7 May 2026
This pānui/newsletter is from the Crown Response Office. We coordinate, monitor, and report on the government’s response to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry.
In this newsletter we have provided an update about the Crown’s response to the Royal Commission’s recommendations.
Changes to redress process
Changes will be made to the Redress System for Abuse in Care Bill (Redress Bill) for survivors seeking redress who are terminally ill or die before their redress claim is complete.
The Redress Bill provides a new process for redress claims from survivors with certain serious violent and/or sexual offences and who have been sentenced to five or more years in prison for that offence. This process would be overseen by an independent decision maker to determine that a financial payment would not bring the scheme into disrepute.
The changes in the Redress Bill will provide the independent redress officer with the discretion to exempt a survivor from this “serious offender process” if they have a terminal illness with a prognosis of less than six months.
This ensures survivors are not unfairly disadvantaged or delayed by the process and that terminally ill survivors have an opportunity to settle their affairs before they die.
Another change allows families or estates of survivors to continue redress claims if after registering a redress claim, a survivor dies before the “serious offender process” is complete.
This aligns with how State redress agencies respond to claims from survivors who are not serious offenders.
These additional changes will be made to the Redress Bill through an amendment paper.
As a reminder, there is another amendment paper to implement the Government’s decision to extend the State redress system to include mental health redress claims after July 1993, as mentioned in our previous Pānui: https://tinyurl.com/5f3kkxet
Progress on the Crown response,
1 July 2025−31 December 2025
Crown response agencies have provided an update on their progress in response to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry recommendations.
The updates are for the period 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2025.
Highlights during this period include:
- The Kōnae online records support service supported over 1,000 survivor/care-experienced people with their record requests.
- Legislative changes to strengthen protections for vulnerable adults were progressed and finalised. The Crimes Act 1961 was amended to include disability in the definition of a vulnerable adult. This change was made through the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill and received Royal Assent on 24 October 2025.
- The State Redress New Zealand website was launched and a Redress Implementation Plan was published.
- On the National Day of Reflection 12 November 2025, 62 events were held nationwide, supported by a $1 million community fund.
You can read the full report here: https://tinyurl.com/mrmf3yk6
More information
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- contact@abuseinquiryresponse.govt.nz with “pānui newsletter” in the email subject line.
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