The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions (the Royal Commission) was established in 2018 to investigate children, young people, and vulnerable adults’ experiences of abuse and neglect in State and non-State care in Aotearoa New Zealand between the years of 1950-1999.
The Royal Commission ended on 25 June 2024.
On this page you can find out about the Government's response to the Royal Commission.
The Royal Commission made 95 recommendations in He Purapura Ora, He Māra Tipu from Redress to Puretumu Torowhānui and 138 recommendations in Whanaketia – Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light Whakairihia ki te tihi o Maungārongo
Of these 233 recommendations:
Recommendations can be read in full here:
He Purapura Ora, He Māra Tipu from Redress to Puretumu Torowhānui(external link)
The government response to the 207 recommendations focuses on the following three areas:
As of May 2025, out of the 207 recommendations addressed to the Crown the Government has:
Crown response digital version for reading online [PDF, 2 MB]
Crown response plan version for printing [PDF, 2.2 MB]
Crown response plan word version [DOCX, 1.4 MB]
Alternate formats of a summary of the Crown response plan are available here.
There is an error on page 26 of the Response Plan. Recommendation 19 of Whanaketia is an “Accept Intent” recommendation, and its status is Underway. Funding has been provided through the Survivor Support and Recognition Fund to local authorities to carry out this work, including caring for and/or memorialising unmarked graves.
The status will be corrected in the next Crown response update in 2026.
An overview of the Crown's response is below.
| Complete | Underway | Ongoing | Not started | Total | |
| Accept | 3 | 6 | 10 | - | 19 |
| Accept intent | 4 | 28 | 6 | - | 38 |
| Partially accept | 6 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 28 |
| Further consideration required | - | 38 | - | 61 | 99 |
| Decline | 23 | - | - | - | 23 |
| Total | 36 | 85 | 24 | 62 | 207 |
The definitions of the response are:
| Accept | The recommendation is accepted. It will be implemented as it was set out by the Royal Commission. |
| Accept intent | The intent of the recommendation is accepted. It will be implemented in a different way than set out by the Royal Commission. |
| Partially accept | One or more sub-parts of the recommendation are accepted as set out by the Royal Commission. The recommendation is not accepted in full. |
| Further consideration required | The recommendation requires further consideration before a response can be determined. |
| Decline | Following analysis and a decision-making process, the Crown declines to implement this recommendation. |
The definitions of the status are:
| Not started | Work on the analysis and/or implementation of the recommendation has not yet started. |
| Under way | Work has begun on the analysis and/or implementation of the recommendation. |
| Complete | Work on the recommendation has been completed, consistent with the agreed project scope and decisionmaking process. |
| Ongoing | The work to deliver on the recommendation part of an ongoing programme of work or activity. |
There are over 500 findings in the Royal Commission’s final and interim reports: Reports | Abuse in Care - Royal Commission of Inquiry(external link).
The findings focus on survivors' experiences of abuse and factors that contributed to that abuse.
The Government broadly accepts the Royal Commission’s overall findings in response to recommendation 130 in Whanaketia that states: the Government publish a response to its findings in the final and interim reports within two months of the report being tabled in Parliament (24 September 2024).
A detailed response to these findings would require officials from multiple agencies to test each individual finding. This would be a resource and time intensive process that does not support survivors abused in care or improve the safety of people who are currently in care.
Instead, Crown response agencies are responding to the Royal Commission recommendations to support survivors of abuse in care and improve the current care system.
| 2018 | A Crown response secretariat is established to coordinate multiple agencies to engage with and respond to the Royal Commission |
| 2019 |
Crown response secretariat becomes a Crown Response Unit responsible for addressing the recommendations in the Royal Commission’s 2021 interim report, He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu. From Redress to Puretumu Torowhānui |
| 2022 | Work begins on four projects recommended in He Purapura Ora: establish an interim listening service, improve records processes, deliver rapid payment under existing historic processes, deliver a public apology following the Royal Commission's final report |
| 2023 | Redress Design and Advisory Groups deliver a high-level redress design proposal for survivors of abuse in care |
| The Crown Response Unit, Archives New Zealand and record holding agencies work together to improve records processes | |
| Survivor Experiences Service (formerly interim listening service) launches for people abused in State, faith-based or other forms of care, or a survivor's whānau | |
| 2024 | Government formally acknowledges some people and young people at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit experienced torture and a torture redress scheme is established |
| Rapid payment of $20,000 available for terminally ill Lake Alice survivors | |
| Reimbursement of historic legal fees for some Lake Alice survivors (known as round one claimants) | |
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Public apologies made by the Prime Minister and seven public sector leaders from Oranga Tamariki, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Development, Crown Law, Police, and Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission on 12 November 2024 |
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| Chief Archivist updates its moratorium issues in 2019 and issues a temporary Care Records Protection Instruction to protect care records | |
| A Crown Response Office was established following a recommendation in the Royal Commission's final report released in 2024, Whanaketia, through pain and trauma, from darkness to light. The recommendation was for a central government agency to coordinate, monitor and report on the government’s response to the Royal Commission. The Crown Response Office is hosted by the Public Service Commission | |
| $32 million investment to increase State redress and claims system capacity | |
| A $2 million dual purpose survivor-focused fund for local authorities to care and memoralise unmarked graves associated with psychiatric and psychopaedic sites and non-governmental organisations and community groups | |
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Commitment to a national day of reflection on the one-year anniversary of the public apology, 12 November 2025 |
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| 2025 |
$1 million contestable fund for survior focused groups and organisatins to hold events to mark a National Day of Reflection |
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Budget 2025 investment of $533 million over four years, for redress improvements |
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Budget 2025 investment of $188.176 million over four years to ensure the safety of children, young people and vulnerable people |
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Publication of a Redress Implementation Plan that describes what, how and when improvements will be made to redress for survivors of abuse and neglect in State care: www.redress.govt.nz(external link) |
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Ministerial Advisory Group is appointed |
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| 2026 |
State redress system extended to include mental health redress claims |
If you would like to stay up to date on the government's response please email: contact@abuseinquiryresponse.govt.nz with 'Pānui, Newsletter' in the email subject line.
You can also find proactively released Cabinet papers about the response here: Proactive release of decisions about the Crown response
