Monthly Reporting
An overview of benefit and supplementary assistance data.
The Monthly Benefits Update A3 and Commentary will no longer be published starting with the October 2024 release. The Monthly data file will continue to be published, with additional information available as part of the Benefit Fact Sheets.
Latest Monthly Benefits Update release
Monthly Benefits Update - Data file
Release timetable
The Monthly Benefits Update will be released on the following dates:
| Monthly edition | Published |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 24 January 2025 |
| January 2025 | 14 February 2025 |
| February 2025 | 14 March 2025 |
How we report ethnicity
From December 2021, we introduced a new reporting approach called ‘total response’. Making this change means that we recognise all aspects of someone’s ethnicity and allows us to represent the full diversity of communities, whānau, and people in Aotearoa. This reflects our clients more accurately, aligns our approach with Statistics NZ’s reporting, and reflects best practice.
Ethnicity is about people’s identity and sense of belonging. Ethnicity measures cultural affiliation, rather than race, ancestry, nationality, or citizenship. Ethnicity is self-perceived and people can identify with more than one ethnic group. Previously, we reported ethnicity using an approach called ‘prioritised ethnicity’. Prioritised ethnicity meant that we allocated people to a single ethnic group in an order of priority. The priority previously used by MSD was Māori, Pacific Peoples, Other, and NZ European.
Confidentiality - Random Rounding
From 12 February 2021, MSD started applying a range of new confidentiality procedures to public data releases. These procedures will continue to protect client information while making more data available. To find out how we have changed the way we work with client information, please visit:
