Another sorry from Christopher Luxon after beneficiaries miss out
By Lauren Crimp of RNZ
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has apologised after people’s benefits were wrongly suspended because officials were overwhelmed with paperwork.
But he’s standing by his statement to Parliament that the problem had not occurred, saying it was correct at the time.
RNZ on Thursday revealed people had their benefit payments wrongly suspended after a law change was rushed through Parliament last year.
The new law requires some beneficiaries to reconfirm their circumstances at least once every 52 weeks, to check whether they are still eligible.
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) said processing delays caused by a high volume of people confirming their circumstances meant some paperwork was not checked in time and their benefit payments stopped.
The same law change had also caused a separate issue: thousands of pensioners missed out on their winter energy payment because it was incorrectly included in the legislation.
Social Development Minister Louise Upston. Photo / Dean Purcell
Luxon and the Social Development Minister Louise Upston apologised for the missing winter energy payments last week.
On Friday, Luxon also said sorry for the second problem.
“There’s clearly an issue, our job is to fix it ... I apologise for it, I’m sorry that it’s happened,” he said.
“It’s really disappointing to see that there are further issues there.”
Luxon said he was focused on ensuring people got the money they were owed and that the underlying problem was fixed.
MSD said everyone had been paid back and there were no longer processing delays.
Luxon last week told Parliament he was confident that no beneficiaries had lost payments because of processing delays.
“My statement was correct at the time,” he said on Friday, adding he had only found out about the problem on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Social Development Minister Louise Upston refused to comment on her statements in Parliament.
On Tuesday she was asked whether benefits had wrongly been suspended because of processing delays.
Upston said no, but changed her answer to “possibly” after multiple further questions.
RNZ asked whether Upston would clarify her statements.
She said she would not be commenting further until she received the findings of MSD’s review into the matter.
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz
Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you
Get the iHeart App
Get more of the radio, music and podcasts you love with the FREE iHeart app. Scan the QR code to download now.
Download from the app stores
Stream unlimited music, thousands of radio stations and podcasts all in one app. iHeart is easy to use and all FREE
