Publication.

Legislation

Primary legislation we manage and/or administer:

  • Artificial Limb Service Act 2018
  • Children and Young People’s Commission Act 2022
  • COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Act 2020 – section 36
  • Department of Child, Youth and Family Services Act 1999
  • Disability (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) Act 2008
  • Disabled Persons Community Welfare Act 1975 – except Part 2A
  • Education and Training Act 2020 - Sections 386, 387, 396, and 666, and Schedules 9 and 10
  • Family Benefits (Home Ownership) Act 1964
  • New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006
  • New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001 - Part 1 and Schedules 1AA, 1, and 2
  • Residential Care and Disability Support Services Act 2018
  • Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau) Act 2015
  • Social Assistance (Residency Qualification) Legislation Act 2018
  • Social Security Act 2018
  • Social Workers Registration Act 2003
  • Children's Act 2014 - Parts 2 and 3
  • Public and Community Housing Management Act 1992 – Parts 7 to 10
You can read or download legislation free of charge here.

Protecting your rights

Code(s) of Conduct Governing Information Collection

The Social Security Act 2018 and the Public and Community Housing Management Act 1992 have far reaching powers for gathering information, which are important for the effective administration of those Acts. These powers extend to MSD issuing notices requiring people to produce information and documentation, and largely govern the collection of information for the purpose of recovering overpayments and investigating allegations of fraud.

To ensure the Ministry is appropriately using these powers, Code(s) of Conduct are issued to govern their use in practise. The Code(s) provide safeguards to protect an individual’s right to privacy and ensure fair procedures are followed by MSD.

The Code(s) of Conduct are like a Privacy Code of Practice and any person who has received or is a subject of a notice can complain to the Privacy Commissioner about a breach of the Code.

Download a copy of the Code of Conduct for Obtaining Information under Schedule 6 of the Social Security Act 2018. (PDF 2.05MB)
Download a copy of the Code of Conduct for Obtaining Information under Section 125 of the Public and Community Housing Management Act 1992. (PDF 2.21MB)

MSD takes benefit and housing fraud seriously. You can find out more about our fraud investigations on the Work and Income website.

How to avoid benefit and housing fraud

While we have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the welfare system, we are committed to treating clients fairly and ethically. Our Ethics Framework applies to staff who play a role in investigation activities.

Download a copy of the Ethics Framework (PDF 2.52MB)

Please contact us for an alternate copy if you are unable to download these PDF documents.

Contact us

Automated Decision Making

MSD aims be a trusted and proactive organisation. We connect clients to all the support and services that are right for them, and improve the social and economic wellbeing of New Zealanders.

The use of automated decision-making helps us to deliver efficient services to the New Zealand public. For example, Work and Income use automated decision making for child support payments.

We have developed an Automated Decision-Making (ADM) Standard to govern the development of any process that uses automated rules-based decision-making. 

The ADM Standard was developed to ensure that when we implement an automated decision-making process:

  • there are sufficient safeguards suited to the particular circumstances, and
  • we can show that the relevant law and facts were taken into account.
Our ADM Standard