Eligibility for Employment and Training Assistance

Work and Income assist a range of people to find and remain in paid work. To qualify for less intensive assistance, a client must be:

• a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident (that is, not be in New Zealand unlawfully or on a temporary permit)
• ordinarily resident in New Zealand
• within New Zealand's working-age population
• actively seeking or preparing for work.

In addition, to qualify for more intensive work assistance, a client must be:

• in receipt of some form of government financial assistance
• disadvantaged in the local labour market and at risk of long-term benefit dependency.

Where appropriate, intensive work services may be provided to clients who are not receiving a main benefit or aged under 18, but who are disadvantaged in the local labour market and at risk of long-term benefit dependency. A range of factors are taken into account in determining whether a person is disadvantaged in the local labour market and at risk of long-term benefit dependency, including:

• the barriers the person may have to taking up employment
• the length of any previous time the person has been in receipt of a benefit
• the circumstances that have contributed to the person being unemployed (eg redundancy, recent release from prison)
• the type of employment the person is seeking and local labour market conditions (what is realistic for them)
• the level of skills and qualifications possessed by the person which are relevant to local labour market opportunities
• the length of any period out of the labour market resulting in a lack of previous labour market experience.

Work services are also available to:

• people who are currently working who wish to:
  • seek another job (eg where redundancy is pending), or
  • retain the job they are in (eg where health or disability issues may otherwise threaten the person’s future in the job)
• people with ill-health, and disabled people, so that they can gain paid employment.