Working for families widens economic gap

http://www.homeandfamily.org.nz/

Children of beneficiaries miss out on the additional income support ‘working for families’ provides. The resulting widened economic gap for children in families on the lowest incomes in our communities is deeply concerning,’ says Mary Gray, Director of Home and Family Society counselling services.

Home and Family Society joins with the Child Poverty Action Group and other individuals and organisations to encourage an expansion of the Working for Families package to extend to families on benefits.

In our counselling work we frequently see how beneficiaries struggle to make ends meet and the pressures that puts on family relationships. Children are often at the receiving end of resulting family disharmony.’ says Mary Gray,

The widened gap that we have witnessed between families at the bottom of the economic heap and the rest of New Zealanders since the benefit cuts in the 1990s is an indictment on us as a modern nation. Lack of money in the household budget often means kids missing out on participating in sport, school trips and parents getting into debt. We urge the Labour-led Government to ensure that all children can participate equally in our society through increasing levels to benefits which support children.

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