Frequently asked questions

The guidelines on what you can use your funding for are different depending who is your Funder. Ministry of Social Development(MSD) and various Te Whatu Ora regions have different rules, but both Funders allocate the bulk of their funding to cover Home and Community Support Services(HCSS). HCSS is split into two categories, Personal Care and Household Management. Provided from the MSD website are some examples of what you can use your funding for.

Household management or general household tasks may include:

• preparing meals

• washing, drying or folding laundry

• house cleaning, vacuuming and tidying.

Personal care may include:

• assisting with your eating and drinking

• dressing and undressing

• getting up and ready for bed

• bathroom needs care

• getting around your home.

This is not a complete list of possible uses of your funding, but a helpful starting point for ideas. The below Purchasing Guidelines relate to funding provide by MSD only, not Te Whatu Ora.

We suggest you refer to the MSD’s funding guidelines. There are four main criteria for use of your disability support funding: 1. Helps people live their life or makes their life better 2. Is a disability support 3. Is reasonable and cost-effective 4. Isn't subject to a limit or exclusion So, you can use your funding to cover the cost of your support (hours of work or services provided by a support person or support provider).

Currently, you must also be able to justify a purchase will enable the disabled person to complete task(s) more independently AND create a reduction in ongoing support costs.

Purchasing Guidelines for IF Respite

Tablet devices, noise cancelling headphones, sensory items (such as fidget spinners) and weighted blankets, are all able to be funded from Carer Support, Individualised Funding Respite (IF Respite), EIF and EGL Personal Budgets, where this creates a break for family carers.

These items – and only these items – can be purchased through Carer Support and IF Respite.

Tablet devices and noise cancelling headphones can be purchased no more than once in an allocation period (usually 12 months).

Purchases of tablet devices and noise cancelling headphones must continue to meet the requirements of all four purchase rules. Tablet devices and headphones can be purchased where:

• They are related to the specific disability-related challenges that the disabled person encounters.

• They are reasonable and cost-effective. It is not cost-effective, for example, to purchase another tablet device or set of headphones if the disabled person has one that works and was purchased from a previous year’s allocation; and

• Attempts have been made to access relevant other agency funding, including, for example, Ministry of Education funding for some devices.

You can also use your funding to cover costs that your support worker incurs while providing support to you.

Example 1 If your support person drives you to an activity such as swimming in their own car, you can claim any entry fees for your support person and mileage for the trip. You cannot claim any entry fees for yourself or mileage if you use your own car. Example 2 If you need a computer, cell phone or tablet to help you manage your funding, you can use your funding to pay for this with some restrictions. Example 3 You would like your staff to do some training, for example, an NZQA qualification. You can use your funding to pay for this.

You cannot use your funding to buy services or utilities that a person would reasonably be expected to pay for if they did not require Home and Community Support Services, such as:

• bills, such as power, gas, telephone and internet costs (unless internet costs have been specifically approved)

• general household fittings, furniture and whiteware, standard electrical goods and consumer products

• food, groceries and other common household goods (unless this is for the support worker to use)

• mortgage payments or rent

• general vehicle purchases, modifications or maintenance

• house, contents, life, or other insurance

• travel costs such as fuel, plane, train, bus or taxi fares (unless this is for the support person)

• paying off personal debts

• donations to charitable or church organisations

• professional services unrelated to the Home and Community Support Services or the management of the individualised funding arrangements

• complementary therapies and non-government funded or subsidised health treatment

There are always exceptions and our Customer Experience Centre team are here to help and offer their experience and advice on a case by case basis. In addition, Individualised Funding also cannot be used to:

• increase the personal income of the person or their household

• purchase personal advocacy services

• purchase anything that is illegal; and/or

• purchase goods or services that are the responsibility of other government agencies or publicly funded organisations such as GP visits, therapies, Behaviour Support and Child Development services

IF Manager refers to the person who chooses to manage some or all of their disability supports through Individualised Funding. Manawanui might use the term customer or IF Manager, or client – they are all the same thing.

An Agent is someone who assists a person receiving funding to manage their funding and associated supports, usually because the IF manager is unable to do so themselves. In this instance, the term Agent has no special legal status. This is generally an unpaid role, though there are exceptions in some special circumstances.

The role of an Agent may include, but is not limited to:

• Recruiting staff

• Managing staff

• Managing a budget

• Submitting funding claims and/or employee time sheets

Basically they are responsible for ensuring the funding is used within the funding guidelines and also for the benefit of the disabled person the funding is allocated for.

When an IF Manager uses an Agent to manage their supports, Manawanui enters into a service agreement with the Agent to ensure services and supports are in place and working for the client. The Agent submits timesheets and/or expense claims on behalf of the IF Manager.

Anyone who can manage the responsibilities of being an employer, manage budgets and will prioritise the IF Manager’s quality of life and best interests can become an Agent. This is usually a family or whānau member, but can also be a friend or acquaintance.

