Rotorua's Work and Income has been closed after a violent threat was made to staff over the phone.

Chilling new details have emerged about the terrifying moments when three women were shot at Ashburton's Work and Income office.

Half the people who walk into Work and Income offices get turned down for something and usually get upset, a former frontline worker says.

As the small town of Ashburton comes to grips with yesterday's horror shooting, locals are turning their attention to planning memorials to honour the slain.

Accused limps into court as police refuse to say if the weapon used in the shootings had been recovered, while another office is locked down after a threat.

Farmer Dan White knew a gunman was on the loose when he went to move a mob of sheep. He saw a man in a paddock 20m away.

The suspect at the centre of yesterday's triple shooting was a sick, homeless man who had returned to Ashburton to die.

The Social Development Ministry has apologised to a widow who was paid the wrong pension and then placed on "stand-down" after her husband died.

A government crackdown on welfare fraud shows that $45 million has been saved by stopping thousands of illegitimate benefit payments in the past year.

100 low-income families were asked what they needed to get out of poverty. Here are their answers.

A South Dunedin man is calling for more support for people trying to start their own businesses.

Beneficiary advocates say Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is unfairly trying to paint beneficiaries as extravagant after she disclosed how many had benefits suspended for unapproved trips abroad.

Winz office staff are breaking into applause or sounding hooters when beneficiaries find work. The celebrations have been labelled patronising and embarrassing but Winz claims clients enjoy them.

Simon Collins takes a look at the 'state of our nation' report, a stock-take of New Zealand's social trends.

Advocates are upset an Australian company is the big winner in Winz experiment that will pay contractors up to $12k to help beneficiaries into paid work.

Of 8,001 beneficiaries sent for jobs requiring drug testing, only 22 tested positive or refused to take tests, a result that has been greeted as a victory by the Social Development Minister.

The Prime Minister's reaction to the latest survey of child poverty was predictable but misguided. It is not just about jobs.

Rent increases have made all low-income groups in Auckland except superannuitants worse off in real terms than they were five years ago, according to the Salvation Army.

A solo mother has had her benefit halved, just eight weeks after having a new baby, because she failed to attend an appointment with Work and Income.

Fast-food giant McDonald's has been paid $272,000 by the Government to help unemployed people get back to work.

New measures to crack down on beneficiaries who have previously cheated the system will begin tomorrow.

Winz has admitted to bungling a job advertisement by asking applicants to submit a photograph of themselves along with their CV.

Older long-term unemployed people look set to lose out in a radical reshuffle of foundation education which will give higher priority to young people.

A woman who wanted to flee Christchurch after becoming embroiled with a gang and set fire in her own flat has been jailed for more than four years.

Work and Income has ordered a refugee mother with a 5-month-old baby to attend a seminar

Nearly a third of employees who find work, partly thanks to a Government subsidy for their employers, are not kept on once the money runs out.

The Government claims it has detected thousands of welfare fraudsters, though Labour is questioning how many have actually committed fraud.

Youth services are meant to be the model for transforming our welfare system from "gatekeeping" to "coaching" but results so far in Papakura are patchy.