Grandparents getting paid at last

NZ Herald 22 December 2015
Thirty-one grandparents who have not received the correct benefit for bringing up their grandchildren are in line for back pay averaging $20,000 to $30,000 each after Work and Income agreed to review their cases.

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley has told the support group Grandparents Raising Grandchildren that all the cases will be reviewed by the end of the year.

Work and Income has also updated its guidelines for the Unsupported Child’s Benefit (UCB) from December 7, telling staff to accept a statutory intervention by Child, Youth and Family (CYF) as sufficient evidence that a child’s nuclear family has broken down.

The changes, revealed by Labour social development spokeswoman Carmel Sepuloni, follows a doubling of all complaints about information provided by Work and Income staff from 537 in 2008-09 to 1197 in the year to June 2015.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11564448

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