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HNZ/MSD Benefit Eligibility Programme
Annual Report
Purpose: To enable MSD detect:
• ‘double-dipping' for accommodation assistance
• differences in information concerning personal relationships, dependent children and tenant income
• forwarding address details for MSD debtors who have left HNZ properties.
Year commenced: 2006
Features: Data transferred weekly by online transfer.
HNZ disclosure to MSD: HNZ selects records relating to new tenancies, annual rent reviews, change in circumstance rent reviews and tenancy vacations.
Each record includes the tenant's full name (including aliases), date of birth, MSD client number (if held), income (including income from any borders), relationship details (to other tenants) and details of any dependants. Also included are details about the property location, tenancy start/end dates, weekly rental charges and any forwarding address provided on termination of the tenancy.
2010/11 activity:
New match runs started in the reporting period
| Match runs | 52 |
| Records received for matching | 88,471 |
| Possible matches identified | 6,492 |
All match runs active in the reporting period
| Matches that required no further action | 6,381 |
| Notices of adverse action | 79 |
| Challenges | 0 |
| Overpayments established | 48 |
| Value of overpayments established | $76,355 |
Commentary: This programme continues to identify only a fraction of the 2005 forecast of $1.4 million in annual overpayments. The on-going low return suggests double-dipping of housing assistance from Housing New Zealand and Accommodation Assistance from MSD is minimal. We suggest that MSD should consider the return on investment this programme provides.
Compliance: Compliant.
Technical information
| Information matching provision | Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Act 1992, s.68 |
| Year authorised | 2006 |
| Programme type | Confirming eligibility Detecting illegal behaviour Locating people Updating data |
| Unique identifiers | MSD client number |
| On-line Transfers | Yes |
System description
Each week, Housing New Zealand (HNZ) sends MSD, by secure online transfer, details of all newly updated records from its tenancy database (known as Rentel). HNZ select records based on the following criteria:
• all new HNZ tenancies
• annual rent review records
• change in circumstance rent review records
• tenant vacations.
Each record includes the tenant's full name (including aliases), date of birth, income (including border income) details, relationship details (to other tenants), and details of any dependants. Also included are details about the property location, tenancy start/end dates, weekly rental charges, and any forwarding address details provided upon termination of the tenancy.
MSD compares the HNZ information with current beneficiary and student client data to identify individuals receiving assistance from both agencies. The MSD matching process produces positive matches that are weighted to indicate the probability that an MSD client is the person in the HNZ data. All positive matches are transferred from MSD's data warehouse into AIMOS, its data matching application. The match results are manually checked before a s.103 notice of adverse action is sent.
| 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 |
New match runs started in the reporting period
| Match runs | 40 | 52 | 53 | 52 |
| Records compared | 66,979 | 91,315 | 94,649 | 91,276 |
| Number of client cases | 42,168 | 28,675 | 7,185 | 6,777 |
All match runs active in the reporting period
| Legitimate cases | 40,436 | 29,921 | 6,986 | 6,494 |
| Notices of adverse action | 94 | 115 | 139 | 108 |
| Overpayments established (number) | 2 | 50 | 84 | 44 |
| Overpayments established | $2,146 | $90,566 | $71,281 | $58,143 |
| Challenges | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Challenges successful | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |