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  1. Home
  2. Online Services
  3. MyMSD
  4. Letters online

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Letters online

You can read your letters from us online in MyMSD. It's fast, easy, and you'll stay up to date with anything important you need to know.

You can get an email notification when you have a new letter to read in MyMSD. It's quick and easy to set this up:

  1. Log in to MyMSD
  2. Go to 'My Letters'
  3. Select 'Stop sending my letters by post'.
Go to My MSD login

Don't have MyMSD? Register for it here:

Register for MyMSD
Getting your letters faster in MyMSD
View transcript of 'Getting your letters faster in MyMSD' video

Narrator [00:00:03]: I don't know about you, but I don't get a lot of letters in my mailbox. I usually get emailed letters and bills, or look at them in an app.

[A man stands smiling and holding out a mobile phone showing the MyMSD homepage. A mailbox appears with the words 'Still getting letters?' at the top. A laptop appears with email notifications showing 'Your electricity bill', 'Your internet bill', 'You got mail', 'Update your address' and 'Electricity usage'. A man appears holding a mobile phone and shaking it.]

Narrator [00:00:12]: Did you know you can read your letters from Work and Income in MyMSD? And you get an email when you have a new letter to read instead of waiting for the post.

[A man holds out a mobile phone to the camera showing the MyMSD homepage and the camera zooms into the mobile phone. A laptop appears with the MyMSD homepage and an envelope icon pops up in a speech bubble with the words 'You've got a letter' to the left and a number '1' at the top right of the envelope. The screen changes and a picture of a clock appears on the left and a mailbox on the right. The clock hands move around showing time ticking by.]

Narrator [00:00:23]: The benefits of getting your letters online are: It's secure. It's fast. You don't have to pay for data in MyMSD. You get notified by email when you have a new letter to read. Reading your letters online makes it easier to stay up to date with changes and things you might need to do for your payments. And you don't need to wait for days for your letters in the post.

[A man sits at a desk with a laptop smiling at the camera. The screen changes and 3 columns appear, a picture of a shield with a tick in it appears in the first column with the word 'Secure' underneath, a picture of a lightening bolt appears in the second column with the word 'Fast' underneath, and a picture of a wifi icon appears in the third column with the words 'Free data' underneath. The screen changes and a white speech bubble appears with the words 'You've got a letter' and an envelope icon with a '1' in the top right hand corner. A man sits at a desk with a laptop and holds a mobile phone. A calendar week showing 'Monday to 'Friday' appears and a mouse pointer moves over each day in the week.]

Narrator [00:00:45]: Here's how to do it in MyMSD. Log in and go to 'My Letters'. Select 'Stop sending my letters by post'. Finally, just confirm your email address. Done. No more slow letters for you.

[A man sits at a desk with a laptop and holds a mobile phone with MyMSD on it. The MyMSD homepage appears and a mouse pointer clicks on 'Log in'. The MyMSD home screen appears and a mouse pointer clicks on 'My letters' in the left-hand navigation. The MyMSD 'My letters' screen appears and words at the top of the screen saying 'You can choose to get an email when you have new mail here, instead of getting letters in the post'. A link appears under this reading 'Stop sending my letters by post' and a mouse pointer clicks on this link. The MyMSD 'Manage post preferences' screen appears with a heading 'Is this still your email?' and an email address displaying, with a circle to the left of it. A mouse pointer clicks into the circle which colours it blue, and then clicks on 'Confirm'. A man appears in the top right hand side of the slide and says 'Done'. The screen changes to a picture of a mail box with a red circle and diagonal line through it.]

Narrator [00:01:05]: Whenever there is a new letter, you'll get an email to let you know. Then just log into my MSD to have a read.

[MyMSD 'My letters' screen appears with a list of letters on the left and the date of the letter on the right. A laptop appears with email notifications, the first one showing as 'You've got a letter' with 'MSD - Work and Income - Confirming your circumstances' in the subject line, then further email notifications showing 'Your electricity bill', 'Your internet bill', 'You got mail', 'Update your address' and 'Electricity usage'. A mouse pointer clicks on the 'You've got a letter' email notification. A man stands in an office holding a mobile phone showing the MyMSD homepage and pointing to it. The camera zooms into the mobile phone. The screen changes to the Ministry of Social Development logo, the Work and Income logo and 'www.workandincome.govt.nz'.]

How to read your letters

You'll get an email when you have a new letter - no need to wait for the post!

Follow these steps to open your letter:

  1. Log in to MyMSD
  2. Go to 'My letters' - you'll see all your letters from the last 12 months
  3. Click on the title of the new letter
  4. Your device will download the letter and save it to your Downloads folder, where you can open it and read it.

If you don't have mobile data, don't worry – MyMSD uses Cheap As Data, so it uses little or none of your data.

If your letter says you need to fill in a form, the form will be sent to you separately by post.

Keep a copy of your letters

Letters are stored in MyMSD for 12 months from the date of the letter.

If you want to keep a copy of letters for your own records, you can:

Check your downloads folder

When you open the letter in MyMSD it will automatically download it to your device as a PDF. You can find this again later in your downloads folder.

Email a copy of your letter

You can email a copy of your letter to yourself or someone else if you have email linked to your device. Download the letter from MyMSD, create a new email, and attach the downloaded letter to your email.

Print your letters

You can print your letter if your printer is linked to your device.

Email notification not received

If you're not getting email notifications from us, but you have unread letters in MyMSD, check :

  • you've selected 'Stop sending my letters by post' in MyMSD, and
  • we have the correct email address for you – you can check this in MyMSD, under 'My profile'.

You should also check your junk or spam mail folder in case emails from us are going there.

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Go to Ministry of Social Development's website Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa / New Zealand Government Shielded Site