The Work and Income NZ office in the Tarawera Mall has been closed this week due to earthquake damage to internal fittings and fixtures. Photo / Supplied
The sudden two-month closure of the Kawerau Work and Income NZ service centre has left some clients feeling abandoned.
Work and Income clients were told on Monday the Kawerau Service Centre was closing for two months.
“Following recent seismic activity in Kawerau, we have received a report showing the building needs some urgent maintenance work,” the message said.
The work was expected to take about eight weeks and an estimated reopening date of May 16 was given.
Kawerau staff were still working and online and phone services are still available. However, clients have reported waits of more than an hour when using the phone line in the past and felt a face-to-face service was a necessity.
Self-employed Kawerau mother of three Sally Synomon said the closure had left people “worried and stressed”.
“Kawerau is a high-needs community with people who deserve to be triaged with dignity and respect. Not everyone has the time or ability to wait on hold, travel to Whakatāne or use online options. Face-to-face interaction in town is an absolute necessity.
“We feel abandoned at a time when we need the biggest support. Is it too much to ask to find another way?”
The service centre is in Tarawera Mall and questions were asked on social media about why other businesses in the mall were not affected by the closure.
Synomon said people had suggested Work and Income rent another building in town.
“Konnect or KEA buildings always have rooms vacant,” she said.
“[It would] ensure the community has access to the timely and much-needed help as the community navigates the paths ahead, while still sweeping up the broken nick-nacks and pantry items.”
House of Hope Food Bank Pastor Sharon Heke said Kawerau people were being penalised by the closure.
“One would think that a government department would organise temporary premises as people without transport cannot leave Kawerau and those without access to the internet cannot utilise websites. There are shocked and upset people in the community by the sudden closure.”
Budget Advisory Service financial mentor Lyn Hughes said the closure of the MSD building had “left people dangling”.
“They don’t know how to get in touch, what forms they need to fill out, and can’t access help from MSD.
“It’s just thoughtlessness when it comes to matters of survival. It’s been two to three weeks since they closed, and our organisation was only contacted by a manager at MSD on Wednesday.
“The manager at MSD told us that any scripts and forms can be dropped off at East Bay REAP in Kawerau in the interim. We at Budget Advisory Service Rangitaiki can access any printouts they need.”
Work and Income NZ Bay of Plenty regional commissioner Mike Bryant said the department was working as quickly as it could to provide an alternative service in the Kawerau community via its community partners.
“We appreciate that some people in Kawerau are unable to access our services online or by phone, or need to see us face to face.”
He said the service centre had sustained some damage to internal fittings and fixtures in the latest earthquake.
“We have received an engineer’s report showing our service centre needs some urgent maintenance work. As the safety of our clients, their whānau and our staff are a top priority for us, we’ve needed to close temporarily.
“We are also working with some urgency to better understand the length of time needed to undertake the required maintenance,” he said. “We will be providing further updates in coming days.”
He said while some people were having trouble getting through to the 0800 numbers, the department was also helping a large number of people each day.
“Last week we answered 77,600 calls across our main 0800 lines. We are conscious that sometimes our callers have to wait longer than we would like at times, and we are sorry if we haven’t always been able to get to everyone who needs our help.
“Our average time to answer calls to our call centre last week was 12 minutes and 10 seconds. We also offer a call-back option that holds their place in the call queue without needing to remain on the phone.”
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