Jobseeker Support in New Zealand in 2026: the rates, who qualifies and the stand-downs
Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.
New Zealand's Jobseeker Support pays a maximum of $426.12 a week before tax ($372.55 after tax) to a single person aged 25 or over with no children, rising for couples and sole parents, and it is means-tested against your and your partner's income (Work and Income, retrieved 9 September 2026). Most people wait 1 to 2 weeks after approval before the first payment lands.
How much Jobseeker Support pays in 2026
The maximum weekly rate depends on your age, whether you have a partner, and whether you have dependent children, and it is paid weekly rather than fortnightly. These are the maximums; if you or your partner have income, your payment is reduced (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026).
If you don't have children, the maximum weekly rates are:
| Your situation | After tax ("M" rate), per week | Before tax, per week |
|---|---|---|
| Single, 18 to 19, living with parents/caregivers | $276.46 | $309.65 |
| Single, 18 to 19, not living with parents/caregivers | $324.50 | $367.88 |
| Single, 20 to 24 | $324.50 | $367.88 |
| Single, 25 or over | $372.55 | $426.12 |
| Couple, total | $633.94 | $717.50 |
| Couple, each | $316.97 | $358.75 |
Source: Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026.
If you do have dependent children, the maximum weekly rates are higher:
| Your situation | After tax ("M" rate), per week | Before tax, per week |
|---|---|---|
| Sole parent | $521.52 | $606.69 |
| Couple, total | $669.40 | $760.48 |
| Couple, each | $334.70 | $380.24 |
Source: Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026. If you get Jobseeker Support you also automatically get the Winter Energy Payment during the winter months, on top of these rates.
How much is Jobseeker Support in NZ?
The maximum is $426.12 a week before tax ($372.55 after tax at the standard "M" tax code) for a single person aged 25 or over with no children, and it scales down for younger claimants and up for couples and sole parents (Work and Income, retrieved 9 September 2026). Your actual payment can be lower once your own or your partner's income is counted.
How much can I earn and still get Jobseeker Support?
Your combined weekly income before tax has to stay under a threshold that depends on your circumstances, for example $693 for a single person 25 or over, or $1,066 for a couple with no children (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026). Earn above that and your payment reduces on a sliding scale, using Work and Income's own income deduction tables, until it drops to zero.
Are Winz payments going up in 2026?
Yes. Main benefit rates, including Jobseeker Support, are adjusted from 1 April each year, and the figures on this page reflect the rates in force as published by Work and Income and last updated 24 July 2026 (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026). Check Work and Income's own rates page before relying on an older figure, since a new April adjustment supersedes it.
Who qualifies for Jobseeker Support
Eligibility runs on four tests: age, ability to work, income, and residency. You must be 18 or over (20 or over if you have dependent children), be unemployed and looking for full-time work or working part-time and looking for more, or need to reduce or stop work because of a disability, injury or health condition, and you must be a New Zealand citizen or hold a residence class visa, having lived here continuously for at least two years since becoming a citizen or getting that visa (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026).
Who is eligible to receive Jobseeker Support?
You must be 18 or older (20 or older with dependent children), able to work or looking for reduced hours due to health, injury or disability, within the income limits, and a citizen or residence class visa holder who has lived in New Zealand continuously for two years since gaining that status (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026). Full-time students cannot get Jobseeker Support and should look at StudyLink instead.
Can I get the benefit if I quit my job?
Yes, but expect a much longer wait for the first payment. Leaving a job voluntarily without good reason, or being dismissed for misconduct, can trigger a non-entitlement period of up to 13 weeks before any Jobseeker Support is paid, on top of meeting the normal eligibility rules (Work and Income, Stand-down periods, retrieved 9 September 2026).
What are you entitled to if you quit your job?
You may still be entitled to Jobseeker Support once you meet the age, income and residency tests, but a voluntary resignation without good reason can mean waiting up to 13 weeks for payments to start, which is a non-entitlement period rather than the standard 1 to 2 week stand-down (Work and Income, Stand-down periods, retrieved 9 September 2026). If your resignation follows redundancy, unsafe conditions or another "good reason", this longer wait does not automatically apply, but Work and Income assesses that on the facts of your case.
How long can you be on Jobseeker Support?
There is no fixed maximum length, but you must reapply every 26 weeks (6 months) if you still need it, and you have ongoing obligations, such as attending a Kōrero Mahi work seminar and meeting an employment plan, to keep receiving it (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026). If you don't meet your obligations, payments can reduce or stop.
Stand-downs and when your first payment arrives
A stand-down is the period after your application is approved during which you get no payment, and for most claimants it runs 1 or 2 weeks, based on your average weekly income over the last 26 or 52 weeks and your number of children (Work and Income, Stand-down periods, retrieved 9 September 2026). Someone who left a job voluntarily without good reason or was fired for misconduct instead faces a separate, longer non-entitlement period of up to 13 weeks.
This is how the standard 1 or 2 week stand-down works for a single applicant with no children, before other factors are applied:
| Average weekly income (last 26 or 52 weeks) | Stand-down |
|---|---|
| $0 to $1,620.67 | 1 week |
| $1,620.68 and over | 2 weeks |
Source: Work and Income, Stand-down periods, retrieved 9 September 2026. The threshold rises with each dependent child and with a partner's income; see Work and Income's own stand-down page for the full table by household type.
