Child Poverty Action Group is demanding accountability from the Government after it emerged that thousands of applications for emergency food assistance were recorded as being declined because food was not considered an essential need.
Information obtained by 1News under the Official Information Act shows the Ministry of Social Development used that decline category on more than 8,000 occasions over six years for Special Needs Grant applications involving food.
MSD says the category was selected because of an administrative coding error and maintains that using the wrong code does not necessarily mean the underlying decision to decline assistance was incorrect.
But Child Poverty Action Group says the explanation does not resolve the bigger issue — why families experiencing emergency hardship were being declined assistance at a time when food insecurity is increasing across Aotearoa.
MORE THAN 318,000 PEOPLE ASKED FOR FOOD HELP
The scale of demand provides a confronting picture of household hardship.
More than 318,000 people sought food grants during 2025, equivalent to almost six percent of New Zealand’s population.
Those people collectively made more than 1.4 million applications, meaning the average person sought assistance around four times during the year.
Most applications were approved, with MSD paying more than $130 million in food assistance, while the Ministry says between 94 and 96 percent of food grant applications are approved each year.
However, more than 88,000 Special Needs Grant food applications were declined in 2025, with the number of rejections increasing between 2023 and 2024 and remaining elevated last year.
ADMIN ERROR OR BIGGER PROBLEM?
MSD says staff processed more than 8.5 million applications during the six-year period and the incorrect decline code represented 0.094 percent of those applications.
The Ministry says some decline categories apply to particular forms of assistance but not others, and in these cases staff selected the wrong option.
Other applications were declined because MSD determined there was no immediate need or because the applicant was considered to have caused or contributed to their immediate financial situation.
For Child Poverty Action Group, however, the controversy raises wider questions about how emergency need is being assessed.
Its food security spokesperson Kelly Garton is calling for an apology and wants the Government to account for what happened to the people affected.
The critical unanswered question is whether those 8,000 cases were merely recorded incorrectly after otherwise valid assessments — or whether some people who genuinely needed emergency food assistance missed out.
FOOD INSECURITY IS GROWING
The controversy comes against a deteriorating child poverty picture.
Child Poverty Action Group says around 169,300 children are now living in material hardship, representing 14.3 percent of New Zealand children, or approximately one in seven.
That is around 47,500 more children experiencing material hardship than in 2022.
The disparity is even greater for some communities.
CPAG’s latest analysis says approximately one in four tamariki Māori, one in three Pacific children and one in four disabled children are experiencing material hardship.
Those numbers mean the debate about food grants cannot be separated from the wider pressure facing whānau.
When rent, electricity, petrol, school costs and unexpected expenses consume the household budget, food can become one of the few remaining expenses families try to reduce.
WHĀNAU SHOULDN’T NEED A CRISIS TO EAT
For many families accessing emergency assistance, the problem is not necessarily poor budgeting.
It can take only one unexpected expense — a broken-down car, medical bill, rent increase or unusually high power account — to push a household already living week-to-week into crisis.
CPAG’s recent research found families receiving income support and those in low-wage employment are increasingly struggling to meet basic costs. It found some sole-parent households in private rentals can face weekly shortfalls approaching $200 against basic living and participation costs.
That helps explain why emergency food assistance can become recurring rather than exceptional.
The Government points to $45 million in community food support, alongside an additional $7 million for community food providers in 2026/27 and further investment in programmes providing breakfasts to children.
CPAG argues food banks and emergency assistance remain important but cannot substitute for household incomes sufficient to meet basic needs.
ELECTION 2026 PUTS POVERTY ON THE BALLOT
The controversy is emerging less than two months before the General Election and is likely to add further pressure on political parties to explain how they intend to address poverty and income adequacy.
CPAG has already launched its Enough 2026 campaign, calling on parties to address incomes, housing, health, disability and education and ensure children have enough food and other essentials to participate fully in their communities.
For Māori voters, the issue carries additional weight when tamariki Māori continue to experience material hardship at substantially higher rates.
There are legitimate questions for MSD about how the incorrect coding occurred, how it persisted across thousands of applications, whether affected cases have been reviewed and whether anyone who should have received assistance was denied it.
Because behind every application number is a person asking for help.
And when that request is for kai, food cannot become just another box on an administrative form.
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