Government to fix its own SNAFU

The Government is only fixing its own mess with today’s announcement that it will now support sole parents who want to study, says Labour’s Social Development spokesperson Sue Moroney.

“Why did it take the Government so long to realise that these changes should have been made at the same time that National made it law that sole parents would have to be available for work.

“The announcement that sole parents taking up full-time study will receive at least the same level of accommodation support from the student support system as they do with the benefit system, is just a belated attempt to right a wrong that should never have happened in the first place.

“I would have thought it was a no-brainer that we needed sole parents to study and get qualifications, to get off the benefit .This is a Government that made it mandatory for anyone, with a child that was over 5 years old, to be required to seek part time work job and anyone with a child that was 14 or over had to move onto job seeker support.

“This meant that many sole parents could simply no longer study and were forced to accept a lower accommodation supplement on a student allowance. It is doubly ironic that Paula Bennett herself studied while a sole mum to get off the benefit,” said Sue Moroney.

"If the Government was genuine about supporting sole parents to study, it would reinstate the Training Incentive Allowance which meant sole parents could really aim high with their education and skills.”

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