Human error behind Work and Income account problem
05 February 2016.
Ministry of Social Development Associate Deputy Chief Executive Carl Crafar says incorrect information on a client’s online Work and Income account was human error and not an IT issue with the RealMe log-in.
"A thorough forensic analysis of the client’s interactions and information on the system shows that he was accessing his own account however it contained incorrect contact details.
"The incorrect information had been manually entered by an MSD contact centre staff member. There had been no online or external corruption of the information. Neither RealMe or our online systems were compromised.
"A staff member has made a mistake and has accessed the wrong file when updating someone else’s contact details.
"I’m very pleased that we have determined no system failure and people can be assured that the RealMe log on and Work and Income My Account have robust security protection.
"It was an unfortunate mistake. We are apologising to the client and also to the person whose contact details were mistakenly added to the file.
"It is important to note that with more than 8,000 client interactions an hour mistakes are rare but they do happen.
"We are reviewing processes and training with our Contact Centre staff to minimise human inputting errors. We are also investing significantly in our technology to reduce manual inputting to allow clients to manage their own data online meaning staff don’t have re-enter information," says Mr Crafar.
