OIA REQUEST — Cabinet and central-government records of payments to bereaved families following COVID-19 vaccination

WE REVIEW THE CROWN RECORDS OFFICE
FORMAL OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982 REQUEST
21 October 2026

From: Tracy Lynch, We Review the Crown Records Office

Re: Central-government authorisation and funding of payments to bereaved families following COVID-19 vaccination

Dear Chief Executive / Secretary of the Cabinet,

Please treat this as a formal request for information held by your office for the period 1 January 2021 to 21 October 2026.

I seek records establishing whether Cabinet, the Prime Minister, any Minister, DPMC, the Cabinet Office, or any other central-government authority authorised, approved, funded, arranged, considered or received reports about payments to parents, guardians, families, estates or other beneficiaries following the death of a child or young person after COVID-19 vaccination.

 The request does not presume that vaccination caused a particular death or that unlawful payments occurred.

Please provide:

1. Any Cabinet papers, minutes, ministerial briefings, advice, correspondence, decisions or delegations relating to compensation, ex gratia payments, settlements, indemnities or other payments in these circumstances.

2. Any records of payments, or proposed payments, of approximately NZ$200,000, $450,000, $500,000 or $1 million, including funding source, legal authority, approving official, payment mechanism and accounting classification.

3. Records of confidentiality or non-disclosure conditions, releases, restrictions on complaints or litigation, and policies or templates governing those conditions.

4. Records of any allegations of threats, intimidation or coercion connected with such payments, and how those allegations were referred or investigated.

5. Records of insurance, reinsurance, indemnities, reimbursements, commissions, legal fees, administration charges or third-party intermediaries connected to such payments.

6. Records identifying the paying legal entity and any agency, insurer, law firm or contractor administering or receiving associated funds.

7. Records of any audits, financial reconciliations, ministerial reporting, Parliamentary reporting or other oversight concerning these arrangements.

8. If no responsive records are held, please say so expressly; if records are held but withheld, identify the applicable OIA grounds; and if another agency holds the information, please consider transfer under section 14.

Please supply anonymised or aggregated information where needed to protect the identities and medical privacy of bereaved families. 

I seek records rather than a new investigation. 

Please acknowledge receipt and respond within the statutory timeframe.

Yours faithfully,
Tracy Lynch

We Review the Crown Records Office
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