Social welfare staff are dealing with at least 22 security incidents a day, including abuse and threats of suicide and self-harm.
Data released to Newstalk ZB under the Official Information Act shows the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) recorded 8142 security events last year.
That’s down slightly from 8390 in 2024 but still higher than 7292 in 2023.
MSD Deputy Chief Executive Melissa Gill said it was an ongoing challenge.
“Many organisations have seen an increase in the complexity and stress in clients post-Covid, and the circumstances they are dealing with. We are no different.”
The Public Service Association, the union representing MSD staff, said it didn’t believe incident numbers were actually falling and the real number was probably higher.
“We put it down to people being less likely to report and normalising aggressive behaviour from clients towards MSD workers,” National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.
The figures cover incidents involving MSD staff, security personnel, clients and members of the public, both on site and off site.
MSD said keeping staff and clients safe remained its top priority and pointed to what it described as improvements in its security systems and service centre design.
It said it had invested $78 million upgrading service centres around New Zealand to improve safety.
Fitzsimons said while that investment was welcome, standards had slipped in other areas.
“We’ve seen a reduction in the number of security guards at regional sites. We’re calling on MSD to bring them back.”
Gill said “staff are encouraged to report all events, regardless of how serious they are. The evidence shows that is exactly what they’re doing”.
The data suggests the most serious events are becoming less common.
Major incidents fell from 404 in 2024 to 297 in 2025, and incidents deemed severe dropped from five to four over the same period.
Those figures mean minor and moderate incidents accounted for nearly 86% of all reported security events during the year.
The data also shows many incidents occurred remotely rather than face to face.
In 2025, there were 3655 incidents involving phone contact, compared with 3992 in person and 495 involving other forms of communication, including email, text messages and social media.
Fitzsimons claimed the Government’s welfare policy wasn’t helping.
“It’s putting more stress on clients who are taking it out on MSD workers.”
MSD highlighted several positive trends in the data, saying events involving damage or attempted damage were at a four-year low in 2025.
It also said incidents involving physical injury to staff were at a three-year low and lockdown events had decreased compared with 2024.
Jacob Jones is a Newstalk ZB reporter working out of the Auckland newsroom. He has an interest in council and local government issues.