Increases to benefits on April 1 will still leave families locked in poverty, a study released today by the Fairer Future collaboration says.
Liz Davies, general manager of SociaLink, the umbrella organisation for the Western Bay\u2019s social agencies and charities, agrees.
\u201cAs we are seeing more working people accessing local services such as the Foodbank for the first time you can only imagine how much people relying on benefits are struggling.
\u201cWithout sufficient income to cover the basic costs of life, many people inevitably end up in debt which makes it harder to climb out of poverty,\u201d she says.
\u201cLocal social service providers are working very hard to support and empower people on low incomes and benefits. However, ensuring people have a liveable income would make a huge difference to wh\u0101nau, who then wouldn\u2019t require food parcels and would be more likely to access health services.\u201d
Fairer Future collaboration spokesperson Brooke Pao Stanley, of Auckland Action Against Poverty, says it\u2019s time for the Government to \u201clevel up\u201d income support so everyone can live with dignity. Poverty was forcing people into impossible situations.
An update of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group\u2019s modelling on what income is needed to meet basic costs shows the majority of people receiving income support still won\u2019t have nearly enough to live on, even after the April 2022 income support increases.
The work compared WEAG family cost estimates, inflation-adjusted for 2022, to Government estimates of April 2022 benefit entitlements, and found some of the country\u2019s worst-off families will face shortfalls of up to $300 a week. Of 13 families, 12 won\u2019t be able to meet their costs, and nine won\u2019t be able to meet core essential costs, like rent, food and transport.
In mid-2022, a couple with three children receiving Jobseeker will need around $300 extra a week to meet their total costs, including children\u2019s sport and contingency for unexpected bills. To meet just their core costs, they still need an additional $165 a week.
A sole parent with three children will require around $240 more a week to meet total costs or an additional $111 a week solely to meet core costs. A single person receiving Jobseeker and sharing a house will need about $90 more every week to cover all costs.
\u201cWe urge the Government to do the right thing and ensure liveable support for all,\u201d Stanley says.
The research was launched online with speakers Stanley, Aaron Hendry from Lifewise, Nick Stoneman from the Disability Advisory Trust, and Max Harris from ActionStation.
The Fairer Future collaboration is calling for seven key changes to income support.
These include increasing core benefit levels to the standard of liveable incomes, raising the minimum wage to the living wage, increasing the Disability Allowance, overhauling relationship rules, removing sanctions, wiping debt owed to the Ministry of Social Development and improving access and supplementary supports to meet basic needs.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Increases to benefits on April 1 will still leave families locked in poverty, a study released today by the Fairer Future collaboration says. Liz Davies, general manager of SociaLink, the umbrella organisation for the Western Bay\u2019s social agencies and charities, agrees. \u201cAs we are seeing more working people accessing local services such as the Foodbank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"resource_type":[],"class_list":["post-57289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n