#clutha district

[unteriors]

Chaslands Highway, Maclennon, Otago, New Zealand.

[unteriors]

Needles Street, Kaitangata, Otago, New Zealand.

[goldenhelikaon]

Work and Income New Zealand

Okay, so.

My brother is on a sickness benefit, but they all come under the same umbrella these days for some stupid reason. Anyway, yesterday he went to his appointment at the WINZ Balclutha office and made the apparent mistake of admitting he is in a relationship.

Now, here’s where it goes wrong and WINZ can’t understand why this is a problem. If you’re in a relationship, you have to fill out a partners’ form which then deducts the amount my brother gets each week because as far as they’re concerned, your partner is supplying an income or on WINZ themselves. This is the part that confuses them: my brother’s girlfriend is from America, she is in New Zealand on a VISITOR VISA, which means she can’t work. It is against the terms of her VISITOR VISA to look for or to actually work. Signing that form would be in diect violation of the terms of her VISITOR VISA and she would probably be deported (worst case scenario). Now, this form requires her to sign a declaration saying she will search for work, but it also asks for documents she does not have including proof of relationship (i.e. a marriage certificate??), and an IRD number which she does not have. Now, this was explained to the clearly incompetent woman at the Balclutha WINZ office yesterday, but she blindly continued on about how his benefit would be deducted and that they had to fill out this partners’ form, ignoring everything he said about his girlfriend’s VISITOR VISA.

Three times he’s been on the phone today to WINZ and so far no one’s been able to do much about it. Supposedly they’re going to call back after discussing the issue with the manager and presumably this incompetent case manager. Unfortunately I don’t know her name, because I would name and shame her, but I do know that her surname is LYON. Apparently this woman was nasty and patronising the moment he sat down yesterday and never gave him the chance to explain everything, because she thought she knew better. She didn’t. She was very clearly in the wrong and refused to listen to any sort of reason or to even attempt to use what few braincells she has.

I should also point out, the criteria for being a “partner” according to WINZ, basically means I’ve been a lesbian for years with my two best friends, because I can tick the majority of their bullet points myself, even right down to sharing a bed during a sleepover and going on holiday together.

We are still waiting for WINZ to get back to us about the issue presumably being resolved. He hasn’t done anything wrong except actually be honest and this problem is entirely at the WINZ end (as it usually is). Clearly being honest is something you shouldn’t do when dealing with WINZ.