Latest Welfare Headlines
Government’s 100-day War Against The Poor Cannot Continue - FIRST Union Verdict
Fri, 8 Mar 2024 09:47:24 +1300 | First Union
After 100 days in power, Christopher Luxon’s Government has made workers significantly worse off and punished the poorest while kicking off a pointless and distractionary culture war on behalf of the chaotic coalition’s wealthy backers, according to ...More >>
Health Coalition Launches Petition To Protect School Lunches
Thu, 7 Mar 2024 17:48:05 +1300 | Health Coalition Aotearoa
Health Coalition Aotearoa has today launched a petition calling on the Government to protect free school lunches - Ka Ora, Ka Ako, and not make cuts to the programme. The programme offers 230,000 students in about 1,000 of the least advantaged schools’ ...More >>
Emergency Housing Revamp Needs To Focus On Human Rights And Te Tiriti
Thu, 7 Mar 2024 17:24:34 +1300 | New Zealand Human Rights Commission
The human rights of people experiencing homelessness need to be at the centre of the Government’s revamp of the emergency housing system says Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission. “Everyone has the right to a decent home in Aotearoa New ...More >>
Statistics New Zealand Reports Concerning Increase In Child Poverty Rates For 2023
Thu, 22 Feb 2024 20:04:53 +1300 | Barnardos
Statistics New Zealand's latest report on child poverty in Aotearoa paints a concerning picture of growing hardship for tamariki nationwide. The figures for the financial year ending June 2023, demonstrate a “statistically significant increase” in ...More >>
Chief Ombudsman Calls For Changes To Oranga Tamariki 'On Scale Rarely Required’
Thu, 22 Feb 2024 19:28:24 +1300 | Office of the Ombudsman
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier is calling on the Government to make changes to Oranga Tamariki on a scale rarely required of a government agency. "I am making this call because I regret to say I cannot yet provide reassurance that Oranga Tamariki’s ...More >>
CPAG: PM Luxon On Track To Break Election Promise On Child Poverty
Thu, 22 Feb 2024 12:39:41 +1300 | Child Poverty Action Group
Latest child poverty statistics that show an extra 23,400 children are living in material hardship are a stark warning for New Zealand with progress made in recent years now going backwards, according to the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). Around ...More >>
Proposed Amendments To Social Security, Benefits Adjustment & IT Amendment Bill: Impact On Vulnerable Communities
Wed, 21 Feb 2024 18:00:40 +1300 | E Tipu e Rea Whanau
The proposed amendments to the Social Security, Benefits Adjustment & Income Tax Amendment Bill have raised significant concerns regarding their potential impact on the most vulnerable members of our community. If these amendments are enacted ...More >>
Proposed Benefit Changes Will Batter New Zealand Families Living With Intellectual Disability
Mon, 19 Feb 2024 18:38:33 +1300 | IHC New Zealand
IHC Director of Advocacy, Tania Thomas, says the Government is making decisions about benefits on the fly and not on evidence, which is putting intellectually disabled New Zealanders at serious risk. “Indexing benefit increases to inflation and not ...More >>
Prime Minister's Punitive Welfare Sanctions Will Harm Children And Their Learning
Mon, 19 Feb 2024 18:28:20 +1300 | NZEI Te Riu Roa
New Zealand’s largest education union, NZEI Te Riu Roa, strongly condemns the punitive sanctions against people on welfare benefits Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced this afternoon, saying that any sanctions a government takes ...More >>
Government Begins Reset Of Welfare System
Mon, 19 Feb 2024 15:38:48 +1300 | New Zealand Government
The coalition government is taking early action to curb the surge in welfare dependency that occurred under the previous government by setting out its expectations around employment and the use of benefit sanctions, Social Development and Employment Minister ...More >>
Children Working To Help Their Families Fly Under Radar: CPAG
Thu, 15 Feb 2024 20:13:46 +1300 | Child Poverty Action Group
As many as 15,000 teenagers are taking on paid work to help pay for family basics and government agencies urgently need to find out how many are dropping out of school to do so, the Child Poverty Action Group says. CPAG is urgently calling for adequate ...More >>
Save The Children Concerned By Changes To Benefit Indexing
Thu, 15 Feb 2024 20:11:58 +1300 | Save The Children
Save the Children New Zealand today expressed serious concerns that changes to the indexing of benefits, rushed through Parliament under urgency yesterday, may lead to lower benefit levels in the future that could increase hardship for New Zealand’s ...More >>
Wellington Forum Makes It Easier For Veterans To Access Support
Wed, 14 Feb 2024 13:27:41 +1300 | Joint Press Release
A one-stop-shop of services for veterans is coming to Wellington in March. Veterans' Affairs is putting the call out for serving and former New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel to join them on Saturday 2 March for their Greater Wellington Veterans’ ...More >>
Cost Of Living Support For Beneficiary Households
Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:28:06 +1300 | New Zealand Government
The coalition government is delivering on its commitment to ease the cost-of-living by increasing main benefit rates in line with inflation and ensuring the Minimum Family Tax Credit threshold remains aligned with this change, Social Development ...More >>
Coalition Of Campaigners Calls For Changes To Relationship Rules In Welfare System This Valentine’s Day
Tue, 13 Feb 2024 09:20:12 +1300 | Fairer Future Group
A coalition of welfare advocacy and child poverty action groups is doing something a little different this Valentine’s Day. Fairer Future – a group that campaigned successfully for higher benefit levels ahead of the 2021 budget – is ...More >>
On National’s Misleading Policy Packaging
Mon, 12 Feb 2024 12:27:08 +1300 | Gordon Campbell
Truth in packaging can be a political rarity, but the gap between what the Luxon administration says it is doing and what its policies will actually deliver is looking as wide as the Grand Canyon. Is it possible to run a government for three years purely ...More >>
National Govt Will Make More People Poorer
Sun, 11 Feb 2024 13:48:12 +1300 | Green Party
The Social Development Minister, Louise Upston’s plan to increase benefit sanctions and decrease the rate at which benefits increase each year will make life harder for thousands and push more people into hardship. “Everybody should have a warm ...More >>
Government’s Policies Will Make It Harder For Unemployed Workers
Thu, 8 Feb 2024 09:45:09 +1300 | NZCTU
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is concerned that the Government’s welfare and employment policies will make it harder for people who lose their jobs, following the release of new employment data. The data shows that unemployment rose for the ...More >>
Income Support For Unemployed Must Be Urgently Increased
Wed, 7 Feb 2024 14:21:36 +1300 | Green Party
Stats NZ unemployment data released today further highlights the urgent need for this government to step up and provide everyone with enough to get by. “Everyone has the right to safe, decent, and meaningful work. But when we may find ourselves ...More >>
Exploitation Of Benefit System Will Result In Sanctions
Tue, 23 Jan 2024 09:10:09 +1300 | ACT New Zealand
“Healthy people claiming employment benefits long-term will soon find it tougher to evade work,” says ACT spokesperson for Social Development and Employment Dr Parmjeet Parmar. “ACT’s coalition agreement secured a commitment to implement ...More >>