When a parent dies as the result of an injury, ACC can help with the costs of childcare supervision or caring for children. Childcare payments are made to the caregiver of the children, for up to five years or until the child turns 14. Only children living in New Zealand are eligible for childcare payments. If the child has a disability then we can reassess the case after five years or when the child turns 14 to determine if payments should continue. All childcare payments are non-taxable.
What do I need to do to get help?
Our staff are understanding, flexible and will help you to make the claim and collect the information required.
Someone outside the immediate family can make the claim. A friend, member of your extended family and whanau, the funeral director, or your minister or priest.
We have Māori, Pacific and Asian advisors who can provide support and help.We understand this can be a very difficult time for people, so we do everything we can to make claiming simple.
- Before ACC can make any payments we have to confirm the death is covered by ACC. So the first step is to contact the nearest ACC office and make a claim. For more information about making a claim, see Injury causing death.
- You may need to provide ACC with the following information to confirm the children’s relationship with the deceased:
If you are claiming for a… |
then ACC may ask for… |
|---|---|
child by birth |
a birth certificate naming the deceased as a parent. |
child by adoption |
adoption papers showing date of birth and the deceased as an adopting parent. |
stepchild |
|
child of the deceased not by birth, adoption or marriage |
|
- Confirmation is required of who the childcare arranger is. This is normally the surviving parent or the guardian of the children.
- The childcare arranger will need to confirm they are responsible for the children and give ACC their bank account number. We also need to know if Work and Income has been paying childcare contributions as a result of death in the meantime.
How does ACC decide if a child is eligible?
After ACC has confirmed that the deceased is covered they will need to confirm the status of each child of the deceased.
Payments for childcare are made to the person who arranges the childcare for the children. This is normally the surviving spouse or guardian of the children.
ACC considers the nature of the relationship of the deceased with a child to determine if they were a parent. Children need to be under 18 years at the time of death and either:
- the natural, or biological children of the deceased
- an adopted child of the deceased
- a foster child, stepchild or other child where the deceased acted as their parent
- under 14 years of age to qualify for childcare
Children need to be living in New Zealand. Children who live or move overseas are not eligible for childcare payments.
Important:
The help you will get depends on your individual circumstances. Please contact us to confirm if you are eligible, or to identify other ways in which we can help. See Contact ACC Claims for our contact information.
How long might ACC take to determine if a child is eligible?
ACC will normally make a decision about your claim within 21 days. However, if there is a delay we will write to you to let you know.
Please contact us if you have not heard from us within a reasonable period of time. See Contact ACC Claims for our contact information.
What happens next?
Once we have confirmed that the children are eligible for childcare payments we will write to the children’s representative to let them know.
We will begin to make childcare payments by direct credit to the care giver’s bank account. We will date our payments from the date of death of the deceased. If the child was born after the deceased died, we will make payments from the date the child was born.
If Work and Income have been making payment for childcare as a result of death ACC will reimburse them directly.
Ceasing childcare payments
ACC will continue to make childcare payments until the earlier of:
- five years after the date they started
- the child turns 14.
At this point if the child has a mental or physical condition we will review the case. Childcare payments will cease unless the child needs continued care because of the condition. We will write to the child care arranger and let them know the date that the payments will finish.
When someone dies as a result of an injury there are other ways that ACC may be able to help, see:
Note:
If you are unhappy with the decision, you can ask for it to be reviewed. See What if I have problems with a claim?
Related legislation
Accident Compensation (AC) Act 2001
- Section 116: Indexation of lump sum compensation, funeral grant, survivor's grant, and child care payments (external link)
- Schedule 1, Entitlements arising from fatal injuries, Clauses 76-78 (external link)
Published: 20 June 2008