The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions

The Royal Commission was established in 2018 to investigate children, young people, and vulnerable adults’ experiences of abuse and neglect in State and non-State care between 1950-1999. The Royal Commission has concluded its investigative phase and is preparing its final report for delivery in 2024.

The Royal Commission held more than 2,900 private sessions, where it heard directly from people about their experiences and the impacts of abuse in care. Crown agencies have provided more than 650,000 documents to the Royal Commission, with non-State care institutions also providing a similarly large volume of information. The Royal Commission has held 14 public hearings that heard from people who experienced abuse in care (survivors), advocates, academics, and senior officials from Crown agencies, and faith-based organisations.

The Royal Commission has produced a number of interim reports about the scale and nature of abuse in care and the failings of existing claims processes. These reports can be found here.

Its 2021 interim redress report, He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu: From Redress to Puretumu torowhānui set out the Royal Commission’s initial recommendations. It found that existing claims processes and government responses to abuse in care were ineffective and retraumatising for survivors. The redress report recommended immediate actions to improve redress and the establishment of a single, independent redress system to replace existing claims processes.

Further information is accessible at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care Website.

This report is about the struggle of many survivors of abuse in care to restore their lives, regain their mana and hold previous and current governments, and state and faith-based institutions, to account for the abuse survivors suffered. This report is offered in te reo Māori too. 

On 9 August 2022, the Government announced that work was underway on three immediate projects in response to the Royal Commission’s Redress Report. These were rapid payments, a listening service for claimants, and provision to survivors of records of their time in care. The aim of the projects is to improve support for survivors of abuse in care while a new independent redress system is being designed.

The Royal Commission released an Interim Report in December 2020. It provided a progress report, an analysis of the size of the care cohorts for State and faith-based care, and some interim findings.

MSD’s role in the inquiry

• The Ministry will continue to support the Crown response to the Royal Commission’s Inquiry including the final report and recommendations when they are published.
• The Ministry continues to listen to the experiences of survivors and remains committed to engaging with them through the historic claims process in order to help achieve positive outcomes for them.
• The Ministry is committed to continually improving our processes to make them more responsive to claimants.
• The Ministry’s historic claims process has always been focused on (and is approved and funded for) responding to claims from survivors who have concerns about their time while in Social Welfare care.
• We are continuing to focus on the resolution of existing historic claims. We will continue to support claimants and progress their claims while the new redress system is designed and set up.