Child support is paid by parents who do not live with their children, or who share care with someone else. We administer the Child Support Scheme, which supports 158,000 children.
Te Tari Taake Inland Revenue has been preparing to implement policy that sees child support collected from parents ‘passed on’ to carers who are sole parent beneficiaries on a main benefit.
It's estimated the pass-on will make a positive impact on approximately 41,550 families.
Government policy has been to retain payments to recoup the cost of providing welfare to sole parents. In 2019, the Welfare Expert Advisory Group recommended abolishing this approach, saying 'money intended for children should not be withheld by the government'.
The pass-on took effect from 1 July 2023, meaning these sole parents are no longer treated differently from other beneficiaries.
The first payments are being passed on from late August 2023 when child support from July is paid. We’ve been informing customers, and preparing our systems and processes, as the pass-on brings new customers into the Child Support Scheme.