Melanie Carroll06:00, May 05 2021
Working for Families has not increased in line with wages unlike main benefits and New Zealand Super, leaving some families up to $1900 worse off over two years, according to the Child Poverty Action Group. Working for Families is a key tool to reduce New Zealand’s high child poverty rates, the group said, but it is failing to keep up with New Zealand Superannuation and main benefits, which automatically increase in line with wages each year. Working for Families payments are not wage-indexed, and are only partially inflation-indexed, the group said. The group wanted the Government to automatically increase the payments every year to keep up with wage increases.
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The major review undertaken by IRD, Treasury and MSD is taking place behind closed doors. There are no published terms of reference, no timeline and no public consultations at this stage.
In the meantime, one-off policies such as the recent improvements to abatement for those on benefits are clearly causing anxiety as to how they will interact with the big picture, 10 year vision.
Working for Families (WFF) is a $3 billion dollar programme of child-related payments, so complex few understand them. The 38 page treasury report, released this week and disarmingly titled ,”
Increasing main benefit abatement thresholds on 1 April 2021 and consequential adjustments to the Minimum Family Tax Credit”