Work and Income has paid benefits to 30 of the Auckland bus company workers locked out during a recent pay dispute.
The city's biggest bus operator, NZ Bus, ended its seven-day lockout on Thursday.
Work and Income Auckland Regional Commissioner, Isabel Evans, says 27 people were given hardship grants, another received an emergency unemployment benefit and two people were helped with rent and petrol costs.
She says those needing help with groceries would have been paid up to $150.
Ms Evans says workers would not have been eligible for the unemployment benefit because they were technically still employed by the company.