Employees - All employees need to have a corresponding timesheet that accurately records the hours for the current fortnight period. Regardless of whether they worked, were sick or took annual leave etc., the timesheet should show the days and hours for the employee to be paid their fortnightly wages.

Before an employee can be paid we must verify the employee's IR330, Kiwisaver form, Bank Verification and a signed Support Worker Privacy Declaration. It is also highly recommended to have a written and signed employment agreement as well as a job description, but we do not need to store this for your employees.

Contractors - All contractors must provide a legitimate and unique invoice for each fortnightly period they provided you with support. The invoice must be accurately dated, with detail covering the hours of support, dates the support was provided and the hourly rate that the support is invoiced at. This requirement is in place to ensure IRD requirements are met with regards to proper records relating to compensating workers for their support.

If you have any concerns around meeting the above requirements, please contact our Customer Experience Centre [email protected] or 0508 462 427.

All Expense Claims and Timesheets for both Payroll and Self Managing customers must be submitted by midnight Monday, the day after your fortnight ends. All Self Managing Expense Claims submitted on time are paid out on the following Tuesday evening and can be expected in your account by Wednesday morning. Timesheets submitted on time by Payroll customers are paid out on the Wednesday evening and can be expected in the employee account by Thursday morning. If an Expense Claim or Timesheet is submitted late, you can expect the team to process payment within 5-10 business days following submission.

Yes, if you are able to source these, then you can use your Individualised Funding to pay for them. As long as it is related to providing disability support for the disabled person.

This is for Ministry of Social Development funded customers, DHB funding or IF Respite do not cover purchases such as grocery delivery.

IF cannot be used pay for food as that is an ordinary cost. But it may pay for the delivery fee if you can explain how it fits the purchasing guidelines to do so in your specific situation.

There are some cases where it is needed to return funding you have claimed for, to your Individualised Funding balance in the Portal.

1. You were paid in advance based on a quote, but the actual cost was lower than the amount claimed.

2. You didn't end up purchasing the item at all.

In these cases you should return the money to Manawanui, so we can add it back to your Individualised Funding available balance.

Please forward the amount to the below bank account number and Manawanui will continue to process your employee’s timesheets.

ASB Bank Account Holder: Manawanui Support Ltd

ASB Bank Account number: 12-3136-0222554-01

Please ensure you provided the following references.

Particulars: Your Surname

Code: NHI number

Reference: Returned Funding

Any questions on this process can be answered by our CEC team.

While some DHBs have specific clauses in their IF policy, for the most part all DHBs have the same rules for the Individualised Funding that they allocate to people.

The Individualised Funding budget must be used towards the costs of paid support that fall within the description of Personal Care or Household Management. Some funding can be used to cover the costs of running a business or associated overheads, if you’d like to get further information on this we are happy to talk this through with you.

For Ministry of Social Development funded customers, the IF guidelines include more flexibility in what your funding can be used towards. The same principle applies as DHB funding, that your funding is to cover the costs of paid support for Personal Care or Household Management. But the difference comes with the addition of the Purchasing Guidelines from Enabling Good Lives, this allows for a much broader interpretation for approved purchases of items. If you would like to learn more about the Purchasing Guidelines, you can view the Purchasing Guidelines information on the Ministry of Social Development website.

A NASC is a Needs Assessment and Service Coordination agency, they are responsible for assessing disabled people in a particular region and then allocating support based on the needs of the disable person. Depending on where you are in New Zealand, your NASC will be a different organisation, you can find out who your NASC is by finding your region on the National NASC website here.

Or choose the right option from the list below

Northland – Northable

Phone: 09 430 9468, Email: [email protected]

Auckland – Taikura Trust

Phone: 0800 824 5872, Email: [email protected]

Waikato – Disability Support Link

Phone: 07 839 1441, Email: [email protected]

Bay of Plenty / Lakes - Support Net Kupenga Hao Ite Ora

Phone: 07 571 0093, Email: [email protected]

Tairawhiti - Your Way | Kia Roha Tairawhiti

Phone: 0508 447 627, Email: [email protected]

Hawkes Bay - NASC Hawkes Bay

Phone: 06 870 7485, Email: [email protected]

Taranaki - Your Way Kia Roha Taranaki

Phone: 06 758 5201, Email: [email protected]

Wanganui - Your Way Kia Roha Whanganui

Phone: 06 348 8411, Email: [email protected]

Manawatu – Mana Whaikaha

Phone: 0800 626 255, Email: [email protected]

Wairarapa - Focus

Phone: 0800 900 001, Email: [email protected]

Wellington

Your Way Kia Roha Lower Hutt

Phone: 04 569 3102, Email: [email protected]

Capital Support

Phone: 04 230 6400, Email: [email protected]

Nelson/Marlborough - Support Works

Phone: 0800 244 300, Email: [email protected]

Canterbury / West Coast - LifeLinks

Phone: 0800 866 877, Email: [email protected]

Otago - Your Way Kia Roha Otago

Phone: 0800 758 700, Email: [email protected]

The Portal is a secure website which makes it easy for Manawanui customers to access up to date information and manage funding, employees and expense claims. When you join Manawanui, we will give you all the information you need to get up and running with the Customer Portal.

