New Zealand Legislation: Regulations
Regulations are laws made under Acts
2008/347
Anand Satyanand, Governor-General
At Wellington this 29th day of September 2008
Present:
His Excellency the Governor-General in Council
Pursuant to section 132 of the Social Security Act 1964, His Excellency the Governor-General, acting on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council, makes the following regulations.
These regulations are the Social Security (Income and Cash Assets Exemptions: Ex Gratia and Compensation Payments Made by the Crown) Regulations 2008.
These regulations come into force on 3 November 2008.
In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,—
Act means the Social Security Act 1964
compensation—
(a) means a payment made—
(i) in satisfaction of a judgment or order of any court or an award of any tribunal, but not including an award of costs; or
(ii) in settlement of a claim against the Crown (whether or not that claim has been formally filed in a court or tribunal); and
(b) does not include a payment made pursuant to—
(i) an employment relationship; or
(ii) a contract to provide goods or services
economic loss means loss that is of a pecuniary nature, for example, lost wages
ex gratia payment means a payment made without an acknowledgment of legal liability
harm—
(a) means illness, injury, or both; and
(b) includes—
(i) physical harm; and
(ii) mental harm; and
(iii) humiliation, loss of dignity, and injury to the feelings of the aggrieved person; but
(c) does not include—
(i) economic loss; or
(ii) loss or reduction of property; or
(iii) loss of any benefit, whether or not of a monetary kind, that the aggrieved person might reasonably have been expected to obtain; or
(iv) loss of employment or loss of office
property has the meaning given to it by section 4 of the Property Law Act 2007.
The exemptions in regulations 5 and 6 apply only for the first 12 months after the payment is made.
The following are declared not to be the income of a person for the purpose of paragraph (f)(xvii) of the definition of income in section 3 of the Act:
(a) any compensation or ex gratia payment—
(i) made by the Crown to the person; and
(ii) made in recognition of harm, or in respect of a claim of harm; and
(b) any amount of income derived by the person from a payment referred to in paragraph (a).
(1) The item of cash assets specified in subclause (2) is not a person's cash assets for the purpose of paragraph (b) of the definition of cash asset in section 61E of the Act.
(2) The item of cash assets is any compensation or ex gratia payment—
(a) made by the Crown to the person; and
(b) made in recognition of harm, or in respect of a claim of harm.
Rebecca Kitteridge,
Clerk of the Executive Council.
This note is not part of the regulations, but is intended to indicate their general effect.
These regulations, which come into force on 3 November 2008, are made under the Social Security Act 1964 (the Act). They declare certain items of income or cash assets not to be a person's income or cash assets for the purposes of the Act.
The exempted income and cash assets are compensation or ex gratia payments made to a person by the Crown in recognition of harm, or in respect of a claim of harm. Income derived from such payments is also exempted.
Harm is defined as illness, injury, or both, and as including physical harm, mental harm, humiliation, and injury to feelings. Harm does not, however, include economic loss, loss of property, loss of future benefits, or loss of employment.
The exemptions apply only in respect of the first 12 months after the payment is made.
Such payments are also—
assets exempt from means assessment under Part 4 of the Act, because of the related exemption in regulation 10(1)(k) of the Social Security (Long-term Residential Care) Regulations 2005; and
excluded from cash assets used in determining eligibility for temporary additional support, because of the related exclusion in regulation 8(3)(j) of the Social Security (Temporary Additional Support) Regulations 2005.
Date of notification in Gazette: 2 October 2008.
These regulations are administered by the Ministry of Social Development.