Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698751477710.pdf (New Zealand)
Reprint as at 11 December 2015 Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015 (LI 2015/33) Jerry Mateparae, Governor-General Order in Council At Wellington this 23rd day of February 2015 Present: The Right Hon John Key presiding in Council Pursuant to sections 61H and 61HA of the Social Security Act 1964 and sections 15 and 16 of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001, His Excellency the Governor-General, acting on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council, makes the following order.
Contents Title Commencement Increasing amounts of funeral grants Mandatory adjustments under section 61HA of Social Security Act 1964 Mandatory adjustments under sections 15 and 16 of New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001 Page 2 2 2 2 3 Note Changes authorised by subpart 2 of Part 2 of the Legislation Act 2012 have been made in this official reprint.

Note 4 at the end of this reprint provides a list of the amendments incorporated.
This order is administered by the Ministry of Social Development.

1 cl 1 6 7 Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015 Reprinted as at 11 December 2015 Discretionary adjustments under section 61H of Social Security Act 1964 Revocation Schedule 1 Mandatory increases Schedule 2 Discretionary increases Order 3 3 3 5 1 Title This order is the Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015.

2 (1) (2) 3 (1) (2) Commencement This order comes into force on 1 April 2015.
By way of explanation,— (a) (b) (c) clause 4 comes into force on 1 April 2015 by virtue of section 61HA(5) of the Social Security Act 1964: clause 5 comes into force on 1 April 2015 by virtue of section 15(6) of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001: clause 6 comes into force immediately after clauses 4 and 5 come into force.

Order: validated and confirmed, on 11 December 2015, by section 13 of the Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Act 2015 (2015 No 119).
Increasing amounts of funeral grants In the Social Security Act 1964, sections 61DB, 61DC, and 61DD, replace “$1,998.57” with “$2,008.76”.

The amendments made by subclause (1) apply in respect of persons who die on or after 1 April 2015.
4 Mandatory adjustments under section 61HA of Social Security Act 1964 In each provision of the Social Security Act 1964 listed in the first column of Part 1 of Schedule 1 of this order, replace, in each place, the amount set out opposite to that provision in the second column with the amount set out oppos- ite to that provision in the third column.
2 Reprinted as at 11 December 2015 Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015 Schedule 1 5 Mandatory adjustments under sections 15 and 16 of New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001 In each provision of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001 listed in the first column of Part 2 of Schedule 1 of this order, replace the amount set out opposite to that provision in the second column with the amount set out opposite to that provision in the third column.
6 (1) (2) Discretionary adjustments under section 61H of Social Security Act 1964 In each provision of the Social Security Act 1964 listed in the first column of Part 1 of Schedule 2 of this order, replace the amount set out opposite to that provision in the second column with the amount set out opposite to that provi- sion in the third column.
In each provision of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001 listed in the first column of Part 2 of Schedule 2 of this order, replace the amount set out opposite to that provision in the second column with the amount set out opposite to that provision in the third column.

(3) The amendments made by this clause take effect from the close of 31 March 2015.

7 Revocation The Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2014 (LI 2014/39) is revoked.
Schedule 1 Mandatory increases cls 4, 5 Part 1 Increases to social security benefits and allowances Old amount ($) New amount ($) Provision amended Schedule 3 (Rates of generally abolished former widows’ benefits under section 21 as saved by clause 3 of Schedule 32 for reciprocity agreement applicants or recipients) Clause 1 Clause 2 Schedule 3A (Rate of sole parent support) Clause 1 Schedule 4 (Maximum rates of orphans’ benefits and unsupported childs’ benefits) Clause 1(a) Clause 1(b) Clause 1(c) Clause 1(d) Schedule 6 (Rates of supported living payment benefits) 203.42 186.06 168.62 145.30 204.46 187.01 169.48 146.04 299.45 217.75 300.98 218.86 300.98 299.45 3 Schedule 1 Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015 Reprinted as at 11 December 2015 New amount ($) 212.54 262.64 345.02 218.86 218.86 218.86 218.86 218.86 Old amount ($) 211.46 261.31 343.27 217.75 217.75 217.75 217.75 217.75 Provision amended Clause 1(a) Clause 1(b) Clause 1(c) Clause 1(e) Clause 1(f) Clause 1(g) Clause 1(h) Clause 3 Schedule 9 (Rates of jobseeker support) Clause 1(aa) Clause 1(a) Clause 1(ab) Clause 1(b) Clause 1(ba) Clause 1(c) Clause 1(d) Clause 1(e) Clause 1(f) Clause 2 Clause 5 Schedule 16 (Rates of generally abolished former DPB for solo parents under section 27B as saved by clause 3 of Schedule 32 for reciprocity agreement applicants or recipients) 299.45 Clause 1 Clause 2 217.75 Schedule 22 (Rates of benefits payable to long-term hospital patients) Clause 1 Schedule 26 (Rates and component of youth payment and young parent payment, and criteria for incentive payments) Clause 1 Clause 2 Clause 3 Clause 4 Clause Part 2 Increases to superannuation entitlements Provision amended Schedule 1 (New Zealand superannuation entitlements) Clause 1(a) Clause 1(b) Clause
 1(c) Clause 2(b) Old amount ($) New amount ($) 421.76 387.58 319.23 604.54 424.20 389.70 321.05 608.04 4 348.86 43.78 46.49 61.69 38.48 211.96 261.96 211.96 311.96 Reprinted as at 11 December 2015 Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015 Schedule 2 Schedule 2 Discretionary increases cl 6 Part 1 Increases to social security asset limits, etc Old amount ($) New amount ($) Provision amended Schedule 6 (Rates of supported living payment benefits) Clause 2 347.75 43.56 Schedule 19 (Rates of child disability allowance and disability allowance) 46.25 Clause 1 61.38 Clause 2 Clause 3 38.28 Schedule 26 (Rates and component of youth payment and young parent payment, and criteria for incentive payments) Clause 10 Clause 11 Schedule 31 (Asset and income limits that may be applied to certain assistance) Clause 1 Clause 2 Clause 3 Clause 4 Clause 5 Clause 6 Clause 7 Clause 8 Clause 9 Clause 10 Clause 11 Clause 12 Clause 13 Clause 14 1,045.59 1,742.24 1,372.90 1,474.78 477.59 548.90 797.24 666.06 701.73 516.13 607.36 900.57 719.82 758.39 1,050.92 1,751.13 1,379.90 1,482.30 480.03 551.70 801.31 669.46 705.31 518.76 616.71 914.71 723.49 762.26 Part 2 Increases to superannuation entitlements Provision amended Schedule 1 (New Zealand superannuation entitlements) Clause 1(a) Clause 1(b) Clause 1(c) Old amount ($) New amount ($) 424.20 389.70 321.05 431.10 396.17 326.30 5 210.88 260.88 210.88 310.88 Explanatory note Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015 Reprinted as at 11 December 2015 Provision amended Clause 2(a) Clause 2(b) Clause 3 Clause 4 Old amount ($) 638.46 608.04 43.23 38.28 New amount ($) 652.60 618.08 43.45 38.48 Michael Webster, Clerk of the Executive Council.
Explanatory note This note is not part of the order, but is intended to indicate its general effect.