It is better described as online banking, accounting and payroll software but specifically built for making managing Individualised Funding as easy as possible.

You can use the portal for all the important tasks to manage your funding and employees, including:

• Creating and Submitting Expense claims and Timesheets

• Managing your Budget

• Monitoring your Funding Expenditure

• Creating and Managing your support workers

• Viewing up to date statement balances

• Viewing employee payslips.

Yes. You can access the portal on most devices including phone, tablet and desktop. For best results on your phone, download the Manawanui App. You can download the app from your app store

Apple

Android

You can access the portal on all widely used and up to date internet browsers. If you are using Internet Explorer, you need to be using version IE9 or later. If you are using Safari, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, you need to ensure that it is up to date.

It is a secure environment. All data is secure and encrypted. Your login and password is unique to you and should be kept secure at all times.

If you forget your password, simply go to the login page for the Portal and click on the ‘Forgot/Reset Password’ link,.

Call our Customer Experience Centre team on 0508 462 427

Visit the app store that you use for your phone:

For Apple iPhones visit the AppStore for iOS

For Android phones visit the PlayStore

Search for Manawanui and follow the instructions to download.

Once you have downloaded the app, use your Customer Portal login details to activate your account.

The Manawanui App is the ideal, hassle-free way to manage your funding from your phone. We recommend that if you want to use your phone regularly to manage your funding, you download the App.

For Apple iPhone visit the AppStore for iOS

For Android phones visit PlayStore

Once you have downloaded the app, use your Portal login details to activate your account.

An employee is a person who has agreed to be employed to work for some form of payment under a contract of service. Under Individualised Funding, an employee is engaged by the person receiving disability funding, or their nominated agent, to provide them with support. Manawanui does not employ support workers on behalf of customers.

Click here for a Basic Guide to Recruitment

If you have any concerns or questions about your wages, then you should speak to your employer. They can contact us for any additional information they need to address your concerns.

Manawanui is not your employer, and so we can’t provide you with advice.

An employee is a person employed to do any work for hire or reward under a contract of services, commonly called an employment agreement.

The hire or reward is usually a wage or salary. Employees have minimum employment rights under employment laws, such as:

• Paid at least the minimum wage

• Have holiday and leave entitlements

• Have a written employment agreement

• The right to take a personal grievance Self-employed people, also called contractors or independent contractors are engaged by a principal (the other party) to perform services under a contract for services, commonly called an independent contractor agreement (IEA).

Contractors invoice the principal for their services, pay their own tax (unless they are receiving schedular payments) and ACC levies. Many employment laws do not apply to contractors. This means they don’t get things like annual leave or sick leave, and they can’t bring personal grievances.

Click here for an information sheet you can read or download and print

Click here for a Contractor Agreement Form

Clickhere for a Schedular Contractor Agreement Form

These are the most common type of employee. Permanent employees have the full set of employment rights and responsibilities. Employees have to meet certain criteria to qualify for some employment entitlements, such as parental leave, parental leave payments, annual holidays, sick leave and bereavement leave. There may be small differences between full time or part time employees due to their work patterns.

Permanent means their term of employment does not have an agreed end date when they sign their employment agreement at the beginning of their employment. If no changes are made to the terms, then a permanent employee will just continue to work as required for the employer.

A fixed-term (temporary) employee’s employment will end on a specified date or when a particular event occurs. A fixed-term employee might be someone who is brought in to replace another employee on parental leave, to cover a seasonal peak or to complete a project. There must be a genuine reason based on reasonable grounds for the fixed term. You must explain this reason to the employee.

Whether you are considered to be part-time or full-time depends on how many hours you have to work.

Employment legislation does not define what full-time or part-time work is, but full-time work is often considered to be around 35 to 40 hours a week.

You have the same employment rights and responsibilities if you are a part-time or full-time employee. A full-time permanent employee might be someone working 9am to 5pm, five days a week. An example of a part-time permanent employee is someone who regularly works the same three days a week for eight hours each day, for a total of 24 hours a week.

Employment legislation does not define ‘Casual employee’. However, the term often refers to a situation where the employee has no guaranteed hours of work, no regular pattern of work, and no ongoing expectation of employment.

The employer does not have to offer work to the employee, and the employee does not have to accept work when offered. The employee works as and when it suits both them and the employer. This can sometimes happen because it’s hard for the employer to predict when they will need someone to work, or when they need the work done quickly.

Each time the employee accepts an offer of work it is treated as a new period of employment.

Employment rights and responsibilities also apply to casual employees, but the way annual holidays, sick and bereavement leave are applied can vary for these employees.

