New welfare benefit figures confirm that New Zealand is splitting into two: Auckland and Christchurch, and everywhere else.

Alleged Ashburton Work and Income double killer Russell John Tully made a brief court appearance today ahead of a proposed trial date in May.

Victims of the Ashburton Winz shooting and their families could be in line to receive payouts after one Crown agency prosecuted another.

WorkSafe has filed a charge against the Ministry of Social Development following the Ashburton Work and Income shootings last September.

A review of security at the Ministry of Social Development, prompted by last year's deadly shooting at the Ashburton Work and Income office, has found tighter security would not have prevented the incident.

Auckland Council is targeting its 1400 pensioner housing tenants to help solve its financial squeeze through an average 20 per cent rent increase.

The number of people sleeping rough in Auckland's streets and parks has more than doubled as the city's housing crisis deepens.

A 60-year-old Blenheim man has been charged with arson and burglary after a Work and Income building was ram-raided and then set alight early this morning.

Staff at Ashburton's Work and Income office have today been praised for their resilience in returning to work less than three months after two co-workers were shot dead in cold blood.

Life in the quiet Mid-Canterbury farming hub of Ashburton takes a step closer to normality today when its Work and Income office reopens for the first time since September's double-shooting tragedy.

Nearly 100 jobs are set to go at Work and Income - but the government says even more new roles will be created.

A 36-year-old Dunedin man may be charged after allegedly bringing a knife into the central Dunedin Work and Income New Zealand office.

New Zealand's roll call of sole parents on benefits has dropped again - this time to the lowest level in a quarter-century.

Like barristers, I hand write everything: it enables clearer expression. It's a life-long habit which I enjoy in a tactile sense.

Work and Income's Ashburton clients will be able to meet with clients face to face again when the Ministry of Social Development establishes a new base in a modular building on the Ashburton Police site on Havelock St.

New figures show 9 per cent of solo parents in Auckland had their benefits cut for travelling overseas, but advocates say they had good reasons to travel.

PM John Key and Labour leader David Cunliffe are expected to be among those attending today's public memorial service in Ashburton for the Winz shooting victims.

An investigation is underway after a bomb threat hoax at the Foxton Work and Income office last night.

More than 600 people gathered in the Ashburton Event Centre today to celebrate the life of Peg Noble, one of two women shot to death in Ashburton's Work and Income building.

Police investigating the double fatal Work and Income shooting in Ashburton say they have found a mountainbike and personal items which may belong to the suspect.

The morning began like all others for three women in the Winz office.

Public servants will observe two minutes of silence at 9.51am on Monday to remember those who lost their lives a week earlier in the Ashburton Work and Income shootings.

The funeral of slain Winz worker Peggy Noble will be held on Monday in Ashburton.