Thousands of superannuitants and veterans were found to have lost Winter Energy Payments, which are meant to be automatic, after a 2025 legislative change allowed payments to be suspended for not completing a form and did not carve the Winter Energy Payment out. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Social Development Minister Louise Upston apologised. Upston attributed it to an omission in policy that then became an omission in legislation. MSD completed a sweep on 13 August to find clients whose payments were still suspended or cancelled, and reimbursed them.

A separate issue stemming from the same legislative change was found to have wrongly suspended main benefits and supplementary assistance. Upston declined to apologise again when asked, saying she had already done so.

The review found more than 30,000 benefits and payments were wrongly suspended, with arrears of about $2.5 million. It covered more than 16,000 Winter Energy Payment suspensions for superannuitants and veterans, around 2,460 main benefit suspensions worth over $800,000, and close to 12,000 supplementary assistance suspensions worth about $1.7 million. It also found the Winter Energy Payment problem was first raised on 30 April but senior leadership was not notified until 13 August. MSD chief executive Debbie Power apologised, saying the ministry did not meet the expectations it has of itself or that others have of it.

Green Party social development spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said it is not tenable for Louise Upston to remain in the role, arguing she had repeatedly avoided answering questions about the errors, and called for compensation for affected families. The government has not indicated any change to the minister's position.

Social Development Minister Louise Upston responded to the review on 11 September 2026, saying it took far too long for MSD to put the separate issues together and recognise there was a larger problem to fix. She accepted that an email flagging concerns had been copied to her office during that period, and said it was not good enough that several months passed before the connection was made. Officials first had concerns raised on 30 April, but senior leadership was not told until 13 August. MSD chief executive Debbie Power said the ministry had identified those affected, restored entitlements and paid arrears, and would act on the review's recommendations. More than 16,270 superannuitants and veterans missed winter energy payments, with a separate backlog affecting thousands of beneficiaries. Labour's Willow-Jean Prime called the review damning, and the Green Party's Ricardo Menéndez March repeated the party's position that Upston's position is untenable.