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Budget 2024: The Government has announced FamilyBoost, a proposed new childcare payment to help eligible families with the rising costs of Early Childhood Education (ECE). Find out more: Beehive.govt.nz

What
Arrangements intended to be in place for 4 months or more
Who
Qualifying carers of children
When
You share the care of a child or children with another person

You may qualify for Working for Families payments if you have a shared care arrangement which is intended to be in place for 4 months or more and your child is in your care, on average, at least one third of the time (Over a year, this is at least 122 days a year or five days every fortnight).

If you have a formal shared care agreement or Court Order we look at what is actually happening or has happened day to day.

If there is a dispute the other person in the arrangement needs to confirm the shared care agreement. When you register for Working for Families payments you can attach a letter signed by both of you, or other documents such as a court order.

When care arrangements change during the year, you need to tell us about the change as soon as you can as it can affect your payments. We may need to increase, decrease or stop your payments.

Working for Families and child support have different rules for shared care. Call child support if you want to talk about your child support shared care.

Child support - contact us


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Last updated: 14 Apr 2021
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