Jason Leger with his daughters, Isabella Tinkler, 3, Vera Leger, 1. Work and Income told Leger to keep job-hunting, even though he has an aggressive form of cancer.

A leukaemia patient was told he would lose his benefit if he didn't hunt for work, even as he lay in hospital.

Work and Income has since apologised after sending letters to Jason Leger, who is suffering from a rare form of the cancer, telling him he needed to job search if he was going to get financial help.

"I don't know what he's meant to do – if he does end up looking for a job he'll be saying 'I have cancer' and it'll be a waste of time," his fiancee, Michelle Adams, said.

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The baker, who was living in Napier with Adams and his 21-month-old daughter, Vera, had to urgently quit work and apply for government assistance when he was diagnosed and admitted to hospital in early August.

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Doctors told him at the time if he hadn't acted, he would have died within 12 weeks.

While the couple were in Napier, they managed to get him down to mandatory job seekers' meetings with Work and Income to arrange $90 a week in assistance.

Requiring a stem cell transplant, Leger was transferred to Wellington Hospital in late November, and Adams started getting the mail.

The first letter said Leger had to be actively looking for work to be on the Job Seekers Benefit, she said.

"I rang and said Jason has cancer, and they said it has to be done like that because there is no such thing as a Sickness Benefit."

The Sickness Benefit was merged into the Job Seekers Benefit as part of welfare shake-up July 15 2013.

"It really upset me, and I didn't want him to see this and get upset. It's ridiculous."

Then the second letter came, claiming that even though the agency had now seen Leger's medical certificates, he still needed to be "actively seeking work".

Leger said the suggestion of sending out CVs from his hospital bed sounded like a bad joke.

"It's that extra stress that you don't need at this time going through the treatment," he said.

He had worked full-time since leaving school, and had never been on a benefit, with doctors even questioning how he had survived working up to the day of his diagnosis.

Following inquiries made for this story, Leger was phoned by a Work and Income representative, who apologised.

"She said it's not us it's just a system generated message that can't separate who's got what sickness or what amount of sickness. She said, I understand what you're going through and understand you're in hospital and can't get up and look for work," he said.

Leger was pleased with the call but worried about the impact on other sick people.

"I think it's just lazy to be honest, putting everything into one category with one letter and saying the ones that do complain we'll deal with."

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Social Development said it made a mistake.

"We did not update his records as quickly as we should have. We have spoken with him today to apologise and assure him that his benefit will continue and a work exemption has been put in place."

When asked whether other people were affected, the spokesperson said it was "an unfortunate case of administrative error".

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