Dear Ministry of Social Development,

My name is Simon J. Walker, a citizen of New Zealand.

I request under the Official Information Act, that you please provide me with statistics for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 that outlines proportions of beneficiaries receiving the benefit for the following periods of time.

Less than 3 months.
3-6 months.
6 months-1 year.
1- 3 years.
3-5 years.
More than 5 years.

I would like these data for all benefits with the exception of NZ Superannuation.

I am seeking these statistics as I believe that your current method of reporting, which simply parses these data into two time periods (less than one year & greater than one year) provides an insufficiently nuanced understanding of trends of benefit use in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Yours faithfully,

Simon J. Walker