Winz promotes man who wrongfully axed benefit
A Work and Income employee heavily criticised for ‘‘patronising’’ conduct and incompetence while working as an investigator has been appointed branch manager.
Canterbury man James Reid, 38, was criticised by the Social Security Appeal Authority in October 2017 for his actions during an investigation. As a result, a woman wrongfully faced repaying more than $68,000 to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). The woman appealed to the authority and the decision was reversed.
In July, Reid was promoted via secondment to the branch manager role at Work and Income’s Riccarton office, in Christchurch.
The promotion has been criticised by the woman’s lawyer but defended by Work and Income which said Reid had been following ‘‘standard process and procedures’’, some of which had since changed. Work and Income added Reid had taken part in a leadership coaching programme and received positive feedback from clients.
In her decision, authority chairwoman Susan Pezaro criticised Reid for selective evidence – where he used only text messages that supported his position.
He also contacted the woman’s expartner, against whom she had a protection order, which meant she was ‘‘having to deal with him again’’.
‘‘[When she told him that], Reid said she should contact the police or his manager if she had an issue with his actions,’’ Pezaro said.
‘‘It was immediately after this that Mr Reid told [the woman] that her benefit would be stopped. Such disregard for the safety of the appellant and her children is of great concern.’’
When interviewing witnesses, Reid asked leading questions – used to prompt the answer an interviewer wants and which has been considered poor practice for at least 20 years.
Reid also decided the woman was not spending enough money on groceries, and inferred she was receiving alternative support. Pezaro said Reid’s conclusion was reached ‘‘without reference to any recognised standard for measuring food costs’’ and added there was no reason to view ‘‘Reid’s opinion on household budgets as that of an expert’’.
Under cross-examination by the woman’s lawyer, Simonette Boele, Reid defended predetermining the outcome of his investigation and telling the woman, in the middle of an interview, that her benefit would be cut.
When Boele asked Reid why he continued interviewing witnesses after he made his decision, he told her it ‘‘would do the person a disservice if their benefit continued’’.
‘‘His explanation is patronising, the benefit should not have been discontinued for the reasons discussed,’’ Pezaro said.
When contacted for comment, Boele told The Press it was ‘‘quite hard to see how you can do a beneficiary a disservice by not giving them a benefit’’.
‘‘It doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me, and that’s not the point. The point is natural justice and fairness means that there’s an investigation,’’ she said.
‘‘It should be independent. It should be with courtesy, like any public service.’’
Pezaro said government ministries’ standard practice was to ‘‘conclude such interviews on the basis they will be considered’’.
It was ‘‘most concerning’’ that Reid either predetermined the outcome or decided his interview was enough to suspend the benefit and establish an overpayment by MSD.
‘‘It is not appropriate to grant an interviewer power over interview subjects to make statutory decisions as they go; premised on their own evaluation of how effective their interview techniques have been,’’ Pezaro said.
Reid’s appointment came about a month after Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced new expectations ‘‘in terms of the values Work and Income will live by’’.
In the three weeks after new guidelines were introduced, benefit suspensions had reduced by 23 per cent, she said.
‘‘Already Work and Income has been using clearer guidelines and providing more support for staff when making discretionary decisions about suspending benefits.
‘‘I have been clear that our staff must explore every other option rather than suspension of a benefit, and that the decision to suspend is not to be made by a single person alone.’’
Adrienne Keir of Beneficiary Advisory Services said it was ‘‘certainly an interesting decision by the ministry’’ to appoint Reid, ‘‘in light of the positive changes they’ve been speaking of implementing’’.
‘‘All ministry staff should be beyond reproach, none more so than those in positions of authority,’’ she said.
Boele said Reid was ‘‘unprofessional and unpleasant’’ during his investigation. She was surprised to learn of the promotion, ‘‘given the ministry says they want to change the culture’’.
‘‘You would not expect him to make a career in MSD after that. Or, at least, I’d ask whether he’s had any specific training, any education that would have brought him up to speed with what you’re meant to be doing.’’
MSD regional commissioner John Henderson said the ministry had received ‘‘great feedback from both clients and staff’’ since Reid took on the role.
That included a client who described Reid as ‘‘definitely in the right job and performing above and beyond’’.
Reid, a former police officer, took part in a leadership coaching programme before assuming the branch manager role. Work and Income Riccarton was a ‘‘medium-sized office’’ that serviced about 6400 clients.
MSD acting client service support general manager Warren Hudson said it would be unfair to hold Reid responsible ‘‘for what were standard operating procedures at the time’’.
‘‘We would like to make it clear that the process and procedures [Reid] followed during the investigation, and of which the authority is critical, were standard process and procedures in the fraud investigation team, not [Reid’s] own processes.
‘‘As a result of the authority’s decision in this case, we have since made some changes in our fraud investigations.’’
That included all investigators being asked not to make decisions during interviews with clients suspected of defrauding MSD.
Reid was also unaware of the protection order when he contacted the woman’s former partner, Hudson said.
‘‘Where we are aware, we do not approach an ex-partner.’’
‘‘All ministry staff should be beyond reproach, none more so than those in positions of authority.’’ Adrienne Keir, Beneficiary Advisory Services