Hon Anne Tolley

Minister for Social Development

10 May 2016

Social Security Act rewrite passes first reading

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley says the rewrite of the Social Security Act has passed its first reading in Parliament.

“We have taken on the huge task of updating and reorganising the Act to make it easier to understand and to reflect our modern approach to delivering assistance,” Mrs Tolley says.

“Fifty years of amendments and repeals, including 153 amending acts, have left New Zealand’s welfare legislation fragmented, hard to understand and difficult to navigate. Of the 523 sections in the Act, only four have remained unchanged and one has been amended 286 times.

“The rewritten legislation will be easier to read, and more coherent and logical. For example, all benefit assistance will be in a single place in the Bill, as will all obligations and regulations. The bill also identifies corresponding sections in the current Act to help people compare the two.

“The rewrite is largely policy neutral. This is not about reforming the welfare system, but making the legislation user-friendly and supporting an efficient and modern service delivery.”

Some of the minor changes in the Bill are:
Merging the Orphan’s Benefit and the Unsupported Child’s Benefit into the newly titled Supported Child’s Payment
Recognising that carers of children who are not their own have childcare responsibilities and therefore their work obligations should reflect that
Changing the name of the Emergency Benefit to the Exceptional Circumstances Benefit
Extending work or work preparation obligations to those receiving the Exceptional Circumstances Benefit to ensure people with similar circumstances are treated the same
Allowing for both parents to apply for Sole Parent Support in cases of split care.

“It’s important our legislation is modern and useable, not fragmented and confusing as it currently is,” Mrs Tolley says.

ends

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