diff --git a/daemon/control_ng.c b/daemon/control_ng.c
index e0507eab3..5bacccfb5 100644
--- a/daemon/control_ng.c
+++ b/daemon/control_ng.c
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ static bool bencode_dict_iter(ng_parser_ctx_t *ctx, bencode_item_t *input,
 
 	return true;
 }
+static bool bencode_is_dict(bencode_item_t *arg) {
+	return arg->type == BENCODE_DICTIONARY;
+}
 static bool bencode_is_list(bencode_item_t *arg) {
 	return arg->type == BENCODE_LIST;
 }
@@ -143,6 +146,7 @@ const ng_parser_t ng_parser_native = {
 	.get_int_str = bencode_get_integer_str,
 	.is_int = bencode_is_int,
 	.get_int = bencode_get_int,
+	.is_dict = bencode_is_dict,
 	.dict = __bencode_dict,
 	.dict_get_str = bencode_dictionary_get_str,
 	.dict_add = bencode_dictionary_add,
@@ -166,6 +170,7 @@ const ng_parser_t ng_parser_json = {
 	.get_int_str = bencode_get_integer_str,
 	.is_int = bencode_is_int,
 	.get_int = bencode_get_int,
+	.is_dict = bencode_is_dict,
 	.dict = __bencode_dict,
 	.dict_get_str = bencode_dictionary_get_str,
 	.dict_add = bencode_dictionary_add,
diff --git a/daemon/statistics.c b/daemon/statistics.c
index 6890e07aa..e3f9d61a9 100644
--- a/daemon/statistics.c
+++ b/daemon/statistics.c
@@ -1003,7 +1003,7 @@ const char *statistics_ng(ng_parser_ctx_t *ctx) {
 		assert(sub != NULL);
 
 		// is this a dictionary?
-		if (dict->type == BENCODE_DICTIONARY) {
+		if (ctx->parser->is_dict(dict)) {
 			assert(sub_label != NULL);
 			ctx->parser->dict_add(dict, bencode_strdup(buf, sub_label), sub);
 		}
diff --git a/include/control_ng.h b/include/control_ng.h
index e7548ec32..4c80063ba 100644
--- a/include/control_ng.h
+++ b/include/control_ng.h
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ struct ng_parser {
 	long long (*get_int_str)(bencode_item_t *, long long def);
 	bool (*is_int)(bencode_item_t *);
 	long long (*get_int)(bencode_item_t *);
+	bool (*is_dict)(bencode_item_t *);
 	bencode_item_t *(*dict)(ng_parser_ctx_t *);
 	char *(*dict_get_str)(bencode_item_t *, const char *, str *);
 	bencode_item_t *(*dict_add)(bencode_item_t *, const char *, bencode_item_t *);