Overpayments made by Work and Income to beneficiaries who have been working while receiving welfare have hit a record level.
Data matching records published by the Privacy Commissioner show 4280 cases of overpayments were identified in the past financial year.
Their combined worth of the overpayments was over $31 million, the highest amount recorded since data matching programmes began almost 20 years ago.
The Ministry of Social Development believes the result is due to changes it made in 2010 on decisions it makes about which records should be checked.
