24464 (2025). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Social Development and Employment

24464 (2025). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: How much, if anything, is being budgeted in the 2025/26 financial year for redundancy payments, severance or other termination packages in the Minister’s departments, agencies, crown entities and any other bodies that the Minister is responsible for, if any, and how much has been budgeted and spent in the past five financial years?

Hon Louise Upston: I am advised by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) that MSD does not generally budget ahead for redundancy payments as costs are not known at the time budgets are set. However, it does anticipate that there are lower redundancy costs in the 2025/26 year. I refer the member to the attached table which shows the spend on redundancy payments for 2024/25 up to 31 March 2025, and for the past five financial years.