Kay Brereton receives Queen's Service Medal for work with beneficiaries

Sunday, 31 May 2020

Nelson Beneficiaries and Unwaged Workers Trust (BUWT) senior advocate Kay Brereton has been working with beneficiaries since 2006.

Kay Brereton says she hopes her Queen's Birthday honour will draw attention to the importance of working with beneficiaries.

Brereton was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for services to the welfare of beneficiaries, through her work for various organisations in Wellington and Nelson since 2006.

Born and raised in the Motueka Valley, Brereton said the award was about recognition for her field of work.

'There's a whole lot of other people who do just what I do, but I thought it was really important because beneficiaries are not always the best regarded group of citizens in New Zealand.'

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She said it was vital to be able to provide support to people who were often at a low ebb.

'It might be health, it might be a relationship that's broken up, it might be their job is gone – it's a tough time, and they're adjusting to a really low income.

'It's important to help them through that time and to make sure they can get everything their situation entitles them to.'

Currently the manager of the Beneficiaries and Unwaged Workers Trust in Nelson, for the past 14 years she has been an advocate for beneficiaries and has worked with the Ministry of Social Development to discuss ongoing issues in the welfare system.

Brereton said it was a rewarding job to help people in a vulnerable position to stay on their feet – and a tough one for the same reason.

'It is the kind of job where you feel you are making a difference, that's what holds me and a lot of the others who do this in it – because I think we're the kind of people who need to feel like we're doing some good in the world.'