NZ News

Couple owes $20,000 Working for Families debt ‘through no fault of our own’

Published

1 year ago

May 30, 2025

Phoenix Ruka says he and his wife owe about $18,000 to $20,000 in Working for Families debt, despite always doing their best to ensure that they supplied the correct details about their income and circumstances.

“We’ve always stayed up-to-date with my salary and what we received from them and updated my salary every time it went up and down,” Ruka said.

“What were receiving was what they assured us we were entitled to. But then we got a massive bill saying they had overpaid us.”

He said his wife had been “relentless” in trying to work out what had happened.

It was discovered that a couple of years they had been underpaid, by many thousands of dollars, which they were reimbursed, but one year they were paid too much, which left them with the debt.

“I think the really frustrating part is that it’s through no fault of our own. We owe a substantial amount of money. Now they’re taking $350 a fortnight out of our bank account,” Ruka said.

“We’ve gone back and forth and shown them our expenses, that we actually can’t afford the amount they’re taking. We’ve shown them our bills, our mortgage – they told us that they can’t keep taking money if we can’t afford it but we can’t.”

He said there had been multiple times where the money that was being taken to repay the debt was all that was left in their bank account.

It’s an issue the government is attempting to tackle with proposed changes to the way that income is assessed for Working for Families.

As part of the Budget, it was announced that the threshold at which entitlements start to abate was to be increased slightly, and the government would look at options to help avoid the issue of Working for Families debt.

Inland Revenue’s discussion document said 85 percent of Working for Families households received their payments weekly or fortnightly during the 2022 tax year, based on an income estimate.

Only 15 percent were receiving their credits annual based on the family’s actual income once income tax had been assessed.

Those who were being paid weekly or fortnightly were subject to an end of year “square up” process by Inland Revenue, the document noted, although they were expected to update IRD with any relevant changes during the year.

In the 2022 year, only 24 percent of households receiving weekly or fortnightly payments and squared up by IRD had received the right amount of Working for Families credits.

Those who were overpaid are left with a debt to repay.

The document said debt was a particular problem for low- and middle-income families because it reduced their ability to meet their day to day costs in the future.

“Debt undermines the intent of the Working for Families scheme to support low to middle income families to meet basic needs and incentivise work.”

The amount owed by Working for Families recipients has been steadily increasing over the years.

The document noted that in June 2024, 56,800 accounted for $273.5 million of Working for Families debt.

There were 21,418 instalment arrangements in place to clear $50 million of debt.

“Having to estimate annual income in advance is the most common reason why families do not receive the right amount during the year,” the document said.

“For many families, estimating yearly income is difficult to do with any accuracy. Under the current income estimation model, families can still be overpaid when their income increases unexpectedly. For example, something as simple as a promotion or starting a new job towards the end of the year could cancel out their Working for Families entitlement and leave them in debt.”

But the document said assessing people’s income very regularly could mean a lot of changes in what people received.

If someone was paid fortnightly, some months could have two paydays and some three. Someone who was paid every four weeks would occasionally be paid twice in one month.

“Families would need to check in more often to report or confirm their income so that Inland Revenue can recalculate their payments. This would mean an increase in time spent interacting with Inland Revenue and its systems. This could also mean payments would vary every week or month, making it harder for families to budget and plan.”

The discussion document said the government’s current thinking was that a quarterly assessment could strike the right balance between responsiveness, certainty and recipient effort. It was seeking feedback on the idea.

The government also suggests a shift from calculating a recipient’s Working for Families on the recipient’s estimate of future income over the coming year to basing the calculation on past income they actually received. This would help to prevent people going into debt.

It is also proposing to simplify the residence criteria for Working for Families and require both caregivers and children to be physically present in New Zealand to qualify.

Susan St John, associate professor at the University of Auckland and Child Poverty Action Group spokesperson, said she thought the review was limited.

“There are huge difficulties for self-employed in more regular assessment. For income that is not earned regularly it can cause volatility and add to the admin or compliance load. There are other ways – in Australia they hold a portion back until the end of the year.”

She said the review did not address the problems of Working for Families in a meaningful way.

“They arise because the threshold is way too low and the rates of clawback way too high.”

She said the scheme was confusing with the different types of credits available, and the poorest 200,000 were excluded from the full package, missing out on about $5000 a year.

