80680 (2024). Hon Carmel Sepuloni to the Minister for Social Development and Employment

80680 (2024). Hon Carmel Sepuloni to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: In the last year how many, if any, people in West Auckland were overpaid by Work and Income; [ if any, what was the amounts involved and have the overpayments been recovered]?

Hon Louise Upston: I refer the Member to the attached table, which provides the number of clients in Henderson-Massey, Whau, and Waitakere Ranges Auckland City Boards with an overpayment debt established from 1 December 2023 to 30 November 2024. The Ministry does not prioritise debt recovery based on the debt type, but rather the age of the debt. Any debt repayments made will be applied to the oldest debt first, which could be either recoverable assistance, overpayment debt or fraudulent debt. This means other debt owed by the client is “queued up” behind the first debt. In order to provide the amounts involved and whether they have been recovered would require the Ministry to undertake substantial manual collation and divert staff from their core duties. In accordance with the Speaker’s Ruling 185-4, I consider that the time, and hence the expense, of answering this question is not in the public interest.