MSD Overturns Decision: Benefit Granted After Failure to Consider Expert Medical Advice

The Ministry of Social Development has apologized after mistakenly declining a Supported Living Payment for a mother caring for her son with celiac disease and type 1 diabetes.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 14, 2026, 3:07 AM EDT

Source: RNZ Pacific

The Case: Intensive Care Requirements

The applicant, whose name has been withheld for privacy, applied for the Supported Living Payment – Carer benefit in February. Her son suffers from both celiac disease and Type 1 diabetes. Crucially, the boy is "hypo unaware," a condition where he does not display physical symptoms when his blood sugar drops to potentially fatal levels.

A specialist from Starship Hospital provided a detailed letter to Work and Income, outlining nine specific bullet points of intensive monitoring required to keep the child alive. Despite this, the mother was told during a casual phone inquiry that her application had been declined because the "level of care wasn't considered to be high enough."

MSD Admission of Error

Following inquiries by RNZ, MSD reviewed the case and issued a formal apology. Graham Allpress, MSD’s general manager of client service delivery, acknowledged that the agency had mistakenly applied the "institutional-level care" threshold too rigidly.

"On review, the information from the doctor and paediatric expert outline the significant level of care her son needs, and that this requires her to be present and available for him throughout the day," Allpress stated. The Ministry has committed to correcting the decision and backdating the support.