This personal essay was published by The Spinoff in April 2026.
It explores my experience navigating financial relief with Inland Revenue, and the gap between how systems are designed to work and how they can feel in practice — particularly when illness, bureaucracy and financial uncertainty collide.
At its heart, it is about dignity, discretion, and the unseen cost of having to prove hardship.
👉 Read the full article here: The Cost of Proving You’re Poor Enough – The Spinoff