17 June 2024
Don Thompson
[FYI request #25918 email]
Tēnā koe Don Thompson
Official Information Act request
Thank you for your email of 17 May 2024 requesting average wait times for
callers of the Work and Income phone system, specifically for calls relating to
hardship assistance.
I have considered your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Please find the information requested in
Table One below.
Table One: Average number of minutes taken to answer at the Ministry’s
Contact Centre, broken down by month and queue type, from 1 June
2023 to 31 May 2024.
Month
Advances
General
June 2023
11:27
11:51
July 2023
12:45
12:42
August 2023
11:56
11:56
September 2023
15:08
14:23
October 2023
11:51
12:11
November 2023
12:23
12:29
December 2023
11:07
11:23
January 2024
10:54
11:18
February 2024
10:24
10:26
March 2024
07:38
07:46
April 2024
06:53
07:17
May 2024
06:22
06:59
Total average speed
10:34
10:34
to answer
Notes
The Ministry attempts to accurately categorise and record each call received, but
the exact matters discussed in each call are not able to be reported on.
Callers to the Ministry’s Contact Centre are sorted into queues depending on
what the caller says to the automated phone system. The data provided above is
reflective of the queues callers were sorted into, specifically for the ‘advances’
and ‘general’ queues. As you may expect, a client’s queue may not match the
The Aurora Centre, 56 The Terrace, PO Box 1556, Wellington
– Telephone 04-916 3300 – Facsimile 04-918 0099
matters discussed over the phone. For instance, many callers have multiple
discussion points that do not cleanly fit into a single queue.
The Ministry advises that the ‘advances’ queue is used for callers that identify a
matter relating to hardship assistance to the automated system. As noted above,
it is likely that some calls in this queue did not discuss hardship assistance.
Further, not all calls relating to hardship assistance will have been captured in
this queue. For this purpose, the General queue has also been provided, as it is
likely to contain most of the remaining calls relating to hardship assistance.
I will be publishing this decision letter, with your personal details deleted, on the
Ministry’s website in due course.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[MSD request email]. If you are not satisfied with my decision on your request, you have the right to
seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman. Information about how to
make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or 0800 802
602.
Ngā mihi nui
pp.
Magnus O’Neill
General Manager
Ministerial and Executive Services
