Every family who is home educating exempt students is sent a declaration twice a year (in about March and Oct), covering the periods Jan-June and July-Dec, to sign and return, along with forms in which they state whether they wish to receive the supervision allowance. Previously I have written THIS post about some recent changes to this process, as well as discussing why these declarations must be completed, and what happens if you don't. 

This article will go over some further new/current specifics as well as changes to the supervision allowance. 

A small allowance is payable to home educating families who choose to receive it. It was first introduced in 1990, and has not changed one cent since that time. Last year, after significant lobbying by Homeschooling NZ, and work by NCHENZ, the government agreed to increase the allowance by 2.75%, in line with the yearly funding increase for schools, from 2023. The new figures have been released with the declaration forms - they actually calculate out to be 3.3-3.5% increase, depending on the number of exempt children in a family, but I note that what's actually happened is they have just made them the same as the current Te Kura Student Support Payments, which no doubt makes things simpler for them. The payments will now be:

First child: $384.50 (half year) = $769/year 
Second child: $327 (half year) = $654/year
Third child: $269 (half year) = $536/year
Subsequent children: $192.50 (half year) = $385/year

(While we are very glad that there has been an increase, this does nothing to address the long-standing lack of increases, and this is a matter that we will be looking at further.)

The Ministry's Resourcing department does a print run of declarations for all families with current exemptions twice a year, and sends those out by post to the addresses on file. 

However, if an exemption was granted after the print run close-off date, then the regional office that processed the exemption is responsible to send the family a part-period declaration (from date of exemption to end of that six month period); they should do so with the exemption. For the first half of 2023, the print run close off was 2nd Feb. If you have a child whose exemption start date is later than the 2nd of February, and you did not receive a declaration, then you need to contact your regional office and request they send this to you. 

If you have been homeschooling for some time, and did not receive the most recent declaration at all (wait until the end of March to allow time for them all to be posted out), or have misplaced it, then you can contact Resourcing to ask for another copy. 

If you have recently gained an exemption, or you have a child over 6 whose name is not on the declaration, the Ministry ask that you contact your regional office, as one of the following could be the case:

• The child's exemption has not been approved (or not yet started) - or they may not have correctly updated the database.
• The exemption was approved/started after 2nd Feb so was not included in the print run and the regional office have not sent you the declaration.
• The child has been recorded as having ceased home education (this could be because of a school trial, overseas travel, full time enrolment in free Te Kura or other funded programmes, the exemption being revoked, or a clerical error). 

All of the above are matters for the regional office to sort out. 

Note: when contacting the Ministry about any home education matters, please always quote your family homeschooling reference number, which is found on your exemption certificates, declarations, and other Ministry correspondence. 

Declarations (if sent by Resourcing) are accompanied by a cover letter which has useful info on the back of it. The March 2023 version has a couple of errors in it where they have forgotten to change dates from the previous letters, which may cause confusion. 

Where it says "...if your child's exemption date is later than 1st July 2022" it should read "...if your child's exemption date is later than 1st January 2023.." (then you will be paid a pro-rata amount for this period, from the date of exemption to the end of June, rather than the full amounts above). 

Where it says "If you have home educated your child(ren) for a period other than shown on the form..." the dates should be 1st January to 30th June 2023. 

The first time you receive the supervision allowance, you need to supply proof of your bank account number. You will also need to do this if it has been more than 18 months since you last received a payment (eg if you stopped homeschooling for a time, but now have a new exemption, been overseas for that period, or have not been returning the declarations/getting the allowance). 

Your proof needs to include a Bank logo, an account number matching the one you have written on the form, and show the name of the account holder(s). Usually you can print something suitable off from your internet banking - eg a copy of a statement, but delete your transaction details, which they don't need to see. You don't need to get this certified by the bank or anyone else. You can have payments made into an account in a name other than your own if you wish, just so long as all the right details are provided. 

The deadline to return the completed declaration is Friday 5th May 2023. If it is received by then, payment will be made in the week of 19-23rd June 2023. It may appear in your account on any day of that week, and this will vary by bank. Do not contact the Ministry to ask about missed payments until at least the following week. 

