Alignment issues update

Ideally legislation, policy and practice should be clear and aligned. However the combination of a complex welfare system, changing social and economic settings, and on-going interpretation of legislation through reviews and appeals has led to a number of legislation/practice alignment issues.

In December 2015 the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) started a review after the Minister asked for a stock-take of any outstanding matters where there was potential misalignment between legislation and operational practice.

MSD investigated 36 potential issues where its practice appeared to potentially not align with legislation. Of these, 11 were found not to be alignment-related matters.

Progress to date

Of the remaining 25 matters:

• The Ministry has made changes to operational policies and practices to address two areas to ensure current practice clearly reflects the policy intent and legislation.
  • Overseas travel over Christmas or New Year
  • Accommodation Supplement error, with payments now being made to people owed money because of it.
• A further five operational policies and practices are being considered to ensure that current practice clearly reflects the policy intent and legislation.
• The Ministry has made changes in five matters to ensure legislation clearly reflects the policy intent, and is progressing any follow-up adjustments needed.
  • Commencement date
  • Payment of Terminal Benefit and impact on Funeral Grant
  • Third party review or appeal rights
  • Money on payment card when Youth Payment/Young Parent Payment stops
  • Amending Special Needs Grants Welfare Programme to include NZ Super and Veteran’s Pension as income for special needs grant applications
• The Ministry will be providing advice to the Minister that recommends legislative change to address a further five areas
• The Ministry has provided, or will be providing, further advice to the Minister on another eight matters.

As decisions are made and work is completed, the Ministry will provide updated information on this page.

The Ministry is working with beneficiary advocatesto ensure client views are considered as we work through any adjustments needed.

The Accommodation Supplement payment error is by far the biggest issue identified. Clients who have been overpaid as a result of the Accommodation Supplement error will not have to repay the money. Current clients will automatically be paid any money we owe them. From 28 November, former clients who think they may have been affected by the Accommodation Supplement error in the past will be able to use a specially built enquiry tool on Work and Income’s website to check if they are potentially owed any money.

Future management of alignment issues

The Ministry has changed the way it identifies and escalates any potential problems in future, including establishing a central point of management and dedicated governance arrangements to identify and address any issues early.