Long wait times 'stressful' for those needing urgent Work and Income support

Sunday, 5 December 2021

Work and Income is part of the Ministry of Social Development.

People calling Work and Income for urgent support are facing long-wait times as resources are stretched.

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) said its phone networks had experienced 'very high demand' for services heading for the festive season.

Geoff Cook, MSD's general manager of the contact centre, said it was a busy time. Ongoing demand for the wage subsidy was a major burden on the system, he said, particularly with the recent announcement by the Government of temporary increases to income thresholds.

“This is a very busy period for our contact centres. There is generally greater demand for our services heading into the Christmas period.”

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MSD has more than 1200 staff across 10 contact centre, managing 20,000 calls a day.

Christchurch Beneficiary Advisory Services advocate Tavia Moore says the boost to benefits is positive but more is needed.

“The average wait time last week was 23 minutes and 25 seconds,” said Cook

“For the week of November 22, 75 per cent of calls to our contact centre were answered in less than 10 minutes and 89 percent within 45 minutes.”

Some callers affected by the delays said they ''wished'' they only had to wait 23 minutes. Most of those spoken to by Stuff said that over the last 10 days hold times had ranged from ''at least40 minutes to 80 minutes''.

''Someone with a physical disability cannot hold on for that long,'' said one social worker, “Someone who is homeless and cannot charge their phone cannot wait that long. Whānau caring for babies cannot wait on hold for 45 minutes.”

''These are people who are already suffering and desperate for help. To be ignored for so long is damaging for their mental health. It's advertised as accessible for urgent help, but it isn't accessible.''

Tavia Moore, an advocate at the Christchurch Beneficiaries Advisory Service, agreed the long wait times to access urgent help was ''stressful'' for vulnerable people.

''We have definitely seen clients experiencing long wait times through the call centre, and this is only going to worsen over the holiday period,'' Moore said. ''It is typically what we see. We also experience longer wait times in our correspondence too.

‘’This is disappointing and stressful for those in need, particularly as the holiday period is stressful already for those going without.''

Wait times were also long, Moore said, when the service was ''requesting call backs regarding food grants, recoverable assistance and emergency housing''.

However, some beneficiaries praised MSD’s call-back service at 0800 559 009. If you opt for a call-back, your place in the queue is held for the rest of the day.

''It is good, but nobody knows it is available,'' one woman said.

''When I did eventually get through to the call centre the staff were really kind and helpful. It’s not their fault.''

Cook said MSD was ''continuing to recruit staff to help reduce the wait times''.