Supported Living Payment
Updated 2026 MSD rates. Supported Living Payment (SLP) is a weekly payment from Work and Income for people who have a permanent health condition, disability, or blindness that significantly limits their ability to work. It is also available to people who are caring full-time for someone who would otherwise need hospital-level or residential care.
Who Can Get It
You may qualify for SLP if you meet one of these two pathways:
Pathway 1 — Health Condition or Disability
- You have a permanent health condition, disability, or blindness that stops you from working 15 or more hours per week.
- The condition is expected to last at least 2 years (or is permanent).
- You are unable to regularly work in the open labour market.
- Medical evidence from your doctor is required.
Pathway 2 — Caring for Someone
- You are caring full-time for a person who would otherwise need hospital-level or residential care.
- The care is provided in your own home (or the person's home).
- You are not paid for this care by another source (e.g., ACC).
Weekly Rates (April 2026)
| Situation | Net Weekly Rate (NZ$) |
|---|---|
| Single 18+ | $414.82 |
| Single, living at home (18+) | $361.12 |
| Partnered, each person | $347.60 |
| Sole parent (SLP — care of another) | $414.82 |
Additional Support
SLP recipients may also qualify for:
- Disability Allowance — Up to $73.48 per week for ongoing disability-related costs (visits to specialists, medications, transport).
- Accommodation Supplement — Help with rent, board, or mortgage costs.
- Temporary Additional Support — Extra help if you have high essential costs.
- Winter Energy Payment — Automatic if you receive SLP (paid June to September).
How to Apply
- Apply online via MyMSD for Supported Living Payment.
- Provide a medical certificate from your doctor detailing your condition and its impact on your ability to work.
- For the caring pathway, provide details of the person you care for and a medical certificate confirming their care needs.
- Attend an interview with Work and Income.
Work Obligations
SLP recipients generally have no work obligations. However, if you are assessed as having some work capacity (e.g., can work up to 15 hours per week), voluntary part-time work is encouraged. The abatement-free threshold is generous to support this.
Abatement
You can earn up to $160 per week (before tax) before your SLP reduces. After that, the reduction rate is 30 cents per dollar earned (after tax).
What "Permanent" Means for Medical Evidence
Supported Living Payment (SLP) is the most common benefit for people with long-term health conditions, and the medical evidence is the make-or-break part of the application. Work and Income needs evidence that your condition:
- stops you from working 15 or more hours per week, and
- is expected to last at least 2 years (or is permanent).
Your doctor should complete the medical certificate with specific detail about your functional limitations — what you cannot do (lifting, standing, concentrating, travelling) rather than just your diagnosis. A diagnosis alone is rarely enough; what matters is the impact on your ability to work. If you have multiple conditions, list them all and how they combine to limit you.
Combining SLP with Other Support
- Disability Allowance (up to $73.48/week) covers ongoing disability-related costs like specialist visits, medications, and transport — apply even if you think the costs are small; they add up.
- Accommodation Supplement applies on top if you pay rent, board, or a mortgage.
- Winter Energy Payment ($20.46/week single) is paid automatically to SLP recipients from 1 May to 1 October.
- Caregiver pathway: if you care full-time for someone who would otherwise need hospital-level care, you may qualify for SLP even with no health condition of your own — the care recipient's medical certificate is the key document.
SLP recipients generally have no work obligations, but voluntary part-time work is supported by a generous abatement-free threshold ($160/week before tax, then 30 cents per dollar).
If Your Application Is Declined
- Ask for the decision in writing and the specific reasons.
- Request a review within 3 months — you can submit additional medical evidence from a specialist.
- If the review upholds the decline, you can appeal to the Social Security Appeal Authority (the form is available from Work and Income).
- Meanwhile, check whether you qualify for Jobseeker Support — Health Condition or Disability, which has a lower evidence bar and keeps you in the system while you gather more evidence.
Deep dive — 2026 update
Supported Living Payment rates at 1 April 2026
| Situation | Net weekly | Before tax |
|---|---|---|
| Single, 16–17 | $355.87 | $405.90 |
| Single, 18+ | $424.60 | $489.21 |
| Couple without children (each) | $360.72 | $411.78 |
| Couple without children (total) | $721.44 | $823.56 |
| Couple with children (each) | $378.47 | $433.30 |
| Couple with children (total) | $756.94 | $866.60 |
| Sole parent | $581.96 | $679.95 |
SLP pays more than Jobseeker Support — $424.60 against $372.55 for a single adult, a difference of $52.05 a week — which reflects that it is not conditional on being available for work.
What "permanently and severely" means in evidence
The medical test is that your condition is expected to last at least 2 years, or is terminal, and that it severely limits your capacity for work. Strong applications share three features:
- Specialist input — a specialist's letter carries more weight than a GP note alone, particularly where the condition is fluctuating.
- Functional detail — what you cannot do, and for how long: standing, lifting, concentrating, travelling, managing a full day. "Chronic pain" is weaker than "cannot sit for more than 20 minutes, cannot lift 5 kg, requires rest periods lasting 2 hours".
- Treatment history — what has been tried over what period, and what remains. A documented two-year history is far more persuasive than a recent diagnosis.
MSD's own health practitioner may assess you. You can request a copy of the report and ask for a review if the decision goes against you — declines are often overturned when the evidence is stronger the second time.
Working while on Supported Living Payment
- You can earn up to $160 a week before tax before your SLP is affected, then it abates at 70 cents per dollar for a single person.
- Supported Living Payment has no work-test obligations, but you can ask for employment support, training or a supported employment placement voluntarily.
- If your health improves and you start working, the payment continues while you still meet the medical criteria — you do not need to declare yourself fit for full-time work to accept part-time hours.
- In-work support such as the in-work tax credit becomes available once you come off the benefit, and you can remain on SLP part-time in some circumstances.
What else you should be claiming alongside it
- Accommodation Supplement — SLP entry thresholds are higher than Jobseeker's ($106 rent for a single person, $180 for a couple), but the maximums are the same.
- Disability Allowance — up to $82.85 a week for medical alarms, prescriptions, transport to appointments, dietary needs and similar ongoing costs.
- Child Disability Allowance — $62.43 a week if a dependent child has a disability.
- Winter Energy Payment — $20.46 a week single, $31.82 for a couple or a person with dependent children, from 1 May to 1 October.
- Total Mobility Scheme — subsidised taxi travel through your regional council, separate from MSD.