Revenue Minister Simon Watts said the government knew that it could be distressing to have debt to Inland Revenue. “We are interested in what people think of the proposals.”

Another woman, Amy says she’s still paying off the $12,000 in Working for Families debt she was landed with three years ago, amid a messy divorce.

She and her husband were shareholders in a business and, she says, he incorrectly reported some of the business profit as income in her name.

That prompted the government to think she had been overpaid credit and she was landed with a bill.

She now can only receive $172 a week in Working for Families credits for her three children because she is paying back the debt.

She is a single parent also paying a mortgage.

Source: RNZ

Latest News

Police say person who fired gun at officers still at large

Published

2 days ago

November 12, 2026

News Staff

Police say a person who fired a gun at officers in Napier is still at large.

Eastern District Commander Superintendent Joel Lamb said Police tried to stop a vehicle in the Pirimai Area at about 10pm on Tuesday.

He said someone in the back seat pointed what was presumed to be a firearm at officers pursuing the vehicle.

“Staff have then heard two distinct gunshots as the firearm was discharged.

“Fortunately, neither of our officers were injured, and the patrol vehicle did not sustain any damage.”

He said hours later, the vehicle was seen travelling north on the Waikato Expressway towards Auckland.

Police seized the vehicle at an address in Manurewa, but they had not found the alleged offender.

Lamb said people who lived at the Manurewa address were engaging with Police.

He said Eastern District and Counties Manukau Police were making enquiries.

“Presenting a firearm at a Police officer is a serious escalation that puts our staff and the wider community at risk. This behaviour is entirely unacceptable.

“We are taking this incident extremely seriously and will be pursuing all lines of enquiry to locate the offender and hold them accountable.”

Police asked anyone who witnessed the incident to contact Police on 105 or online using the reference number 261111/3764.

Information could also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

rnz

Latest News

New Zealand sides named for RLWC finals

Published

3 days ago

November 11, 2026

News Staff

The players tasked with ending Australia’s Rugby League World Cup dominance have been named.

The Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns have announced their squads for this Sunday’s World Cup finals in Brisbane.

Both sides are chasing their first titles since 2008, and both are looking to end their opponents run of three crowns in a row.

“Our Kiwi Ferns have been so dominant in years gone by, and we want to bring dominance back to this jersey, so I think it will be a case of who wants it more,” said co-captain Georgia Hale of the impending clash.

The Kiwis get a major boost for the final as they welcome back Ronaldo Mulitalo after he served a one-match ban for a high tackle against Fiji Bati.

Mulitalo replaces Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who moves to the six-man bench, which again includes utility Te Maire Martin, middle forwards Naufahu Whyte, Erin Clark and Xavier Willison plus fullback Keano Kini.

Loose forward Joseph Tapine will make his 30th Test appearance in a familiar pack again, including second-rowers Isaiah Papali’i and Briton Nikora, and props James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota.

Winger Jamayne Isaako is on the cusp of claiming the New Zealand record for most Test points.

His five goals against Tonga lifted his career points tally to 225 – level with Shaun Johnson – while centre Casey McLean goes into the final with 16 tries in just eight Tests.

Fisher-Harris will again captain the team.

Fullback Ponga said the goal of the group was clear.

“We have high expectations around what we want to achieve, and obviously winning a world Cup is one of them.”

Meanwhile, Ricky Henry has selected a settled side to take on the Jillaroos, led by their lethal centre combination of Stacey Waaka and Mele Hufanga.

Veteran Apii Nicholls takes the number one jersey, Leianne Tufuga and Mackenzie Wiki on the wings.

Henry has stuck with his halves pairing of Chantay Kiria-Ratu and Raecene McGregor with Alexis Tauaneai, Georgia Hale and Otesa Pule up front.

Rounding out the starting pack is Shaniece Monschau, Kaiyah Atai, and Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa.

“We have been building well throughout the tournament; we understand the Jillaroos side, and will give it our all to make New Zealand proud this weekend,” said Henry.

RLWC Finals:

Kiwi Ferns vs Jillaroos- 6.10pm

Kiwis vs Kangaroos – 9.35pm

Sunday November 15

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Live blog updates on RNZ

Kiwi Ferns:

1. Apii Nicholls 2. Leianne Tufuga 3. Mele Hufanga 4. Stacey Waaka 5. Mackenzie Wiki 6. Chantay Kiria-Ratu 7. Raecene McGregor 8. Alexis Tauaneai 9. Georgia Hale 10. Otesa Pule 11. Shaniece Monschau 12. Kaiyah Atai 13. Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa.

