Accessibility

We want everyone to be able to access information about our payments and services.

Contact us if you need any help accessing any of our information or services.

Website accessibility compliance

We are working towards meeting the New Zealand Government Web Standards. Meeting these Standards improves accessibility and your online experience.

NZ Government Web Standards - digital.govt.nz website

We’re always improving our website. We continue to explore different ways to make it easy for you to get information. If there’s information you need that you can’t get, please contact us.

Using this website

You can use your browser’s help to:

  • change the size, font and colour of the text on our website
  • navigate our website using your keyboard on a desktop computer.

Print pages

You can print pages on our site using your browser’s print function. The page will print like a factsheet. You'll be able to see things like:

  • the URL of the page that's printed
  • the date it was printed
  • an index of page links at the bottom of the printed page.

Change font size

If you want to increase or decrease the font size on a page on this site, use these keyboard shortcuts:

  • Hold down Ctrl and press + (Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS) or hold down ⌘ and press + (Mac) to make the font larger.
  • Hold down Ctrl and press - (Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS) or hold down ⌘ and press - (Mac) to make the font smaller.

If you want to change the font size for all sites, you can change them in your browser settings:

Chrome
Internet Explorer
Safari
Firefox

PDF and other documents

We use PDF files on our website for:

  • printed forms - including a few fillable forms
  • translated information
  • Easy Read information.

Any PDF viewing software should open PDF files on our website. If you have trouble viewing PDF's or other document formats, please contact us.

Accessible formats

If you need any documents in another accessible format, please contact us.

Video and audio

Video playback

We have quite a few videos on this site that talk about our payments or services. You can playback these videos easily using a keyboard instead of a mouse.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts you can use.

Keyboard shortcut Action
Space Pause/Play video playback
Enter Pause/Play video playback
M Mute/Unmute video volume
Up and down arrows Increase and decrease volume by 10%
Right and left arrows Seek forward and backward by 5 seconds
0-9 Fast seek to x% of the video
F Enter or exit full screen
Note: To exit fullscreen in Flash press the Esc key

Video transcripts

If you can't view or hear the video, you can read the accessible transcript instead. All videos will have a one. You can access it at the bottom of the video.

Audio

We have some audio clips that talk about our payments and services. If you can't listen to the audio, you can read the accessible transcript instead. All audio clips will have one. You can access it at the bottom of the audio clip.

Language services

Speaking other languages

We have information about how we can help you in different languages on our website. You can read or listen to this in a number of different languages.

You can also speak with us in another language. You just need to ask for an interpreter when you call.

We speak other languages

NZ Sign language

You can read or watch a video in NZ Sign Language about how we can help you. We can also arrange a NZ Sign Language interpreter if you meet with us.

NZ Sign Language - What we can do and how we can help

Deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech impairment

If you’re deaf, have hearing loss or speech disability, you can contact us using the New Zealand Relay Service.

They have a range of services available:

  • Text Relay
  • Captioned Relay
  • Speech to Speech
  • TTY to Voice
  • TTY Voice Carry-Over
  • TTY Hearing Carry-Over
  • Video Interpreting Service.

You can use the option that works best for you.

You can also email us at MSD_Deaf_Services@msd.govt.nz

Contact us using NZ Relay

In person

Service centres accessibility

We have tried to make our service centres and their amenities as accessible as possible. If you have any trouble accessing one of our service centres or their amenities, please contact us.

Kiosks

We have computers at our service centres which you can use to go online. They are placed in kiosks with seating and are accessible for wheelchair users.

Seating

Seating is available. Let a staff member know if you need to sit down straight away. The staff member will arrange appropriate seating and assist you to deal with your enquiry.

NZ Sign language

We can arrange a NZ Sign Language interpreter if you meet with us.

Assistance animals

If you have an assistance animal, you can bring them with you into the service centre.

To enter, they must be certified as a 'disability assist dog' by an approved organisation, e.g.

  • Blind Foundation
  • Assistance Dogs NZ
  • Hearing Dogs, or
  • Deaf People NZ.

Toilets

Let a staff member know if you need to use a toilet. If there isn’t a toilet on site, we’ll let you know where the nearest public toilet is.

Urgent needs

If you have an urgent medical or personal need, tell a staff member straight away.

Help with forms

Staff in our service centres can help you complete your business with us. They can help you with things like paper forms and applying online.

Nominate someone else

You can nominate another person or organisation to act on your behalf when dealing with us. They are then called an agent.

How to appoint an agent