Victims of serious crime are going without the financial support they're entitled to so the government can keep within budget.
Photo: 123RF
"Untenable and unethical" are the words used to describe a deliberate strategy to exclude crime victims from accessing the Victim Assistance Scheme (VAS).
The words can be found in Ministry of Justice Budget bid, released under the Official Information Act, that sets out the case for more investment in the VAS.
The scheme divvies out financial grants to victims, the annual average $570, to cover costs like replacing clothes or property, trauma counselling and travel to court.
It's bankrolled by the taxpayer but run by independent charity Victim Support, which contracts to the Ministry of Justice.
The Budget bid implicates both entities in keeping take up rates deliberately low to avoid overspending; an approach officials say hurts marginalised communities like Māori and Pasifika, the most.
"The Ministry and Victim Support have managed the cost pressure by deliberately under-promoting the scheme to minimise access and uptake," it reads.
"This approach is untenable because victims are being deliberately excluded from accessing support they are entitled to receive. If this was widely known, it would erode public confidence and undermine the stated ethos of access to justice."
This document confirms that as well as some funds invested into the Victim Assistance Scheme sitting untouched, only a small proportion of those eligible for help are getting it.
"Currently the scheme has extremely low uptake: grants are paid out on average for only 4 per cent of the 104,190 eligible victimisations reported to police each year.
"This rate is deliberately kept low, so costs stay within the current appropriation - a practice that ends up hurting victims who already face other barriers to justice such as digital exclusion, poor understanding of government systems and societal disadvantage."
National's justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says the Ministry of Justice budget bid makes for shocking reading. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
National's justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith said the document makes for shocking reading and sets out a situation in stark contrast to the expected public service ethos.
"It's clear that the officials are at their wit's end and trying to put together a case for extra resources. I've never seen anything like it and it shows the extreme situation that they're facing."
He said the information would come as no relief to those who had tried and failed to get help in the past and proved victims were at "the bottom of the queue" in New Zealand's justice system.
"Victims of crime might be wondering why it's so hard to find information about the support that they are entitled to.
"Well, we now know the answer; that it's a deliberate strategy of the Ministry of Justice to hide that information in order to keep to their budget."
RNZ approached the Ministry of Justice to ask how the Victim Assistance Scheme has been allowed to run like this and how long it's been going on for.
A written statement from community services manager Hayley MacKenzie said the ministry was legally obligated to keep its spending in check.
"The Ministry has a responsibility to ensure that public funding is spent in line with allocated appropriations, so as not to breach the Public Finance Act," the statement said.
Private victim advocate Ruth Money said this might be true but the government also had legal obligations to victims that were set out in the Victims' Rights Act.
"We know that for every $100 in the justice system only 50 cents goes to victims and we can see through this OIA why; it's held back deliberately. It's disgusting.
"It's inhumane, the word is inhumane. These are the most vulnerable people. Why are we not supporting them through their time of need?
"You know, people talk about being kind and showing respect? This is manaakitanga. Put your money where your mouth is and make this right."
Money said victims were entitled to the funds administered through the VAS and anyone who had missed out on support they were entitled too should now be paid out.
"I'm calling for total audit of what these victims should have received in entitlement and they absolutely should be paid."
The ministry's statement said the government had acknowledged the need to improve the VAS and invested money to do so.
Budget 2022 did set aside $12.3 million over three years from July 2023 to expand the Victim Assistance Scheme but it's a drop in the bucket.
The budget bid document states that if 100 percent of those eligible for grants got one, it would cost between $60 million and $200 million.
The ministry is instead seeking a "more realistic increase" to boost uptake rates by 8 per cent in the years 2023/24 and 12 per cent in 2025/26.