Interchange: 14. Ashleigh Quinlan 15. Annessa Biddle 16. Shannon Mato 17. Ivana Lauitiiti.

Reserves: 18. Brooke Anderson 19. Zahara Temara 20. Brianna Clark 21. Abigail Roache 22. Tenika Willison.

Kiwis:

1. Kalyn Ponga, 2. Jamayne Isaako, 3. Dane Gagai, 4. Casey McLean, 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo, 6. Kodi Nikorima, 7. Jahrome Hughes, 8. James Fisher-Harris (c), 9. Jeremy Marshall-King, 10. Moses Leota, 11. Isaiah Papali’i, 12. Briton Nikora, 13. Joseph Tapine (v/c).

Interchange: 14. Te Maire Martin, 15. Naufahu Whyte, 16. Erin Clark, 17. Xavier Willison.

Reserves: 18. Keano Kini, 19. Phoenix Crossland, 20. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 21. Scott Sorensen, 22. Leo Thompson.

rnz

Latest News

Opportunities to mitigate multi-million-dollar RNZ budget blowout likely missed – experts

Published

4 days ago

November 10, 2026

News Staff

Multiple opportunities to identify and mitigate a multi-million-dollar budget blowout at RNZ appear have been missed, according to the former executive director at Audit New Zealand.

The public broadcaster on Monday revealed a near $12 million shock financial loss after a litany of financial blunders, which will now lead to sweeping job cuts.

The $11.8m loss is more than 25 times the $470,000 RNZ had expected to lose over the year to June.

CEO Paul Thompson took responsibility for the result, and said internal reports gave an inaccurate picture of the finances, meaning the scale of the loss only became clear in October.

RNZ’s former chief financial officer Hilary Parker resigned unexpectedly in early October.

The board said it would commission an independent review into what went wrong.

Independent contractor Stephen Walker, who left the Audit Office earlier this year, said the size of the loss was surprising, as was the length of time it took to identify it – months after the financial year ended.

“Probably more of a concern is that they had seemingly been unaware that they were running up a significant deficit until they were in the preparation stage of their annual report in October.”

Walker said public entities typically produced monthly financial reports.

An interim audit also took place before the end of the financial year, he said, but if the organisation hadn’t identified significant losses at that stage, the auditor could also be in the dark.

“It seems that there’s a real weakness in forecasting and budgeting that’s occurred here and that the monthly accounts, when they’re produced, either haven’t identified these significant variances against budget or the magnitude of them really hasn’t come to light until right towards the end of the financial year,” Walker said.

“And really at that point, there’s no opportunity for the chief executive, the leadership team to take, and the board to take, any corrective action because the year has effectively been completed.”

Walker said the “significant miss” was difficult to account for given it was more than 10 percent of RNZ’s total funding.

He said based on RNZ’s annual report, financial complexity didn’t appear to be a factor.

“This $11.8m loss isn’t made up of one particular item … it seems to have been contributed to by a number of separate expense lines running over budget. So I don’t think it’s necessarily to do with complexity.”

Among the errors, RNZ wrongly counted $2m from land sales as income in its budget. Staff costs also came in $3.2m over budget, including $1.4m in redundancy payments.

Professor at Auckland University’s business school Norman Wong said based on media reports the issues identified were “significant and troubling”.

“But recognising the sale of land as income in their budget is a basic error that one would have expected to have been caught and corrected well before it got to this point.”

With funding reductions at RNZ over the past two years, Walker expected greater scrutiny of financial results.

“Virtually every public entity has had their annual budget reduced. And so you would expect … the leadership team on a monthly basis and board – I’m not sure how frequently the board will consider the information – but you would expect them to be interrogating the results on a regular basis throughout the year,” he said.

Walker said initiating an independent review was the correct course of action and that he’d want to understand what information the leadership team and the board were regularly receiving.

He said he’d “love to say” surprising financial results were rare, but conceded they occured on a semi-frequent basis during his time leading the Audit Office.

“The benefit of independent scrutiny by the Audit Office – and the auditors providing that support to the Auditor General – [is] that the reporting is fairly presented at the end of the year, whether it’s good, bad or ugly.”

rnz