An Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) inquiry has found the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) systematically misused its investigatory powers while pursuing benefit fraud, unjustifiably intruding on the privacy of many beneficiaries.

The inquiry found MSD’s exercise of its information gathering powers to be inconsistent with legal requirements under the Social Security Act 1964 and the Privacy Act 1993. This failure has resulted in infringements of individual privacy, particularly in relation to the collection of information from third parties.

In the course of its inquiry, OPC interviewed beneficiaries and reviewed fraud investigation files provided by MSD. As a result, it saw cases where individual privacy was infringed.

The report makes five recommendations including that MSD immediately cease its blanket application of the ‘prejudice to the maintenance of the law’ exception when issuing section 11/schedule 6 notices.

It also recommends MSD undertake a comprehensive review of the Code and to develop training material and guidance for all its fraud investigation teams. (From the media release). Record #6259