The State redress service should use the information you provided to work out which government redress agency is responsible for your redress claim (for example, MSD Historic Claims). They will then pass your claim to that government redress agency.
If there is more than one government redress agency responsible for your claim, they may work together on your claim.
When you give information to the State redress service, they will record it on their system. They will also share it with the government redress agency or agencies working on your claim.
The State redress service and the government redress agencies who have your information must follow the rules under the Privacy Act.
Read more about how your information is used and sharedopen_in_new among the State redress service and the government redress agencies.
Find out how you can make a complaint if your rights under the Privacy Act have not been respected.
The government redress agency or agencies will decide whether your claim meets their eligibility criteria.
During this time, you can contact the State redress service if you have questions about the progress of your claim, to help with requesting your records, or for help getting support.
You can contact the State redress service by:
Once the government redress agency has accepted your claim, the State redress service will introduce you to the government redress agency working on your claim.
If more than one government redress agency has accepted your claim, they will work together to decide which one will be your main point of contact, and the State redress service will introduce you to them.
The government redress agency will become your main point of contact (taking over from the State redress service).
The government agency should:
Finding out that the Government is making it harder to claim redress can bring up a range of emotions. We have suggestions of wellbeing support on Kōnae. In 2026 the Government decided that if you have been convicted of a serious violence or sexual offence (and sentenced to five years or more in prison for that offence) you should not receive financial redress. But you can still receive other forms of redress, such as wellbeing support. If you are eligible for redress from a government redress agency, the government redress agency will ask you to fill out a Serious Offender Declaration form and agree to a criminal record check. You should only need to fill out this form once. If your claim is with more than one government redress agency, you can ask the one you are in contact with to share the form with the other government redress agencies. The government redress agency should give you the forms you need. But you can also download the Serious Offender Declaration form here:
If you have a lawyer representing you, you can choose to have your lawyer fill out the form on your behalf or you can fill it out yourself. If your lawyer fills it out on your behalf, they will also need to fill out a separate form.
You can send the completed form or forms, plus a copy of your ID, to the government redress agency.
Find out what kinds of ID to use.
Find out what happens after you fill out the Serious Offender Declaration form.
If you do not fill out the Serious Offender Declaration form and consent to a criminal history check, the government redress agency will not process the financial redress (payment) part of your claim.
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