Incapacity benefit growth and refusing to answer questions

There is some discussion at Kiwiblog regarding the reasons why the number of people on incapacity benefits is growing.

One commentor says Judith Collins should know what the breakdown of incapacity according to age etc is, due to the written questions she has asked. How glib. Questions are NOT ANSWERED.

For example;

11954 (2007). Judith Collins to the Minister for Social Development and Employment (06 Jul 2007): Further to the answer to question for written answer 8800 (2007) what is the age breakdown, by year, of all recipients of the Sickness Benefit who have received that benefit for more than 12 months, listed by incapacity?

Hon David Benson-Pope (Minister for Social Development and Employment) replied: I refer the Member to the quarterly benefit factsheets, which are publicly available on the Ministry’s website, www.msd.govt.nz.


The factsheets DO NOT provide this information.

I am unaware of any age specific breakdown but the tables below (left click to enlarge) clearly show where the growth areas are overall.

For both benefits the largest increases are for psychological or psychiatric conditions.