MyLog · Know Your Rights
Your family. Your record. Your rights.
In New Zealand, your family can keep its own record of your family member’s care, and people have the right to see what agencies hold about them. Here is what that means in practice.
Tō whānau. Tō raraunga. Tō tika.
Before you read on
This page explains general principles. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice from a lawyer, your union, or Employment New Zealand. Employment law changed in February 2026, so some rules that used to be straightforward are now more nuanced. Where this page says “ask” rather than “you’re entitled to”, that’s deliberate. Check your own situation before relying on anything here, especially if you’re facing an actual dispute.
Your rights as a family
You have the right to see and correct what agencies hold
The Privacy Act 2020 doesn’t treat personal information as property that anyone “owns”. Instead, it gives your family member the right to ask any agency or provider for the information it holds about them, and to ask for it to be corrected. The agency must respond within 20 working days and can only refuse on limited grounds.
Family can exercise these rights for your family member with their consent, or with legal authority (such as a parent of a child, an Enduring Power of Attorney, or a welfare guardian).
You can keep your own record, in a tool you choose
Nothing stops a family from keeping its own care diary. A family record like MyLog is yours: you decide what goes in it and who sees it. You are not entering agency systems or getting around agency processes. You are documenting your own family member’s life, with their consent where they can give it.
You can invite your support worker to contribute
As the family, you can invite your support worker to add observations to MyLog. You hold the account and control who has access. Your MyLog record stays with your family when workers, agencies or providers change.
Enabling Good Lives supports self-direction
The Enabling Good Lives principles include self-determination, whānau as partners, and ordinary life outcomes. A family keeping its own care record fits squarely within them. MyLog is listed in the Enabling Good Lives Waikato resource directory.
Built on Te Whare Tapa Whā
MyLog is structured around Te Whare Tapa Whā, the four pillars of Māori holistic wellbeing: taha wairua (spiritual), taha hinengaro (mental and emotional), taha tinana (physical), and taha whānau (family and social). It captures your family member as a whole person, not just their support needs. The prompts are ready to go, and an entry takes minutes.
What an agency can do, and what’s worth questioning
✓ An agency or provider CAN:
- Require its support workers to record in the agency’s own system: its record-keeping obligations remain
- Keep its own records about your family member. Providers are generally required to keep these for a set period, even after you change provider
- Set reasonable data security expectations for its workers
- Expect funded support hours to go on direct support, not excessive administration
✗ It would be unusual for an agency to lawfully:
- Stop your family from keeping its own care record
- Refuse a valid request to see the information it holds about your family member, without giving a reason allowed by the Privacy Act
- Refuse to provide a copy of your family member’s records when you change providers, if you are entitled to request them
In plain English: the Privacy Act 2020
Agencies should usually collect personal information directly from the person it is about. People have the right to ask for the information an agency holds about them, and to ask for it to be corrected. Agencies must keep it secure and only use it for the purpose it was collected.
What to do if an agency pushes back
Free help and formal channels
- Health and Disability Advocacy Service (free, independent help to raise a concern with a provider): advocacy.org.nz (opens in a new tab), 0800 555 050
- Health and Disability Commissioner (complaints about disability or health services): hdc.org.nz (opens in a new tab)
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner (if an agency won’t give access to or correct information): privacy.org.nz (opens in a new tab), 0800 803 909
- Disability Support Services (questions about DSS-funded support): disabilitysupport.govt.nz (opens in a new tab)
These services are free, and you don’t need a lawyer to use them, though for anything complex it’s worth getting advice first.
Your rights as a support worker
You can contribute to a family’s MyLog, at their invitation
If a family invites you to log entries in their MyLog, you are contributing to a family-held record, not using an unapproved agency system. The record is the family’s. You contribute at their request, much as you might help a family with a personal document they control. That is different from putting client information into a third-party platform without authorisation.
During funded hours: only log in MyLog if your employer has agreed. If the family employs you directly, that’s their call. If an agency employs you, the family can ask the agency.
Outside work hours, your personal time is generally your own
Your employer’s policies mainly govern your conduct in the course of your duties. What you do in your personal time, including supporting a family you know personally, isn’t automatically covered by workplace policy. One thing worth checking: some employment agreements define confidentiality broadly enough to cover things you learned through your role, even outside rostered hours. Read your own agreement, or ask your employer or union, rather than assuming.
MyLog is a family tool, not a competing system
MyLog does not replace your agency’s record-keeping and isn’t connected to your agency’s systems. It is a family-held care diary that the family controls. Contributing at a family’s invitation is separate from your professional record-keeping obligations. If you’re unsure where the line sits in your role, ask your employer directly rather than guessing.
The family’s consent is central
If a family has invited you to contribute and agreed to the information being recorded there, that is the family using their own choice about their own family member’s information. The person and their whānau are at the centre of the Enabling Good Lives approach. This is general information, not a ruling on any employer’s policy, which is worth checking on its own terms.
Te Whare Tapa Whā: what you are actually logging
MyLog entries follow Te Whare Tapa Whā: taha wairua, taha hinengaro, taha tinana and taha whānau. You rate ready-made prompts and add a note only if you choose. These are holistic wellbeing observations of a whole person, not clinical records or agency shift notes. The distinction matters.
What your employer can do, and what’s worth asking
✓ Your employer CAN:
- Require you to use their approved systems for professional record-keeping during funded support hours
- Set reasonable data security expectations for how you handle company and client information in your role
- Expect you to keep professional boundaries with the people you support, under your employment agreement
- Include reasonable confidentiality obligations in your agreement covering information you access through your duties
✗ Questions worth asking if your employer pushes back
Employment law changed in February 2026. Treat these as starting points for a conversation with Employment New Zealand or your union, not guarantees.
- Is what I did in my own time, with a family I know personally, actually covered by workplace policy, or is my employer stretching it?
- Was I using agency client data, or only helping a family with their own record at their invitation?
- Was the family’s own consent and control over their information properly considered?
- Was I told the allegations clearly, given real time to prepare, and offered a support person? (Since February 2026, process mistakes alone may not make an outcome unjustified unless they actually led to unfair treatment, so check this carefully.)
- Does the confidentiality clause in my actual agreement cover personal observations made outside work hours, or is my employer assuming it does?
A note on the law here
The Employment Relations Act 2000 was amended in February 2026. Older guides you may find online, including general disciplinary-process rules, may no longer reflect current law. If you’re facing a real situation, get current advice from Employment New Zealand rather than relying on any general summary, including this one.
If you are facing disciplinary action
What it’s reasonable to expect (confirm, don’t assume)
Good employers generally still:
- Tell you the allegations clearly and in writing
- Give you reasonable time to prepare your response
- Allow you to bring a support person to any disciplinary meeting
- Share the evidence they’re relying on in advance
- Run a fair process before reaching any finding
Since February 2026, a process error on its own is less likely to overturn an outcome unless it actually caused unfair treatment. If you think your employer hasn’t run a fair process, contact Employment New Zealand (employment.govt.nz (opens in a new tab), 0800 20 90 20) or your union early. Getting advice before a meeting matters more than after.
Start your family’s care record today
MyLog is a family-held disability care diary, built in Aotearoa New Zealand. Your record. Your history. Plans from just 67 cents a day.