Student Allowance Transfer Grant

Overview

Student Allowance Transfer Grants are available to clients (or their partners) if they are in hardship during the stand-down week between ceasing receiving a Student Allowance and their first payment of a main benefit. Student Allowance Transfer Grants were introduced on 1 October 2002.

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Eligibility for Student Allowance Transfer Grants

To qualify for a Student Allowance Transfer Grant, clients must:

• have a dependent partner or one or more dependent children
• be in hardship (ie have cash assets less than the maximum allowed and no other means of supporting themselves)
• be applying for a main benefit because their Student Allowance will stop for one of the following reasons:
  • the client is no longer a secondary or tertiary student
  • the client is sick, injured or on a break of three weeks or more
  • the client's course of study has ended, or
  • the tertiary provider has lost their accreditation
• apply for a Student Allowance Transfer Grant before the end date for which a Student Allowance is payable or within five working days after this date.

The amount of the grant payable in the stand-down week is one week of the main benefit applied for (after tax), less:

• any abatement due to income
• the amount of any other assistance received for ordinary living expenses (eg for food).

Income and asset limits for the Student Allowance Transfer Grant (see table 4.46) depend on the circumstances of the client.

Table 4.46 Asset and income limits for Student Allowance Transfer Grants (applicable from 1 April 2008)

Circumstances of client1	Income limit2	Asset limit3
Married couple, without dependent children	$360.00	$1,534.76
Married couple, with dependent children	None	$1,534.76
Sole parent, with one child	None	$1,209.40
Sole parent, with two or more children	None	$1,299.16

Notes

1. "Married" includes people who are married, living as married, or in a civil union.
2. Income limits (per week before tax) at 1 April 2008.
3. Asset limits at 1 April 2008.

The Student Allowance Transfer Grant is non-recoverable and non-taxable.

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Number of Student Allowance Transfer Grants provided

The annual number of Student Allowance Transfer Grants provided has decreased since 2003/2004 (see table 4.47) reflecting at least in part decreases in numbers granted main benefits. Almost all of the grants provided since 2003/2004 were provided to students who were transferring from a Student Allowance to an unemployment-related benefit. The overwhelming majority of these students were transferring to an Unemployment Benefit - Student Hardship.

The use of and expenditure on grants is highly seasonal, with nearly 90% of these grants made between November and January.

Table 4.47 Trends in the types of main benefit applied for by clients granted a Student Allowance Transfer Grant

Type of main benefit applied for when Student Allowance Transfer Grant granted	Student Allowance Transfer Grants provided1
	2003/2004 Number	2004/2005 Number	2005/2006 Number	2006/2007 Number	2007/2008 Number
Unemployment-related benefits2	2,206	1,861	1,454	1,229	1,021
Carer's benefits3	87	67	64	64	54
Sickness-related benefits4	33	37	29	17	22
Invalid's Benefit	2	0	0	6	1
Widow's Benefit	0	1	0	0	0
Emergency Benefit	4	8	6	5	3
No main benefit5	8	11	4	9	9
Total	2,340	1,985	1,557	1,330	1,110

Notes

1. Numbers of Student Allowance Transfer Grants provided in years ended June.
2. Comprises Unemployment Benefits and Unemployment Benefits - Hardship paid to unemployed people and to trainees, and Independent Youth Benefits.
3. Comprises Domestic Purposes Benefits - Sole Parent, Domestic Purposes Benefits - Care of Sick or Infirm, Domestic Purposes Benefits - Women Alone and Emergency Maintenance Allowances.
4. Comprises Sickness Benefits and Sickness Benefits - Hardship.
5. Includes clients receiving an Orphan's Benefit or an Unsupported Child's Benefit.

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Expenditure on Student Allowance Transfer Grants

Total annual expenditure on Student Allowance Transfer Grants has decreased since 2003/2004, while the average size of each grant has fluctuated (see table 4.48). The decrease in expenditure on these grants reflects reductions in the number of these grants being made. This, in turn is affected by patterns in benefit use, particularly in the number of benefits being granted.

Table 4.48 Trends in annual expenditure on Student Allowance Transfer Grants

	Expenditure on Student Allowance Transfer Grants1
	2003/2004 Amount	2004/2005 Amount	2005/2006 Amount	2006/2007 Amount	2007/2008 Amount
Total expenditure ($000)	573	495	380	327	278
Average value per payment ($)	$245	$249	$244	$246	$251

Notes

1. Expenditure on Student Allowance Transfer Grants recorded in SWIFTT during the year ended June.

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