Up to 100 Dunedin foster families have had to wait up to a month to receive their quarterly clothing allowance after the Child, Youth and Family (CYF) payment service was disrupted when it was centralised in Rotorua.
Until this year, payments had been made from regional offices.
In July, the CYF Dunedin service centre was closed, with the loss of more than 10 jobs.
A Dunedin foster parent, who did not want to be named, contacted the Otago Daily Times with concerns because her clothing allowance, for three foster children, was about a month late.
The children had had to go without new clothing while she waited for the allowance.
Foster parents are paid the clothing allowance four times a year.
It ranges from about $220 each quarter for children under the age of 4, to about $365 each quarter for children 14 and over.
The allowance is paid into the parents' bank account.
The woman is raising three grandchildren in joint custody with CYF, as well as her own child.
She said she rang CYF when the payment was about a fortnight late and was told nothing could be done.
Her payment was finally made last Thursday, about a month late.
CYF operations manager Judy Larking, of Dunedin, said the department had recently centralised the processing of payments to the Ministry of Social Development's national accounting centre in Rotorua.
"While the majority of payments have gone smoothly, there has been a slight delay in processing some of the manual payments made to caregivers."
Mrs Larking said the delay had not affected the payment of any essential and immediate costs and because clothing allowance payments were made in advance, children had not been affected.
To fix the delay, a payment specialist had been employed at the national accounting centre.
Mrs Larking said she "sincerely apologised for any inconvenience this has caused".
She encouraged other foster parents who had not received their payment to contact their CYF social worker.
