Update on the Crown response to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry

This pānui/newsletter is from the Crown Response Office, a central government agency established to coordinate, monitor and report on the government’s response to the Royal Commission. The office is hosted by the Public Service Commission. 

Please feel free to share this pānui newsletter. People can sign up to receive these updates: contact@abuseinquiryresponse.govt.nz with 'pānui newsletter' in the email subject line.  

Alternate formats of the pānui newsletter can be found on the Crown Response Office website: Alternate formats: Newsletters | Crown response to the Abuse in Care Inquiry

 

In this newsletter you will find updates on: 

 

National Day of Reflection 12 November 2025

The government has agreed to a community-led approach to a National Day of Reflection on 12 November 2025. The purpose of this day is to “call the country to reflect on abuse in care, survivors of abuse, and those who have passed away”.

Over the last month the Crown Response Office has started to engage with survivor communities to discuss the best approach to achieving this.

When final decisions are made, an update will be provided to everyone.

 

Lake Alice torture redress

On 18 December 2024 the Government established a torture redress scheme for survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit).

Survivors can choose an expedited or individual redress pathway. 

  • The expedited pathway includes a fixed payment of $150,000, a new written apology, and access to support and rehabilitative services.
  • The individualised pathway includes a payment to be decided by an independent arbiter, Hon Paul Davison KC, a new written apology, and access to support and rehabilitative services (registration for this pathway closed on 30 April).

Update on the expedited pathway

As of 26 June, 96 survivors registered for the expedited pathway.

Eighty-four fixed payments of $150,000 have been made and 12 are in the pipeline for processing.

Eligible Lake Alice survivors still have until 30 September to register for the expedited pathway with the Crown Response Office. By registering your interest, you are taken to have given consent to make enquires to confirm your admission to the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit.

To register, please email or leave a message on the freephone number with:

  • your name
  • date of birth
  • phone number/email address/postal address
  • best days or time to contact you. 

Email: lakealice@abuseinquiryresponse.govt.nz

Freephone: 0800 237 003

Update on the individualised pathway

Registration for the individualised pathway closed on 30 April with 39 survivors registering. The independent arbiter is currently meeting each survivor individually. The arbiter is expected to have completed each assessment by 30 September 2025.

Access to wellbeing and financial support

All Lake Alice torture redress survivors are offered wellbeing and financial support. As of 26 June, 26 survivors have accessed a range of both supports and services. 

Wellbeing support ranges from counselling or Rongoa Māori healing to other wellbeing support suited to a survivor’s circumstances. 

Financial advice and legal services and support is also offered. This includes money management, budget and planning or establishing trusts, wills, depending on what the survivor’s needs are.

 

Top-up payments

On 9 May 2025, survivors with a closed claim were invited to register for a top-up payment if they had received a settlement payment from the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Education, Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry of Health and/or the Crown Health Financing Agency.

As of 24 June, 1,868 registrations have been received for top-ups, 1,064 have been assessed for eligibility with 824 registrations confirmed eligible. Out of these 178 survivors have received a top-up payment. 

When an application is ready to be processed a staff member will contact the survivor to discuss timeframes for processing and payment. Processing involves several steps: calculating a top-up based on different situations, informing the survivor of the payment amount and seeking bank verification information, receive confirmation from the survivor they want to process, and finally making the payment. 

The top-up payment is a 50 per cent increase to whatever payment the survivor previously received. Closed claims made by the Crown Health Financing Agency or Ministry of Health are being treated differently as payments have historically been lower than those of other agencies. These claimants will first have their claims adjusted to bring them into line with other redress agencies before the 50 per cent calculation is applied.

To apply

Survivors with closed claims can register to receive a top-up payment through the website: Top ups abuse in care,(external link) If you cannot access a website easily, contact details are below:

  • if you are in New Zealand, call 0800 TOP UPS – 0800 867 877 between 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday
  • if you are calling from overseas, call +64 4 931 1678
  • email, contact@abuseincaretopups.govt.nz.
     

Survivor Support and Recognition Fund

In February 2025 a $2 million fund was launched for:

  • local authorities to care and memorialise unmarked graves associated with psychiatric and psychopaedic sites
  • non-government organisations and community groups to deliver support and services to survivors of abuse in care.

As of 11 June, 31 applications from non-government organisations and community groups have been received. The fund is now closed to any further applications from non-government organisation and community groups.

Funding was also made available for local authorities to care for unmarked graves in Auckland, Waikato, Nelson, Rangitikei, Horowhenua, Porirua, Otago, Westland and Canterbury.

An application from Rangitikei District Council has since been approved. The remaining local authorities have until June 2026 to make an application.

 

Proactive release of Government decisions on the Crown response

In June the following decisions were released:

 

Ngā mihi,

Crown Response Office

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