This order, which comes into force on 1 April 2015, increases a range of benefits, al- lowances, asset limits, superannuation entitlements, etc.

The increases reflect both mandatory adjustments and some additional discretionary increases.
Where an annual CPI increase is required, it reflects the increase of 0.51% in the New Zealand Con- sumers Price Index from the December 2013 quarter to the December 2014 quarter, calculated for all quarters using the New Zealand Consumers Price Index (All Groups), excluding cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Annual CPI increases are required under section 61HA of the Social Security Act 1964 for the following benefits: former widows’, sole parent support, orphans’ and unsupported childs’, supported living payment, jobseeker support, former domestic purposes, the hospital rate, and youth payments and young parent payments.

These increases are set out in Part 1 of Schedule 1.
Annual CPI increases are also required, under section 15 of the New Zealand Super- annuation and Retirement Income Act 2001, to superannuation entitlements.

Section 16 of that Act requires that those increases may be more than the CPI increase in cer- tain cases.

The total of the increases required by both sections 15 and 16 is set out in Part 2 of Schedule 1.
The discretionary increases made under section 61H of the Social Security Act 1964 are in respect of— • • • • • funeral grants: the income thresholds for a totally blind beneficiary to be eligible for an addi- tional allowance: the rates of child disability allowance and disability allowance: the abatement rates and income limits for the youth payment and young parent payment: various asset and income limits that may be applied to certain assistance.
The increases are set out in clause 3 and Part 1 of Schedule 2.
6 Reprinted as at 11 December 2015 Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015 Explanatory note Further increases to the disability allowance income limits are made in Part 1 of Schedule 2 to ensure that current recipients of New Zealand superannuation or the veterans’ pension do not lose eligibility for a disability allowance as a result of the increase to the rates of those benefits under this order and the Veterans’ Support Amendment Regulations 2015.
Increases to superannuation entitlements, which build on the increases set out in Part 2 of Schedule 1, are also made, in order to implement the Government’s commitment to ensure that the net married couple rate of New Zealand superannuation is set at a minimum of 66% of the net average wage.

These increases are set out in Part 2 of Schedule 2.
Under section 61H(3) of the Social Security Act 1964, this order expires on the close of the period of 12 months commencing with the date on which it was presented to the House of Representatives, unless it is expressly validated and confirmed by an Act of Parliament before that date.

Issued under the authority of the Legislation Act 2012.

Date of notification in Gazette: 26 February 2015.


7 Notes Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015 Reprinted as at 11 December 2015 Reprints notes 1 General This is a reprint of the Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2015 that incorporates all the amendments to that order as at the date of the last amendment to it.
2 Legal status Reprints are presumed to correctly state, as at the date of the reprint, the law enacted by the principal enactment and by any amendments to that enactment.

Section 18 of the Legislation Act 2012 provides that this reprint, published in electronic form, has the status of an official version under section 17 of that Act.

A printed version of the reprint produced directly from this official elec- tronic version also has official status.
3 Editorial and format changes Editorial and format changes to reprints are made using the powers under sec- tions 24 to 26 of the Legislation Act 2012.

See also http://www.pco.parlia- ment.govt.nz/editorial-conventions/.

4 Amendments incorporated in this reprint Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Act 2015 (2015 No 119): section 13 Wellington, New Zealand: Published under the authority of the New Zealand Government—2015 8