Part 1: Agency Financial Resourcing (continued)

Special appropriations table

Overview of the Special appropriations table

The Special appropriations table lists Acts that contain one or more special appropriation(s). An Act is listed under an agency consistent with the most recent Administrative Arrangements Order.

Special appropriations are those appropriations contained in Acts other than the annual Appropriation Acts. Special appropriations account for around three quarters of GGS expenditure each year. An example of expenditure that is met using a special appropriation is aged pensions paid under the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999.

Expenditure authorised by special appropriations is triggered by legislative eligibility criteria and conditions. A small number of Acts stipulate a maximum amount appropriated for the particular purpose. Some Acts additionally specify a time period for the special appropriation. Such special appropriations are referred to as being limited appropriations (in amount and/or time).

The Summary of Special appropriations table presents portfolio resourcing that is supported by special appropriations. The detailed Special appropriations table presents resourcing for each agency that is supported by special appropriations.

The detailed Special appropriations table shows, on an Act basis, the total resources from all special appropriations contained in each Act. The amount for each Act is totaled because Acts that contain special appropriations do not authorise expenditure on an Outcomes basis. Noting this, only the aggregated total in the Special appropriations table, for all Acts for an agency, can be matched with the total of special appropriation amounts shown in the Agency resourcing table. For an example of this matching, see Figure 3 of the section entitled Guide to Budget Paper No. 4.