Significant financial hardship

You may apply for a benefit if you have suffered or are suffering from significant financial hardship.

A significant financial hardship benefit is an avenue of last resort. It is not an automatic benefit, and your application must meet specific criteria before we can grant it. For example, we expect you will have first explored other reasonable options to address your financial situation. However, we understand the stressful nature of Police work and will consider this when assessing your application. If your application falls within the guidelines, we will do our best to help you.

As a general rule, we do not approve applications made for the purpose of retiring or releasing debt, but we may approve an application to provide relief in order to give you time to restructure your finances.

Applications are not approved for money for a deposit to buy a house.

If we approve your application, we may consider the withdrawal of all or a part of the amount you have requested. We may also elect to pay any creditors directly. 

The amount payable is at our discretion. It will not exceed the amount that would have been paid had you left service on the date you applied for a hardship benefit. Any payment is made first from your member’s account and any remainder from your employer’s account.

Guidelines

We have adopted guidelines to help us consider applications. We will consider granting applications in the following circumstances:

  • You are unable to meet the cost of your basic living expenses.
  • You have suffered damage or loss of property through natural disaster (fire, flood, earthquake and so on) or other cause beyond your reasonable control and financial assistance is not available through normal sources, e.g. insurance, Toka Tū Ake EQC.
  • You or a member of your immediate family is in need of medical attention that you cannot afford and funding from the public health service and/or medical insurance is insufficient. Examples include but are not limited to the cost of:
    • modifying a residence to meet special needs arising from a disability
    • dental work
    • unfunded cancer treatment
    • palliative care.
  • You are unable to cover the cost of a funeral for a dependant.
  • You are unable to meet mortgage payments on your principal family home which could result in the mortgagee seeking to enforce the mortgage on the residence.
  • Your creditors have threatened to take proceedings under the Insolvency Act 2006 or similar, and your bankruptcy is imminent.
  • You have an urgent and unexpected need for funds beyond your reasonable control, for example:
    • the loss of all or part of your own and/or your partner’s income due to illness or caring for a sick or disabled family member
    • taking on additional family responsibilities due to the death of a parent or sibling.
  • You need financial relief to provide time to restructure your finances.

Assessing the impact of a withdrawal on your long-term savings plan

Withdrawing funds from your superannuation account may have a significant impact on your long-term financial wellbeing. For legal reasons, we can’t accept lump sum contributions into the scheme except in very limited circumstances. This makes it far more challenging to pay back money you’ve withdrawn should your financial situation improve. We recommend you use the PSS retirement income calculator to assess the impact on your savings plan of withdrawing money now. You can also use it to work out a plan to reduce the long-term consequences of any withdrawal you make. Sign in to your account to access the calculator. Remember, at any time you can elect to make voluntary contributions to the scheme as regular deductions from your pay of between 1% and 10% of salary.

Budgeting advice

Budgeting advice is available to members through the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). All New Zealand Police staff are eligible for three sessions. It’s a chance to sit down with a qualified adviser and sort out a plan to get on top of things. Talk to your local Police Wellness Advisor or contact the EAP directly on 0800 327 669. Sometimes, the trustee will make getting professional budgeting advice a condition of the significant financial hardship benefit application process.

Have you considered other withdrawal options?

You may be eligible to make a partial withdrawal, a first or ‘second chance’ home withdrawal or a relationship property withdrawal. If so, this may be a straightforward option for you to address your financial situation.

Confidentiality

The information you provide will only be used to assess your application. Please feel free to be frank and open about your financial situation. We will treat all information provided as confidential. PSS is a separate entity from Police. Your application will not form part of your Police personnel record.

How to apply

You need to complete a significant financial hardship form to apply for a hardship benefit. You’ll find more information to help you prepare an application on the form, including a list of the supporting documentation you’ll need to provide.