Hon Erica Stanford
Lead Co-ordination for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into Historical
Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions

The Government will strengthen the care system and improve redress for survivors in Budget 2025 in response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was conducted over six years and found widespread abuse and neglect across many state and faith-based organisations. The final report made 138 recommendations.

“We know there is nothing we can do to take away the pain of survivors, but the Government has committed a significant investment of $774 million in Budget 2025 to improve the redress system and strengthen the care system to prevent, identify, and respond to abuse in the future,” says Ms Stanford.

Improvements to the redress system over this year will include:

• Increasing the average redress payments for new claims from $19,180 to $30,000;
• Providing for higher payments for the survivors who experienced the most egregious abuse;
• Providing “top up” payments of 50% to survivors who have already settled claims to ensure consistency with increased payments for new claims;
• Introducing a common payments framework so that survivors receive the same financial redress for similar experiences of abuse, regardless of where in state care that abuse occurred;
• Increase system capacity to process claims from 1,350 to 2,150 per year from 2027 to reduce wait times for current claimants;
• Implementing a seamless service so that survivors with claims with multiple agencies have those claims managed by one point of contact;
• Introducing a single-entry point for survivors wanting to register new claims;
• Introducing an independent review for people who are unhappy with their redress offer; and
• Funding for redress agencies to provide survivors with access to supports and services.

“I acknowledge that a key recommendation of both the Royal Commission and the Redress Design Group was for a new independent redress entity.

“The Government was faced with a difficult choice: do we spend more time and money on setting up a new scheme, or do we provide more to survivors now through the current redress process?

“For Budget 25 we have prioritised improving the current system as quickly as possible for survivors and investing in changes that have a direct impact for them,” Ms Stanford says.

Investments in the wider care system over the next four years include:

· Up to $71.5 million to build a capable and safe care workforce for children and vulnerable adults;

· Over $50 million to make mental health inpatient units safer and improve privacy and dignity for patients;

· $25 million towards funding initiatives with evidence of an ability to prevent the entry of children and vulnerable adults into care;

· $16 million for Oranga Tamariki for improvements to safeguarding to reduce abuse and harm to children and young people in remand homes and in the care of individual caregivers;

· $9.4 million to bolster oversight of compulsory mental health and addiction care by increasing the capacity, expertise, and availability of independent statutory roles including District Inspectors and Review Tribunals; and

· Almost $9 million for Disability Support Services to strengthen processes that recognise and respond to instances of abuse in care, by introducing additional audits on the quality of services delivered by contracted care providers and improving the systems that support the management of critical incidents and complaints.

There is also funding for the continuation of the Survivor Experiences Service who provide an important survivor-led service, better record keeping and access to records, and for an independent review of the changes to the redress system in 2027.

Cabinet has also decided that for new claims from survivors who are also serious sexual and/or violent offenders who have been sentenced to five years or more in prison a new process will apply. Modelled on similar approaches in Australia and Scotland, this will involve an independent decision maker who will need to assure themselves that a redress payment would not bring the scheme into disrepute. Legislation establishing this will be introduced later this year.

The Government will also establish a Ministerial Advisory Group of survivors and advocates in the coming months to provide relevant Ministers with advice on the Government’s response, including implementation of these changes and the next phase of the wider response.

Redress decisions, at this point, do not include claims that currently sit with school boards, faith-based organisations, or other non-state providers. The Government will be receiving further advice on this later this year.

“The wider work on the Crown response to the Royal Commission’s recommendations continues to be a priority. I expect to release our full response plan in the coming weeks,” Ms Stanford says.

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