Were some people receiving a benefit or an allowance notified before the date their Confirming Your Circumstances review material was due to Work and Income that their benefit would be suspended; if so, why? and 1 other question

Answer

I am advised by the Ministry of Social Development that there are three letters that go out to clients as part of the standard CYC process. This process is outlined below. 1. Initial mandatory review letter For all mandatory reviews, a letter is sent 25 working days prior to a client’s mandatory review date. It advises that “You need to confirm your circumstances before [mandatory review date] or some or all of your payments will stop”. 2. Reminder letter For New Zealand Superannuation and Veterans Pension, a reminder letter is sent 14 days before payment are calculated for the pay period in which their mandatory review date falls. For all other mandatory reviews, a reminder letter is sent 7 days before the mandatory review date. This reminder letter is sent when there is no system record of a returned review being sent to MSD. It reminds them of their mandatory review date and asks they send it back to us before the last working day prior to the mandatory review date. 3. Suspension letter New Zealand Superannuation and the Veterans Pension are paid fortnightly on a Tuesday. Payments are calculated 7 days before the payday. For all other mandatory review clients, their payments are paid weekly. Payments are calculated on the Friday before payday. Where a mandatory review date falls into the pay period, the system applies a suspension before the payment is calculated. This ensures payments are based on the information available to the system at the time and ensures we don't create an overpayment.