You agree the rate you are going to pay your support workers with them. However, there is an expectation that hourly rates are reasonable and reflect the employee's work. As of 1st April 2025 the legal adult Minimum wage is $23.50 p/hr, regardless of the pay equity information below this is the minimum you must pay someone who is 16 years and older. If you want to verify the current rate, you can visit the EmploymentNZ website here. For example, if you are engaging a registered nurse to provide advanced care, you would expect to pay that person about the same rates as other nurses, which is more than you would typically pay to a person performing housekeeping duties. There are specific minimum pay rates for employees in the disability sector based on the Pay Equity Settlement Act. These rates are based on your employees’ qualifications such as the NZ Certificates in Health & Wellbeing or other equivalent qualifications. As of 1 July 2022, there are now separate rates that can apply if you have employed your support staff since before 1st July 2017.

Qualification based hourly rates

If your support worker has a formal NZQA or Careerforce qualification at one of these levels, they must be paid the following minimum hourly rates from 1st July 2022. Qualification Hourly rate Level 0 (no qualifications) $22.49 Level 2 qualifications $24.06 Level 3 qualifications $26.16 Level 4 qualifications $28.25

Length of service based hourly rates

If your support worker has been employed by you prior to 1st July 2017, then their length of service also contributes to the minimum hourly rate that you must pay them. If they have been employed by you after 1st July 2017 then the minimum rate of service of $22.49 applies regardless of their length of service. Length of Service Hourly rate Less than 3 years' service $22.49 More than 3 years' service $24.06 More the 8 years' service $26.16 12+ years' service w/ clause 2 $27.20 12+ years' service no clause 2 $28.25

An employer must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that a support worker is able to attain qualifications. You can use your IF to pay for this training if you have sufficient funds.

There are fees free options depending on the eligibility of the employee. You can read about it on the IRD website here Fees Free

The Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Act 2017 came into effect on July 1, 2017. It set minimum pay rates for eligible workers based on their qualifications. These rates increased each year for three years, with the final increase coming into effect in July 2021.

Please refer to ‘How much should I pay my employee’ for those details.

You can update their details in the Customer Portal. If you are not using the Portal, you will need to send us an Employee Resignation form.

If necessary, you will need to submit any outstanding time sheets and leave forms to the Payroll Team. Your employee will receive a final pay that includes any leave owing.

Click here to access an Employee Resignation - Termination form

Manwanui has many useful documents related to employing support workers. Click on the links below to access them, or contact our Customer Experience Centre if you cannot see the forms you need to download.

Basic Recruitment Guide

Support Worker Privacy Declaration

Employee Information Form

Change Employee Details Form

Employee or Contractor? Information sheet

No, all Vaccine mandates have been removed as of 12th September 2022. If you wish to read the full information from Whaikaha, Ministry of Disabled People, you can do so here. https://whaikaha.govt.nz/about-us/news/revocation-of-health-and-disability-vaccination-mandate/

If your staff provide you with transport support using their own vehicle, you can reimburse them using a mileage rate for the length of the trip. In your employees timesheet, you need to add in an expense line for each return trip. In the particulars make sure the Location, Destination and Distance is clearly stated. We recommend keeping a log book for all employee trips.

In certain situations where your staff need to travel a long distance to and from their place of work, you can come to an arrangement with your employee about how you recognise the travel they do just to do their job. You can offer a slightly higher hourly rate to account for the travel costs, or you can include a travel allowance as part of their fortnightly timesheet that can help discount the cost of travel. It's important to remember as the employer, it is your decision to make and you must ensure that it does not impact your overall funding allocation.

The best protection as an employer is to understand your obligations as an employer in regards to maintaining a safe and healthy work environment. But if you employ people, for peace of mind you may want to consider insurance for protection in the event of employment disputes involving personal grievance actions and civil actions relating to injuries or illness. Manawanui makes this easy with an option for an affordable insurance package which can be purchased using your Individualised Funding. Learn more about how EPP can help you by watching the video below. Click the link to be taken to our Youtube channel! Watch Insurance Information Video

One of our standard benefits, for all Manawanui customers is FREE membership of Employers & Manufacturer's Association. This gives you free access to the professional resources of the EMA, including advisers on employment relations and more. Business Support & Employer Advocay | EMA

Manawanui offers a comprehensive Payroll service to make it easy to manage the financial responsibilities of being an employer.

This service includes the management of PAYE (Pay As You Earn tax), ACC levies, KiwiSaver contributions, leave and the provision of employee payslips.

Payroll customers opt into, and pay for, this service. They submit timesheets for their employees, usually via the Customer Portal, but this can also be done via email.

Self-managing customers manage the payments to their employees themselves. Instead of submitting timesheets, self-managing customers submit expense claims to Manawanui for the expenses they have incurred. They usually do this via the Customer Portal although it can also be done via email, and is usually done fortnightly.

To get your employee paid, please enter all the relevant information into the Portal under the Employees & Payees tab.

All the relevant documents can be found in the Documents Tab when you have created the new employee record.

Alternatively, you can download the new employee forms and email the completed forms along with a bank verification to [email protected]

A bank verification needs to include the account name, account number and your bank’s information – for example the top of a Statement or a screenshot of your banking app.

