'I accept responsibility' - Louise Upston fronts on MSD failures
New Zealand's Social Development Minister Louise Upston has accepted responsibility for administrative failures that led to thousands of pensioners and beneficiaries having their payments wrongly suspended. The errors, linked to rushed legislation, resulted in millions of dollars in arrears.
Why it matters
This highlights the risks of passing complex social welfare legislation under urgency without adequate administrative oversight.
More than three weeks after it was discovered thousands of pensioners and veterans had not received their winter energy payment entitlements the Minister has accepted responsibility for a series of mistakes.
Social Development Minister Louise Upston's apology and acceptance that the buck stops with her comes a day after her ministry released a review, which found more than 30,000 benefits and other payments were wrongly suspended despite concerns raised for three months.
It was August 18 when the initial winter energy payment mistake was first reported after an error in a bill was passed through all three stages under urgency.
The winter energy payment should have been exempt from a law change that required main beneficiaries to confirm their circumstances annually to remain eligible.
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