Unemployment Benefit for Students

As far as we can ascertain, the system works like this:

1. Students who have failed to find holiday work go to the Employment Service, Department of Labour at its District Office either in Lower Hutt or in Wellington. They complete one of the standard interview sheets which requests name, address, relative work experience, and so on.

The Office now operates on the appointments system, so that people who have completed the interview sheet have an appointment made for them, usually in two days time. In the intervening period, the Interviewing Officer will endeavour to find suitable work for the applicant.

2. If the efforts of the Interviewing Officer do not succeed, the applicant is asked to complete a Form ES. 11 and referred to the District Office of the Department of Social Welfare. The ES. 11 form is basically a form of introduction to the Social Welfare section, and again gives only basic details.

3. At the Social Welfare Department, the applicant is interviewed again and completed the normal application form for unemployment benefit. In the case of students, in terms of the announcement made by the Minister of Labour late in 1974, this is the so-called "Emergency Benefit". The application form requires the applicant to give, in addition to basic details, including, if the applicant is living at home, the income of the parents.

The Interviewing process and the form filling are therefore somewhat similar to the procedures which students have to undergo when applying for hardship bursaries.

4. Providing everything is in order, emergency benefit is paid from the date of the first interview by the Labour Department until the student either [unclear: finds] vacation work or the Labour [unclear: Department] finds suitable work for him or her, or until the start of the new academic year, whichever is the sooner.

5. The Officers at the Department of Labour and Social Welfare Department [unclear: a] most emphatic in stressing that they I approach this rather complex application process with the benefit of the applicant in mind and that they will do their [unclear: utmo] to find suitable work for the applicant and to make the entire application [unclear: proce] as efficient and as painless as possible.

If students have any difficulty getting the emergency unemployment benefit they should see the students association immediately - a waste of time means a waste of money.