We have two Pay Cycles that fall on alternate weeks (P1 and P2) paid out on Wednesday nights.

The Pay Cycle calendar is available to download from the Customer Portal or we can sent it to you. You will also get a reminder email each pay period.

If you are unsure you can check with our Customer Experience Centre on 0508 462 427.

Time sheets are due every fortnight by midnight Monday 12:00am following the end of the fortnight. Please check your Pay Cycle Calendar, to see which fortnight your time sheets are due. You will also receive an email reminder two days prior to due date.

You will receive an automatic email acknowledgement that we have received your email, for all documents sent to [email protected]

If you are using the Customer Portal you can track your progress online.

The confirmation email is just an automated acknowledgement that we have received the information. At this point, nothing has been checked or processed. If we are not sure about something or require further information, the Customer Experience Centre (CEC) team will contact you.

If you use the Customer Portal you can modify your claim or time sheet so long as you haven’t already verified it.

If you have already verified and submitted it, or you are not on the Portal, you can call our Customer Experience Centre (CEC) to make any changes.

We will make any adjustments to claims or time sheets that have already been paid, as soon as we are able to.

If you send your time sheet after midnight 12:00am on Monday following the end of a fortnight period, we cannot guarantee that your employee will be paid on time. All timesheets submitted late will be processed within 5-10 working days of the date the timesheet was submitted.

If there was some exceptional circumstance that meant you missed the deadline, you can call our CEC team and we may be able to process the timesheet or expense claim for you. Please note, this depends on the workload of our Payments team and whether they have the capacity to process your claim earlier than expected.

Your employees’ payslips are sent to you as the employer so you can review the wage details and address any mistakes or other issues. Your employees must address any questions about their wages to you rather than Manawanui. If you’re using the Customer Portal, you can invite your employees so they can submit their own time sheets (they will still need to be verified by you) and view their payslips.

Every month, IRD calculates your owed PAYE that you must pay on behalf of your employees. If you are a Payroll customer, you do not need to worry! We will pay this for you so you don't have to do anything, for example, if the payment owed is for APRIL 2024 it will be paid on the 20th of May, the following month.

A family member can be a parent, young person 16 years or older, spouse, sibling or any other relative, that lives in the same house as the person getting support, or they can live outside the family or whānau home.

Yes. Anyone who has been allocated Individualised Funding by their NASC can employ a family member that lives with them to support them. Family members must be paid inline with the rules relating to Pay equity and minimum wage requirements.

A Family member that lives with you can be:

• a contractor and provide you with a sufficient invoice each fortnight for payment.

• a permanent full time or part time employee OR

• a casual employee

As long as they are eligible for those forms of employment and have the right to work in NZ.

Depending on your employment arrangement the detail changes slightly but the overall process is the same regardless.

In our Web Portal as the Employer, you will create a fortnightly expense claim or timesheet for the hours of support provided.

Once you have verified all the information is correct, you submit the claim/timesheet to our Payments team who process it for you. The difference being if you submit a claim, you are paid the funds to then pass on to the contractor. Whereas for a timesheet, the employee will get paid their take home pay directly to their account.

All employees must be paid at least the Pay Equity rates although you can pay more.

Keep in mind the higher the pay rate the quicker the funding will run out. Once the funding is used up, you will need to wait until the next allocation before any more money will be available.

Typically, up to 40 hours, but your NASC would have allocated the number of hours per week you are funded.

You will need to remain within your budget. For example, if you are allocated 6 hours a week, to make your allocation last the full year, you should only pay 6 hours a week for your support at pay equity rates.

Depending on what option you have chosen for paying a family member that lives with you, payments can be easily processed on our Portal.

If the family member is a contractor or schedular contractor, you can submit an invoice for the time with the hourly rate onto the Portal. An invoice can be typed, handwritten or even submitted as a timesheet.

If the family member is an employee of the agent, it is as easy as submitting timesheet on the Portal.

The agent will approve the timesheet, and the money will be paid into the family member/employee’s bank account.

Payroll is fortnightly. If it is submitted by 5pm Monday, it is paid that Wednesday. Late submissions are processed within 5 business days.

Respite funding is allocated to give the main family carer a break. A family member, who is being paid to support someone from a Personal Care/Household Management Individualised Funding allocation, cannot be paid from Respite funding.

Other family members who are not the main carer, can be paid to provide a break for the main carer.

Currently, MSD do not allow resident family carers to be paid under their Individualised Funding policy.

Based on advice received from DSS, we cannot support arrangements where the Agent and the paid support worker/carer are the same person.

The Agent role carries responsibility for managing and authorising the use of a participant's funding, including approving services, verifying supports have been delivered, and ensuring expenditure aligns with the participant's needs and funding rules. Where the same person is both acting as Agent and being paid to provide support, this creates a conflict of interest.

The primary concern is that there is no independent oversight or verification of the supports being claimed. The person authorising the expenditure is also the person receiving the payment, which means there is no separation between the approval and delivery of services.

