Dear Ministry of Social Development,

Could you please provide information related to appeals considered by the Ministry of Social Development's (MSD) Benefits Review Committee (BRC)?

Specifically, I'd like to know:

1. From the year 2000 to the present, how many appeal cases were a client's overseas pension deducted from their superannuation, in accordance with Sections 187-191 of the Social Security Act 2018 (previously Section 70 of the Social Security Act 1964)? Please also specify how many of these appeals were successful (upheld) and how many were unsuccessful (overturned).

2. According to page 15 of the BRC panel information pack, if the BRC's decision contains a fundermantal error because "the Benefits Review Committee does not provide reasons/evidence for its decision, as required by regulation 247 of the Social Security Regulations 2018," the recommended action is to "Reconvene the original Benefits Review Committee to correct the omission. If the reconvened Benefits Review Committee is unable to give reason(s) for its decision, a new BRC will have to be arranged (original BRC treated as invalid)."

If an applicant makes this complaint to the MSD's National Office regarding this issue and their complaint is not being addressed, and the National Office refuses to take further action as per the Act/guidelines, what internal steps can the applicant take within MSD to resolve the problem? The possibility of proceeding to the Social Security Appeal Authority (SSAA) is not a justification for the BRC's failure to comply with the Act and its own guidelines, and the SSAA will not handle complaints about the BRC's appeal process".

Your prompt attention to this matter and provision of the requested information would be greatly appreciated.

Yours faithfully,

Jason Wu