Government Pre-Budget Announcement about Redress

22 May 2025

Overview

On Friday 9 May, the Government announced changes to its redress scheme for survivors of abuse while in state care.

The Government is not setting up a new redress scheme.  Instead, it has decided to improve the current system.  It says that this will mean it can provide financial as well as other forms of redress quickly and efficiently.

What this announcement means for Dilworth survivors

The redress changes do not apply to claims that currently sit with school boards, faith-based organisations like Dilworth, or other non-state providers. The Government will be receiving further advice on this later this year.

If a Dilworth survivor is also a survivor of abuse in state care, he can apply for Government redress under its current scheme.

However, while the Government is waiting on advice about redress for survivors of abuse in faith-based institutions, it remains unclear what course of action it will take.  It has not said if it will extend its current redress scheme to survivors of abuse in faith-based institutions.

We encourage former students who have been abused to participate in the Dilworth Redress Programme as well as  any current or future Government-funded redress programmes based on what feels most appropriate for them.

The key changes to the Government redress scheme for survivors of abuse in state care

The Government has committed $774 million to improving redress and strengthening the care system to prevent, identify, and respond to abuse in the future.

In other words, this sum of money is not just for redress payments.  It will also cover the administration of the Government redress programme, as well changes to care services e.g.

• Building a capable and safe care workforce for children and vulnerable adults;
• Making mental health inpatient units safer and improving privacy and dignity for patients;
• Funding for Oranga Tamariki to improve safeguarding and reduce abuse and harm to children and young people in remand homes and in the care of individual caregivers.

The key takeaways of the Government’s redress changes are:

• An increase in the average redress payment for new claims from $19,180 to $30,000.
• Providing top-up payments of 50% to survivors who have already settled claims to ensure consistency with the increased payments for new claims.
• A common payment framework will be introduced so that survivors receive the same financial redress for similar experiences of abuse, regardless of which state institution it occurred in.
• Survivors who experienced severe abuse will receive higher payments - this is not expected until July 2025 and will be subject to ministerial review.
• From 2027, in order to reduce wait times, the system’s capacity to process claims will be increased from 1350 claims a year to 2150 claims a year.
• Survivors who have claims with multiple agencies will soon have one point of contact to assist them.