This requirement is not intended to prevent family members or people with close relationships from supporting participants. Rather, it is intended to ensure appropriate governance, transparency, accountability, and protection for all parties involved. Independent oversight helps safeguard participants, Agents, support workers, and the integrity of the funding arrangement.

By maintaining a clear separation between the Agent and the paid support provider, there is:

• Independent verification that supports have been delivered.

• Greater transparency around the use of funding.

• Reduced risk of actual, perceived, or potential conflicts of interest.

• Stronger protections for participants and their funding.

• Increased confidence that funding decisions are being made in the participant's best interests.

If an Agent also wishes to provide support services, an alternative person would need to be appointed to perform the Agent role and authorise support claims.

• Annual Leave

• Sick Leave

• Bereavement Leave

• Parental Leave

• Family Violence Leave

Click here to download a Leave Request Form

All employees, regardless of their classification (i.e. including part time, full time, fixed term and 'casual') are entitled to at least: • Four weeks of paid annual holidays (sometimes referred to as annual leave) after every 12 months of continuous employment for their employer, for rest and recreation. (Some employees, who meet specific criteria may agree in their employment agreement to be paid annual holidays on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis) • Up to 11 public holidays each year, (if they are days they would otherwise work). These are days of national, religious, or cultural significance. Employees should be able to take them as leave, where possible • Access to sick leave and bereavement leave:

• after six months of current continuous employment with the same employer, or

• after working for the employer for six months for an average of 10 hours per week, and at least one hour every week, or 40 hours in every month.

If an employee works on a public holiday, they must be paid for their hours worked at the rate of at least time and a half. If the day is an otherwise working day for them, they will also be entitled to a paid alternative holiday (unless they are employed to work only on public holidays).

All employees are entitled to a minimum of four weeks (or 20 days) of annual leave per year. This is pro-rated for employees who work less than 40 hours per week.

For example, if the employee works 20 hours per week, their annual leave entitlement will be four weeks at 20 hours a week or 80 hours in total.

In limited circumstances, some employees may be paid holiday pay at the rate of not less than 8% of their gross earnings with their regular pay instead of being provided with four weeks annual holidays each year.

This can only happen if:

• The employee is on a genuine fixed-term employment agreement of fewer than 12 months

• The employee works so intermittently or irregularly that it is impractical for the employer to provide them with four weeks annual holidays.

As a caution, if annual holidays are paid with regular pay and do not meet the above requirements, then the employee remains entitled to 4 weeks paid annual holidays in addition to the ‘holiday’ payment they have already received.

Employees can cash in up to one week of their minimum entitlement of annual leave due per year provided the accrued leave is over 12 months old.

Click here for an Annual Leave Cash In Form

All employees are entitled to sick leave if: • They have six months’ current continuous employment with the same employer, or • They have worked for the employer for six months for:

• an average of 10 hours per week, and

• at least one hour in every week or 40 hours in every month.

Every 12 months after meeting the above, each employee gets at least 10 days’ sick leave. If in any year the employee doesn’t meet the criteria, then they don’t get any new sick leave entitlement. However, they can use their sick leave balance which may have carried over. An employee may re-qualify for sick leave as soon as they meet the criteria. An employee can accumulate up to 20 sick days a year. An employment agreement can’t give less sick leave benefits than are provided under the Holidays Act 2003. However you can agree to give more. For example, an employer can choose to provide an entitlement to sick leave from the start of the employee’s employment.

Bereavement leave gives an employee time to grieve and to take care of matters to do with loss. This can be taken at any time and for any purpose relating to a death, and doesn’t have to be used straight away or on consecutive days. Employers often agree to giving employees additional bereavement leave above the minimum entitlement, depending on the circumstances. For example, if a tangi or funeral is taking place over several day and/or is a long distance away. All employees (permanent, fixed-term, part-time and casual) can use bereavement leave if: • They have worked for the employer continuously for six months or • They have worked for the employer for six months for an average of 10 hours per week, and at least one hour in every week or 40 hours in every month. Each employee gets bereavement leave for a minimum of: • Three days per death if a spouse or partner, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or spouse or partner’s parent dies. • One day on the death of another person if their employer accepts they’ve had a bereavement. This is based on:

• how close they were with the deceased person

• whether they have lots of responsibilities for the arrangements for the ceremonies relating to the death

• if they have any cultural responsibilities in relation to the death.

Employees are entitled to bereavement leave every 12 months as long as they meet the above criteria. If they don’t meet the above criteria due to changes in work, they are not entitled to bereavement leave. However, the employee may re-qualify when they do meet the six month requirement.

If an employee has to work on a public holiday, an alternative holiday gives them another day off at a different time.

Some people call alternative holidays ‘lieu days’ or ‘days off in lieu’, but those terms can also refer to other types of leave, so it is recommended to call alternative holidays by their correct name.

