC payments payable to the applicant to be determined.
9. CC payments towards community costs—(1) The chief executive may, in his or her discretion, having regard to the matters set out in subclause (2), grant an applicant who is an eligible person CC payments towards meeting one or more of the applicant’s community costs.
(2) The matters referred to in subclause (1) are:
(a) whether the amount of the community cost is a reasonable cost for the item or service concerned;
(b) whether the applicant is a beneficiary, and is required to contribute to the cost of the treatment programme from his or her benefit;
(c) whether the applicant’s income (including the income of his or her spouse or partner (if any)) is sufficient to meet the applicant’s community costs, taking account of the extent to which the applicant is required to contribute to the cost of the treatment programme from that income;
(d) whether the applicant has a spouse or partner residing in the community and whether any other assistance available under the Act to that spouse or partner, or to both the applicant and his or her spouse or partner, will help meet the applicant’s community costs;
(e) whether there is any other assistance available to the applicant or his or her spouse or partner under the Act or any other enactment or from any other person or organisation or any government agency that could help meet the applicant’s community costs and the efforts made by the applicant or (as the case requires) the applicant’s spouse or partner to obtain any such assistance;
(f) whether the granting of CC payments, or CC payments of any particular amount would result
in the applicant and his or her spouse or partner
(if any) receiving a financial benefit compared with the amount of the benefits and other assistance available to them if they were resident in the community; and
(g) any other matters the chief executive considers relevant.
10. Amounts and limits of CC payments—(1) Where the chief executive grants CC payments towards any community cost:
(a) the amount of the CC payments granted must be set by the chief executive having regard to the matters in clause 9 (2); and
(b) the weekly amount of the CC payments must not exceed the amount of that community cost reckoned on a weekly basis.
(2) The amount or total amount of CC payments granted
in any week must not exceed $300.00 a week except in exceptional circumstances.
11. Period for which CC payments payable—(1) CC payments granted under this programme commence not earlier than:
(a) the date of the applicant’s entry into the treatment programme if the application for CC payments is made before or within 28 days after that date; or
(b) the date of application in any other case.
(2) CC payments end (if they have not ended earlier):
(a) on the date the applicant’s intended period of residence in the treatment programme ends; or
(b) on any earlier date on which the applicant leaves the programme.
(3) Subclause (2) (a) is subject to clause 6 (2).
(4) Nothing in subclause (2) requires the chief executive
to continue to make CC payments towards any particular community cost if the chief executive is satisfied the applicant has ceased to incur that cost.
Schedule
Clause 4
Community Costs
1 A cost is a community cost only if it is an ongoing cost the chief executive considers it is essential for the applicant to incur to help to reintegrate the applicant into the community at the conclusion of his or her residence in a short-term residential treatment programme and is not a cost to which clause 3 applies.
2 Without limiting clause 1, the following ongoing costs of a resident are examples of community costs:
(a) The costs of retaining any premises;
(b) where the resident is not retaining premises while a resident, storage costs for the resident’s motor vehicle (if any) and household furniture and effects;
(c) agreed period payments (within the meaning of clause 6 of Schedule 2 of the Social Security (Temporary Additional Support) Regulations 2005) for essential household furniture or appliances acquired before becoming a resident;
(d) the costs of childcare for any dependent child of the resident;
(e) costs relating to the retention of the resident’s employment or place in an employment-related training course.
3 The following costs are not community costs:
(a) Payments on account of any child support liability under the Child Support Act 1991 or any maintenance liability under the Family Proceedings Act 1980;
(b) payments towards any fine, reparation, damages,
or penalty imposed, awarded or ordered by any court;
(c) payments of any tax, penalty, or duty imposed by or under any enactment (other than any goods and services tax payable on any community cost).
Explanatory Note
This note is not part of the programme, but is intended to indicate its general effect.
This programme, which takes effect on 1 April 2006, provides for discretionary grants of financial assistance to residents of certain short-term residential programmes providing alcohol and other drug treatment, to meet essential costs in the community needed to help them integrate back into the community at the end of their residence in the programmes.