It can be helpful to have someone to talk to before, during and after making a claims, about how you are feeling. Learn where you can find support.open_in_new
You can contact the Historic Abuse Resolution Service by:
You can choose to have a lawyer represent you and claim on your behalf. Find out about getting legal advice.
The Historic Abuse Resolution Service will ask you to tell them about your experiences and the abuse you suffered while in the care of a state-run psychiatric or psychopaedic institution.
Any supporting evidence you can provide may help with your claim. Examples of supporting evidence you might provide include:
The Historic Abuse Resolution Service will also ask you for approval to access information about you – such as your medical records. This means they will give you a form to sign and return.
If you want to also make a redress claim with Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Social Development, you can ask the Ministry of Health to share the information with the other agencies on your behalf.
Finding out that the Government is making it harder for you to claim redress can bring up a range of emotions.Find out about support you can getopen_in_newduring this time.
The Government is making a law change that affects survivors who have been sentenced to at least five years in prison for a 'serious violent and/or sexual offence'.
From 9 May 2025, when you claim redress from the State you will be asked to do two extra things:
If you do not do this, they will not process your claim.
If you have been sentenced to at least five years in prison for a 'serious violent and/or sexual offence', they will put your claim on hold.
If your claim can be progressed, they will assess it based on the information and records they have (acknowledging that some records may no longer be available in some cases).
Once they receive your records from Health New Zealand, the timeframe for processing a request is usually 6 to 8 weeks. They will contact you with the outcome of the review and any offer.
The Ministry of Health will maintain all information provided to them in confidence and use it only to assess your claim.
They will offer you an apology and a wellbeing payment.
The wellbeing payment is ‘ex-gratia'. An ex-gratia payment is money someone chooses to give you, to acknowledge you have been harmed in some way – without accepting any blame for that harm.
From 27 January 2026, all government agencies providing redress will calculate redress payments the same way - called the Common Payment Framework.open_in_new
You have reached the maximum character limit.
You must enable JavaScript to submit this form