An employee is entitled to an alternative holiday if:

• They work on a public holiday that would otherwise be a working day for them. If an employee works on a public holiday that would not otherwise be a working day for them, they are not entitled to an alternative holiday, but they are still entitled to be paid at the rate of at least time and a half for the hours they work, as discussed in the example below

• They are on call on a public holiday that is an otherwise working day for them, and they have to limit their activities on the day to the extent that they haven’t enjoyed a full holiday. For example, if the employee is required to stay at home all day, but is not called out, the employee is entitled to a full day’s paid alternative holiday if they would have otherwise worked on that day. The employee is entitled to the whole working day off work on the day they take an alternative holiday. This is regardless of how many hours they worked on the public holiday.

Example An employee normally works eight hours every Monday, but on a public holiday which falls on a Monday, they only worked for two hours. They get paid for the two hours worked at the rate of at least time and a half for working on the public holiday. They also get a whole working day off as an alternative holiday, on full pay. This means that if they take the alternative holiday on a day that they would otherwise have worked eight hours, they would be paid for the full eight hours for the alternative holiday.

Remember if an employee works on a public holiday which is not an otherwise working day for them, they must be paid for the hours they worked at no less than time and a half, but they are not entitled to an alternative holiday.

Employees don’t get an alternative holiday if they:

• Work on a public holiday and that day would not otherwise be a working day for them, or

• Are on call on a public holiday but are not required to restrict activities, and they are not called out (so don’t work), or • Are only employed to work or to be on call on public holidays.

For example, an employee who is only employed to work at the racetrack for the Waitangi Day meeting has no entitlement to an alternative holiday, but the employee must still be paid at least time and a half for the hours they work on the public holiday.

Casual employees are not entitled to an alternative holidays as they don’t have a regular work pattern but they are entitled to be paid for their hours worked at the rate of at least time and a half.

If more than 12 months have passed since the employee earned their alternative holiday, the employee can request that the alternative holiday be paid out (cashed up) without the need for them to take the time off work.

Hours worked on a public holiday are not included in the Ordinary Pay on the payslip.

They are recorded as Public Holiday Worked x1.5 as shown below:

Ordinary Pay 33.50 Hours @ 21.5000 $720.25

Public Holiday Worked x1.5 2.50 Hours @ 21.5000 x1.5 $80.63

Your employee’s holiday and alternative leave balance should be visible at the bottom of their payslip under Additional Information as in the example below:

Additional Information Holiday Balance 86.00 Hours

Alternate Days 9.00 Days

You can request a Leave Balance Report for all your employees by contacting our CEC. The report will show all the leave balances including Annual Leave and

Alternative holidays.

If your employee is injured and unable to work, the first week following the injury needs to be covered by their Annual Leave or Sick Leave balance that your employee has saved up. After the first week, their ACC payments will take affect but you can still top up their income if you wish. Your employee may wish to use Annual Leave or Sick Leave as a top up, but if they do not have any leave available you can choose to pay 20% of their wages anyway. But please remember that this will impact your funding balance if you do so. For all the information you need on managing ACC payments, check out the ACC website itself here. https://www.acc.co.nz/for-business/supporting-your-injured-employee-to-recover-at-work/income-for-your-employee-while-they-recover

If you are a contractor, your payer must have the Schedular Payments service set up and be using the Manawanui Customer Portal. You will need an agreement with them in writing. It's recommended the agreement include:

• Your name and the name of your payer

• Agreement all payments made to you will be treated as voluntary schedular payments

• The period the agreement applies to

• Date of the agreement

• Signatures of you and your payer
  

Click here for a Schedular Payments Information Sheet

You'll need to give your payer a completed IR330C. This tells your payer what tax rate you’ve chosen.

No. Your payer isn't responsible for making these deductions from your schedular payments.

If your total income is over the annual repayment threshold, you'll need to make repayments towards your student loan.

If you want to make payments towards your KiwiSaver, you'll need to arrange this with your scheme provider.

You will still receive an invoice for your ACC levies directly from ACC.

The IRD website can help you choose the right tax rate. If you choose a rate too low for your circumstances, you may not pay enough towards your end of year tax obligation. This may result in you having to pay further tax in a lump sum and be liable for provisional tax.

Generally, you must file an income tax return at the end of the tax year if you receive schedular payments.

All income needs to be taxed and as a self-employed contractor, it is your responsibility to ensure you pay the right amount of tax. As a Schedular Contractor, you have selected Manawanui to make regular Income Tax contributions to Inland Revenue direct from your pay each time you are paid. As a Contractor you must select your income tax percentage which is based off your expected annual income before tax, you can use the Inland Revenue Tax Calculator to get the right percentage, or make an assumption using the table below.

There are two types of invoices you can get from ACC: ACC WorkPlace Cover The Workplace Cover for employees invoice is for the ACC employer levvy contribution. You will need to send a copy of any invoices to Manawanui, we will pay it on your behalf and deduct the cost from your funding. C/- Manawanui PO Box 83 Albany Village Auckland 0755 To get future invoices sent to Manawanui directly, call ACC on 0800 729 538 or email [email protected] and ask them to review and make the following changes to your account if incorrect on the invoice:

• Confirm the WorkPlace Cover for employees Calssification Unit (CU) is 97000 Private households employing staff. It is is showing as any other code, ask ACC to update the BIC code to be S960120.