What is a stand-down period?
A stand-down is the 1 or 2 week gap between your Jobseeker Support application being approved and your first payment, and it applies to most weekly benefits (Work and Income, Stand-down periods, retrieved 9 September 2026). Once payments start, the first week is paid in arrears, for the week just gone, rather than in advance.
How long is the stand-down if I'm made redundant?
You still get the standard 1 or 2 week stand-down, and receiving redundancy pay does not remove it, though the length depends on your average weekly income and the redundancy pay itself (Work and Income, Stand-down periods, retrieved 9 September 2026). If you think your redundancy payment was treated incorrectly when your stand-down was worked out, you can ask Work and Income to check the calculation, since the rules for how redundancy pay affects a stand-down have changed over time. See our guide to redundancy pay in NZ for how that payment itself is calculated and taxed.
How long is the stand-down if I quit or was fired?
If you left a job voluntarily without good reason, or were dismissed for misconduct, you can face a non-entitlement period of up to 13 weeks rather than the usual 1 or 2 week stand-down (Work and Income, Stand-down periods, retrieved 9 September 2026). This is a separate, harsher rule than the ordinary stand-down and is worth planning around before you resign.
When do my first payments arrive?
Payments start the day after your stand-down finishes, and because Work and Income pays in arrears, you won't see money in your account for the first full week even once the stand-down ends (Work and Income, Stand-down periods, retrieved 9 September 2026). If you need money to cover urgent or unexpected costs during the stand-down itself, Work and Income has a separate process for that, which is worth asking about at your first appointment.
Applying, and what else comes with Jobseeker Support
You apply online through MyMSD, and if a health condition, injury or disability affects your ability to work you'll also need a Work Capacity Medical Certificate from your health practitioner before your application can be processed (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026). Approved claimants receive a Community Services Card automatically, and anyone with dependent children under 18 may also get the Family Tax Credit, paid either with the benefit or through Inland Revenue.
How do I apply for Jobseeker Support?
Apply online through MyMSD, complete the "next steps" it sets out including gathering documents and creating a Jobseeker profile, then attend an appointment with Work and Income (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026). If you can't apply online, you can call 0800 559 009 or visit a service centre in person.
Do I need a medical certificate?
Only if a health condition, injury or disability affects your ability to work: in that case you need a Work Capacity Medical Certificate from a health practitioner as part of your application, and you'll need to renew it before it expires or your payments may stop (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026). If you're simply unemployed and able to work, no medical certificate is required.
What is the Winter Energy Payment?
It's an automatic top-up paid alongside Jobseeker Support and several other benefits during the winter months, on top of the weekly rates in the tables above (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026). You don't need to apply separately; it is added to your normal payment.
What happens after 26 weeks?
You must reapply if you still need Jobseeker Support after 26 weeks (6 months), and Work and Income will reassess your eligibility at that point (Work and Income, Jobseeker Support, retrieved 9 September 2026). There's no set limit on how many times you can reapply, provided you keep meeting the age, income, ability-to-work and residency tests and your ongoing obligations.
Where Jobseeker Support fits after a job loss
Jobseeker Support covers a floor of income, not a replacement for a salary, which is exactly the gap that income protection insurance is designed for if it's already in place before you lose your job. QuoteHub's read is that the honest way to plan for a job loss is to treat Jobseeker Support as the safety net underneath, redundancy pay and notice pay as the bridge, and any income protection cover you already hold as the layer that actually replaces lost salary, since none of the three exist to do each other's job. Our income protection guide and income protection calculator cover how that cover works if you're assessing it for the future, and our guide to redundancy insurance in NZ explains the narrower, cheaper cover some insurers still attach to another policy specifically for a job loss, alongside mortgage repayment insurance if a home loan is the bigger worry.
This page is one part of our wider losing your job in NZ cluster. If you were made redundant, start with redundancy pay in NZ to work out what you're owed and how it's taxed, check your notice period, and if a mortgage is now hard to manage, see our guide to a mortgage holiday in NZ. Our step-by-step first 30 days after redundancy guide puts all of this in the order most people actually need it.
If income has stopped because of a health condition rather than a job loss, the eligibility tests above still apply, but see our off work sick cluster, and specifically ACC versus the sickness benefit and financial help when you're sick, for the rules that matter most in that situation. If you're weighing up income protection cover for the future, our income protection cost guide, our comparison of income protection insurance, our comparison of the best income protection insurance in NZ, our explainer on whether you need income protection insurance and our page on loss of income insurance go into more depth than this page can, including how waiting and benefit periods interact with a stand-down like the one above. Our guide to insurance when changing jobs is also useful if you're about to start a new role, and our page on how to compare insurance quotes in NZ and our methodology explain how we build the comparisons this cluster links to. See how QuoteHub works for the wider picture.
Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.
Adviser's view
The confusion QuoteHub hears most about Jobseeker Support is that it behaves like a salary replacement. It is a floor income, means-tested against your own or a partner's earnings, and gated by a stand-down that stretches from the standard week or two to as long as thirteen weeks if you resigned rather than were made redundant, which rewards waiting for a genuine redundancy over quitting first.
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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Jobseeker Support NZ 2026: Rates, Eligibility, Stand-downs. www.quotehub.co.nz/guides/losing-your-job/jobseeker-support-nz. Updated 2026-09-09.
References
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