If your declaration is sent in later than the deadline, you will still be eligible for the allowance, but the payment will be delayed. The Ministry will add the payment to their payment schedules, which are put through when full or on a periodic basis. This means that payments are usually made in 2-4 week cycles, so it may take a month or so for you to receive the delayed payment. You do not have to wait until the next supervision allowance run in December. 

Even if you do not wish to receive the allowance, you still need to sign and return both the declaration AND the allowance forms (which ask if you wish to receive it). For more on the legal particulars of this, see HERE

Hopefully the above info, and that in the linked article, tell you everything you need to know about the 6 monthly declarations and allowances. Let me know if I missed anything!

Every family who is home educating exempt students is sent a declaration twice a year (in about March and Oct), covering the periods Jan-June and July-Dec, to sign and return, along with forms in which they state whether they wish to receive the supervision allowance. But what about those families who gained an exemption during a 6 month period?

Note: for 2023 further updates and info, please see THIS article. 

Previously, it worked like this:
If an exemption start date was before the print-run date of all the declarations, the new student's declaration would be included in the normal mail out If it was gained after the print run, then either the period of time from start date to end of period would be included in the subsequent declaration, or Resourcing might send out a late declaration for the part period. 

However, recently they changed this. Now, in theory, it's supposed to work like this:
When a regional office grants an exemption, they are supposed to send out part-period declaration forms to the family for the period from the start date of the exemption to the end of the cycle. Subsequent full-cycle declarations will be sent by Resourcing. 

But, the wheels seem to have seriously fallen off this process over the last 6-12 months! Some regional offices have sent out some declarations, but lots and lots seem not to have been sent. I'm not entirely sure regional staff even know they're supposed to have been doing this! That said, with the huge increase in applications since Sept last year, most regional offices have been seriously struggling to keep up with applications alone, and so many things have "fallen through the cracks."

March 2023 update to the above: the declarations for the first half of this year are in the post to families. They include information which states that if the exemption was granted AFTER 2nd Feb 2023 (when the print run was done) then you should contact your regional office

So, what if a part period declaration was not sent out? Will those dates just be added to the next one?
No, they will not. If you are missing a part-period declaration, you need to contact your regional office, or more efficiently, Resourcing division directly. Their email is Resourcing@education.govt.nz. Quote your family reference number, and ask for the missed declaration. They will email it to you, for you to sign and return. Once completed, any supervision allowance payment will be loaded on the system and paid out in their next available payment run cycle (they do these approximately fortnightly-monthly depending on what payments they are making, but the schedule needs to be full before they do a run so sometimes it's longer). 

If you don't follow up and ask for this, it will remain outstanding for that part period, and you'll still need to ask for it next time around. So may as well just get it done. 

This is also the process to follow any time you happen to have not received a declaration. Also, don't forget to keep the Ministry up to date with your mailing address, as they send the regular declarations out by post. 

​Once you sign and return the declaration, you are eligible for the supervision allowance payment. The annual amounts are as follows - they are paid in two installments in about June and late November:

• first child $743.00
• second child $632.00
• third child $521.00
• subsequent children $372.00

The 6 monthly declarations are the main way that the Ministry follows up to ensure you're still home educating "as regularly and well." It is a simple form with just a couple of questions and tick boxes. Legally, they can't require you to submit these, so the allowance is the "carrot" for you to do so - if you don't return the declaration you can't get the allowance.

​However, if you don't return it, then they will follow up in other ways to ensure "as regularly and well." This will begin with a reminder. If you still don't send in the form, they may follow up with a phone call/email/letter asking for an update on your homeschooling programme. This can potentially lead to an ERO review, and if that is not satisfactory, the exemptions can be revoked. I don't say that to scare you - just to let you know that it's easier to simply sign and return the declarations. Don't consider them "optional" or "only if I want the allowance." You can read more about how homeschooling programmes are monitored HERE. 

Usually, the Ministry includes a return envelope with the declarations. But sometimes a few get missed as the folk in Resourcing are stuffing the thousands of envelopes. So the address, in case you need it, is:

Ministry of Education
Resourcing Contact Centre
PO Box 1666
Wellington 6140

Email  Resourcing@education.govt.nz