• Request a 30 day collections hold so Manawanui can get a copy of the invoice and make payment.

• Please contact ACC and request to change the mailing address for your WorkPlace Cover policy. This change will ensure Manawanui will receive all future invoices directly and prevent any delays in payment. Your Self-employed ACC CoverPlus policy must have your postal address assigned to it. Please contact ACC and make sure your address details are up to date.

If you are a payroll client and you would like Manawanui to manage your ACC WorkPlace cover invoices, please contact us directly to make this request. We will send you the necessary documents to get this underway. Note: If you have a self-employed policy, we will not access your account, this is due to privacy rules. If you have a self-employed policy and we are linked to your account, please contact us so we can remove our access.

ACC CoverPlus The ACC CoverPlus for self-employed invoice is for any self-employed earnings you have files to IRD for yourself. This invoice is to be paid to ACC directly by yourself and not Manawanui. Please contact ACC directly on 0800 222 776 if you have any questions or visit www.acc.co.nz/invoicing for more information. Depending on your postal address settings you have with ACC, Manawanui may get this invoice, which we will advise ACC to repost to your address.

If you are receiving Individualised Funding and have no other income to declare to Inland Revenue, then you do not need to make a tax return.

You can use this template response to send to IRD.

Individualised Funding allows for some item purchases to be made using the funding. Part of the criteria is that it cannot be funded through an Alternative Funding Source, an alternative funding source is considered the most appropriate funding stream available to cover the costs of the item you wish to purchase. For example Enable or Accessable are the equipment providers in New Zealand, you must source funding from these organisations first, before your Individualised Funding could be used to cover the costs. This link to Whaikaha's website lists the appropriate funding source for most of the supports available to disabled people. Link to website.

AccessAble (Auckland/Northland) For all equipment and housing modifications for Auckland and Northland, contact Accessability. https://www.accessable.co.nz/solutions-we-provide

Enable (remainder of country) For all equipment and housing modifications for the rest of the country South of Auckland, contact Enable https://www.enable.co.nz/services/equipment-for-disabled-people/

Workbridge are an organisation that help disabled people into employment opportunities. https://www.workbridge.co.nz

Halberg Foundation Halberg Activity Fund grants are provided to enable physically disabled young people, aged 5-21, to participate in sport and recreation by reducing financial barriers.

Applications can be made by or on behalf of a physically disabled young person and can be submitted for the following categories:

1. Equipment - Either the adaptation of equipment or the purchase of disability specific equipment

2. Lessons and/or Coaching - This could be group or individual lessons/coaching to enable participation

3. Camps – Additional costs associated with a physically disabled young person attending a camp. Eligible costs include a support person & adapted accommodation

https://halbergactive.co.nz/activity-fund-grants/

Lotteries Foundation

Lottery Individuals with Disabilities funds vehicles, vehicle modifications, scooters, assistance dogs and other mobility equipment, that will enable better access to the community.

It also provides grants to people with disabilities that affect their communication, to buy equipment to help them communicate. https://www.communitymatters.govt.nz/lottery-individuals-with-disabilities/

Disability Allowance is a weekly payment from Work and Income for people who have regular, ongoing costs because of a disability. https://www.govt.nz/browse/health/financial-help/disability-allowance/

When you see a specialist, you’ll visit a medically trained and registered healthcare professional in that field of medicine. In most cases, you need to visit your General Practitioner (GP) first so they can refer you. https://www.govt.nz/browse/health/gps-and-prescriptions/seeing-a-specialist/

If you have a disability or illness you might be able to get an allowance, subsidy or loan to help with your expenses. Financial assistance is available for all citizens. https://www.govt.nz/browse/health/financial-help/financial-help-for-people-with-disabilities/

Healthcare over 65

If you get NZ Super or a Veteran’s Pension, and you have a disability or health concern, you can apply for financial help or use services provided by the government to meet your health needs. https://www.govt.nz/browse/health/financial-help/government-help-with-healthcare-over-65/

Cystic Fibrosis - https://www.cfnz.org.nz/get-support/financial-assistance-and-awards/

National Foundation for Deaf and Hard-Hearing - https://www.nfd.org.nz/grant-and-scholarships

Multiple Sclerosis NZ - https://www.msnz.org.nz/scholarships-and-grants/

Wellington Paraplegic and Physically Disabled Trust - http://wppdt.org/

Blind Low Vision NZ - https://blindlowvision.org.nz/how-we-can-help/support-and-community/financial-assistance/ Cerebral Palsy NZ https://cerebralpalsy.org.nz/member-services/grants/

Individual Grants - https://cerebralpalsy.org.nz/member-services/grants/individual-grants/

Academic Grants - https://cerebralpalsy.org.nz/member-services/grants/academic-grants/

Organisation Grants - https://cerebralpalsy.org.nz/member-services/grants/organisations-grants/