1	Title
2	Commencement
3	Principal regulations
4	Regulation 165 amended (Guide to Part 6)
5	New subpart 1A of Part 6 inserted
		Subpart 1A—Mandatory reviews
	176A	Benefits designated as specified benefits
	176B	Circumstances prescribed for exception from requirement for MSD to undertake mandatory review
	Explanatory note
	Administrative Information

Regulations

1 Title

These regulations are the Social Security (Mandatory Reviews) Amendment Regulations 2025.

2 Commencement

These regulations come into force on 2 March 2026.

3 Principal regulations

These regulations amend the Social Security Regulations 2018.

4 Regulation 165 amended (Guide to Part 6)

After regulation 165(a), insert:

(aa)

subpart 1A (regulations 176A and 176B) deals with mandatory reviews:

5 New subpart 1A of Part 6 inserted

After regulation 176, insert:

Subpart 1A—Mandatory reviews

176A Benefits designated as specified benefits

What this regulation does

(1)

This regulation designates the benefits or kinds of benefits that are a specified benefit or specified benefits for the purposes of subpart 3A of Part 6 of the Act (see the definition of specified benefit in section 310A of the Act).

Benefits or kinds of benefits designated

(2)

This regulation designates each of the following benefits or kinds of benefits:

(a)

a supported living payment, whether that benefit or kind of benefit is granted—

(i)

under section 34 of the Act on the ground of restricted work capacity or total blindness; or

(ii)

under section 40 of the Act on the ground of caring for another person:

(b)

an emergency benefit, whether that benefit or kind of benefit is granted—

(i)

under section 63 of the Act (discretionary grant on ground of hardship); or

(ii)

under section 64 of the Act (grant during epidemic in New Zealand):

(c)

an accommodation supplement granted under section 65 of the Act:

(d)

a disability allowance granted under section 85 of the Act:

(e)

New Zealand superannuation.

176B Circumstances prescribed for exception from requirement for MSD to undertake mandatory review

What this regulation does

(1)

This regulation prescribes circumstances for the exception under section 310E(1) of the Act from the requirement for MSD to undertake a mandatory review under section 310B(1) of the Act (see section 310E(1)(b)(ii), and the definition of prescribed circumstances in section 310E(2), of the Act).

Circumstances prescribed

(2)

This regulation prescribes each of the following circumstances:

(a)

the beneficiary’s specified benefit is a supported living payment (whether granted under section 34 of the Act on the ground of restricted work capacity or total blindness, or under section 40 of the Act on the ground of caring for another person), and is payable—

(i)

to a beneficiary who is ordinarily resident in a country other than New Zealand; and

(ii)

as provided in a reciprocity agreement—

(A)

with the Government of the country in which the beneficiary is ordinarily resident; and

(B)

adopted by an order made under section 380 of the Act:

(b)

the beneficiary’s specified benefit is an emergency benefit granted—

(i)

under section 63 of the Act (discretionary grant on ground of hardship) or section 64 of the Act (grant during epidemic in New Zealand); and

(ii)

with an expiry date that is earlier than, or is exactly, 52 weeks after the commencement of the benefit:

(c)

the beneficiary’s specified benefit is an accommodation supplement granted under section 65 of the Act, and is received by a person who is receiving—

(i)

a youth payment; or

(ii)

a young parent payment:

(d)

the beneficiary’s specified benefit is a disability allowance granted under section 85 of the Act, and is received by a person who—

(i)

is receiving jobseeker support or sole parent support; and

(ii)

has been notified or advised under section 335 of the Act that their entitlement to that benefit will cease unless they reapply for that benefit and it is regranted; and

(iii)

has informed MSD, in the 44 weeks before the date of the notification or advice mentioned in subparagraph (ii), of the person’s additional expenses of an ongoing kind arising from the person’s disability (for the purposes of section 85(2)(d) of the Act):

(e)

the beneficiary’s specified benefit is New Zealand superannuation, and is payable at a rate other than a non-standard couple rate under Part 3 (see clauses 4 and 7 to 10) of Schedule 1AA of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001, and to a beneficiary who is, or is not, absent from New Zealand (so this paragraph does not apply if the beneficiary’s specified benefit is New Zealand superannuation that is payable at that non-standard couple rate, for example, that is payable at that rate to a beneficiary who is absent from New Zealand, and as provided in any of sections 22 to 25 of that Act):

(f)

the beneficiary—

(i)

is a patient in hospital care within the meaning of section 4(1) of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001; and

(ii)

has been in hospital for a period of more than 13 weeks:

(g)

the beneficiary is in residential disability care or rest home care within the meaning of section 4(1) of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001:

(h)

the beneficiary resides in, or is present in and cannot reasonably leave, an area in respect of which a state of local emergency or state of national emergency is in force under Part 4 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002:

(i)

the beneficiary resides in, or is present in and cannot reasonably leave, an area that is or may be affected by an outbreak of a quarantinable disease in respect of which an epidemic notice has been given, and is in force, under section 5(1) of the Epidemic Preparedness Act 2006.

Rachel Hayward,
Clerk of the Executive Council.

Explanatory note

This note is not part of the regulations but is intended to indicate their general effect.

These regulations, which come into force on 2 March 2026, amend the Social Security Regulations 2018 (the principal regulations). The amendments relate to mandatory reviews under subpart 3A of Part 6 of the Social Security Act 2018 (the Act). That subpart is inserted on 2 March 2026 by the Social Security (Mandatory Reviews) Amendment Act 2025.

These regulations amend Part 6 (administration) of the principal regulations to insert new subpart 1A (mandatory reviews), which includes new regulations 176A and 176B.

New regulation 176A designates benefits or kinds of benefits as specified benefits for the purposes of subpart 3A of Part 6 of the Act (see the definition of specified benefit in section 310A of the Act). The effect of designation is that MSD must review all specified benefits for a specified purpose and within the 52-week periods specified in section 310B(1)(a) and (b) of the Act unless an exception to, or exemption from, mandatory review applies. The specified purpose of a mandatory review is to ascertain whether a beneficiary—

is, or remains, entitled to receive the benefit, or the rate of benefit, that is being paid to the beneficiary; or
was not entitled to receive the benefit, or the rate of benefit, that was paid to the beneficiary.

Beneficiaries must, under section 310C of the Act, provide MSD with information and answers to questions that MSD requires for the purposes of mandatory reviews of specified benefits. If, as a result of giving information or answers, MSD determines that a beneficiary’s circumstances have changed, MSD may require the beneficiary to provide information or answers in a way, and by a reasonable deadline, that MSD specifies. If a beneficiary fails to comply, MSD must suspend every benefit or special assistance the beneficiary is receiving apart from those of the kind listed in new section 310C(6) of the Act.

Automated electronic systems may also be used (see section 363A of the Act) to make decisions, exercise powers, comply with obligations, and take related actions under a specified provision about mandatory reviews of specified benefits by MSD.

New regulation 176B prescribes circumstances for the exception under section 310E(1) of the Act from the requirement for MSD to undertake a mandatory review under section 310B(1) of the Act.

Issued under the authority of the Legislation Act 2019.

Date of notification in Gazette: 13 November 2025.

These regulations are administered by the Ministry of Social Development.

Social Security (Mandatory Reviews) Amendment Regulations 2025