Social Development Minister says while food is essential, declined hardship grants ‘not a mistake’
New Zealand's Social Development Minister Louise Upston has refused to apologize for the rejection of thousands of food grant applications, labeling the issue an administrative coding error. Regional officials have since apologized for the confusion caused by the misclassification of food as a non-essential item.
Why it matters
The incident highlights systemic issues in government welfare administration and the impact of bureaucratic errors on vulnerable populations.
The Minister for Social Development and Employment is refusing to apologise after thousands of applications for food grants were declined.
More than 8000 Special Needs Grant applications to help towards buying food have been declined by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) over the past six years on the basis that food is “non-essential”.
Louise Upston told Ryan Bridge TODAY ’s Katie Bradford that while she recognised food “clearly is an essential item”, the reason for declining applications had simply been recorded in the system incorrectly.
When asked if she would apologise, she remained firm that it was an administrative error.
“No, look, I think there’s two things here ... first food clearly is an essential item.
“... hardship grants will be declined for a range of reasons. What’s happened here is the reason has been incorrectly recorded in this system.
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