When you’re on a benefit, there are things you or your partner need to do (your obligations). MSD have a traffic light colour system to help you stay on track with some of your obligations.
Most people who get Supported Living Payment are not in the traffic light system.
More information
The traffic light system lets you know where you’re at and what you need to do.
- Green: If you’re at green, you’re on track and meeting your obligations.
- Orange: You’ll move to orange if you don’t meet your obligations and you don’t have a good reason. This means you need to contact MSD straight away. If you don’t contact MSD and get back on track within 5 working days, you’ll move to red.
- Red: Once you’re at red, your benefit will reduce or stop. This means you need to contact MSD immediately to get back on track.
If there’s any reason why you can’t meet your obligations, talk to MSD straight away. If you haven’t been in touch, they’ll try and contact you before you move to orange, to find out why you haven’t met your obligations.
MSD will send you a letter to let you know if you’re at orange or red. From early October, you’ll also see in MyMSD what traffic light colour you’re at.
Who the traffic light system is for
You’ll be in the traffic light system if you have work-related and/or social obligations, which are:
- find or prepare for work
- take part in Work Ability Assessments, to help us understand what kind of work you can do
- take part in activities with our service providers, to find a job or prepare for work
- social obligations (when taking care of dependent children).
Benefits with work-related and/or social obligations
You or your partner will have work-related and/or social obligations if you get one of these benefits:
- Jobseeker Support, or
- Sole Parent Support.
If your partner is under 18, they won’t have work-related obligations.
You or your partner may have work-related and/or social obligations if you get either:
- Emergency Benefit, or
- Emergency Maintenance Allowance.
You will have other obligations as well. To find out what happens if you or your partner don’t meet your other obligations, see ‘When you don’t meet your obligations‘.
Supported Living Payment
Most people who get Supported Living Payment are not in the traffic light system. This is because you do not have an obligation to find work.
You will only be in the traffic light system if:
- you’re taking care of dependent children, because this means you have social obligations (taking reasonable steps to make sure children get health checks and education)
- it has been assessed you can prepare for work and we have discussed this with you (very few people have this), or
- MSD have asked you to take part in a Work Ability Assessment or to work with a contracted service provider (very few people are asked to do this).
If you have a partner, their obligations are likely to be different. This means they could be included in the traffic light system, even if you’re not.
If you’re at orange or red
You need to contact MSD straight away.
They’ll help you get back on track so you can move back to green.
When you move back to green, we may set you more activities to do so you continue to meet your obligations.
What happens at orange
If you’re at orange, it means you have not met your work-related or social obligations.
Contact MSD straight away and they’ll book you an appointment to come in and see them. At your appointment you will talk to you about why you haven’t met your obligations.
If you don’t contact MSD and get back on track within 5 working days, you’ll move to red and your benefit will reduce or stop.
If you have a good reason for not meeting your obligations
If you have a good reason, we’ll move you back to green at your appointment.
If you don’t have a good reason for not meeting your obligations
At your appointment they’ll arrange for you to do an activity.
If you don’t do the activity within 5 working days from when you moved to orange, you’ll move to red and your benefit will reduce or stop.
You’ll move back to green as soon as you do the activity.
What happens at red
If you’re at red, this means your benefit has reduced or stopped. Whether your benefit will reduce or stop depends on how many times you haven’t met your obligations in the last year. It could be the first, second or third time in the last year.
It’s more serious if you don’t meet your obligation of accepting a suitable job offer. In this case, your benefit will be affected in the same way as if you haven’t met your obligations for the third time.
Contact MSD immediately if you’re at red and haven’t arranged to do an activity to get back on track.
First time within 1 year
If this is the first time you haven’t met your obligations without a good reason within a year, your benefit will reduce by 50% for 4 weeks.
Contact MSD immediately and they’ll arrange for you to do an activity.
Once you’ve done the activity, you’ll move back to green and get your full payment again.
If you don’t contact us or do the activity within 4 weeks
If you:
- don’t have dependent children, your benefit will stop after 4 weeks
- have dependent children, we’ll review your benefit after 4 weeks.
You can still contact MSD and arrange to do an activity to get back on track.
Once you’ve done the activity, you’ll move back to green and get your full payment again.
Second time within 1 year
If this is the second time within the year you haven’t met your obligations without a good reason, your benefit will either:
- be paid at 50%, if you have dependent children, or
- stop, if you don’t have dependent children.
Contact MSD immediately and they’ll arrange for you to do an activity.
Once you’ve done the activity, you’ll move back to green and get your full payment again.
If you have dependent children and don’t contact us within 4 weeks
If you have dependent children, we’ll review your benefit after 4 weeks.
Third time within 1 year
If this is the third time within the year you haven’t met your obligations, or the first time you haven’t accepted a suitable job offer, without a good reason, your benefit will either:
- be paid at 50%, if you have dependent children, or
- stop, if you don’t have dependent children.
Contact MSD immediately. They’ll arrange for you to do another activity for 6 weeks and you will have to re-apply for your benefit.
If you agree to do the activity and you’ve re-applied for the benefit, you’ll get your full payment again from the date you start the activity. If you don’t complete the activity, you’ll have to pay back any benefit payments you got in that 6 weeks. Once you’ve done the activity, you’ll move back to green.
If you don’t agree to do the activity, you won’t be able to get a benefit for 13 weeks.
If you have dependent children and don’t contact us within 4 weeks
If you have dependent children, we’ll review your benefit after 4 weeks.
If you disagree with our decision
You may want to dispute or discuss a decision they’ve made. If so, you have 5 working days to contact MSD after they’ve let you know you haven’t met your obligation.
If you still disagree with their decision, you can ask for a review of decision.
Click here to read more at the original web page at www.workandincome.govt.nz
