CPAG is urgently calling for adequate support to school students who are working too many hours while trying to keep up with their education.

In a review of available research on the issue, CPAG, with the support of Te Rourou One Aotearoa Foundation, found that there was no recent or relevant information on how many students are propping up household incomes, and the potential negative impact on their education or future employment prospects is unknown. Read more

The three asks are simple: free preschool education for every child, a warm and safe dry house for every child, and good food for every child.

CPAG acknowledges that each ask is more than just one policy change in one area, and the group has published 11 policy briefs spanning housing, incomes, health, disability, education, tax and food security. Read more

"The more hungry we are, the more we will see unrest," says Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson.

"Thousands and thousands of us just don't have enough money for food."

She should know. Over the past 10 years, demand for City Mission food parcels has risen each year.

"It's gone from 9,000 to 65,000. That's a huge number of people suffering food insecurity.

"Food prices rose 12 percent in the year to April. That's the largest increase since 1987."

Robinson had hoped last week's Budget might help.

So had Susan St John, economist and Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) spokesperson.

It didn't.

CPAGs view

The Budget is policy makers' biggest opportunity, says St John. They can change the systems that lock whanau into poverty. They can also opt to keep the status quo.

"Budget 2023 was short-sighted," she says.

"It didn't give money to families struggling to meet basic living costs. It's terrifying it didn't address food insecurity's rise.

"This budget should have delivered a reformed and effective Working for Families.

"It is tiresome to hear that 'allowing low-income families to have sufficient income to feed their families would be inflationary'. It would not - in fact, it would make the economy work better," the economist says.

"Poverty is stealing families' dreams and there was little in the Budget to change this."

Changing policies can work

St John's recommendations to immediately alleviate the problem involve two things:

• The in-work tax credit (IWTC) being folded into the Family Tax Credit, to form one payment for all low-income children.

This would be a targeted and very efficient way to reduce child poverty, she says. It offers a higher level of support only to those who currently do not get the IWTC.

St John says it would cost about $500m per year.

Her other suggestion addresses poverty traps for middle- and low-income families in paid work:

• income assistance abatement thresholds must be raised and rates of abatement cut from 27 percent to 20 percent.

At present they face impossible "clawbacks", she says.

For each dollar they earn over a very low threshold, they may receive only a few cents. This is because income assistance abates (reduces) so quickly in several domains that it keeps them in poverty traps.

Victoria University's Kate Prickett is also concerned about the Budget's failure to make systematic changes for families.

She's the Director of the Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families and Children.

Targets to lift children out of poverty aren't being met, Prickett says.

"We're not going to make further dents in child poverty without implementing bold support for those families being left behind."

She suggests helping:

• working families teetering on the poverty line
• Pacific families who may be less likely to qualify for support because they don't have residency status, despite contributing to the economy and their communities
• families unable to work, or whose work may be limited due to care needs (eg for whanau with disabilities)

This week's Budget feels woefully inadequate, she says.

Source

• 1News
• The Spinoff
• RNZ
• Voxy

CPAG is concerned groups of children have been ‘left behind' in recent attempts to reduce poverty, and more needs to be done.

Also, there is no comprehensive ‘code of compliance' to ensure new legislation is consistent with the provisions and principles of the UN Convention.

"We acknowledge steps taken in recent years to reduce child poverty, but there remain significant inequities in child poverty rates for Maori, Pasifika, children with a disability and children of sole parents," report author Dr Dana Wensley said.

Consideration should be given to strengthening domestic law and policy to incorporate the UN Convention, particularly in relation to ‘best interests of the child', the Social Security Act, and the Working for Families Package, she added. Read more

They need more government support, says Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).

Vulnerable families stand to lose a lot during level 4 lockdowns.

Their food budgets suddenly have to cater for lunches the Government's school lunch programme usually provides.

Data and phone use for children's online learning increase, adding stress to the household budget, says CPAGs Janet McAllister​.

Research shows grocery prices increased during previous lockdowns; people's panic buying and stocking up meant cheaper brands often become unavailable.

McAllister says grocery shopping is likely to get more expensive.

Before the latest lockdown, Stats NZ says food prices were up 2.8 per cent on a year earlier. At the same time, annual inflation was at a near-10-year high.

Many of New Zealand's poorest families may find the effects of this current lockdown worse than the first unless the Government lifts incomes and makes it easier for them to get support, says McAllister.

"The pandemic, in general, is increasing the cost of living for people at the bottom end faster than it is increasing it for anybody, and lockdowns are a contributing factor to that.

"Effects pile on top of each other - families still dealing with the issues from previous lockdowns will be hard hit again by this new lockdown and we are concerned they may have to deal with worse situations now than last year."

She suggests the government implement next year's planned benefit increases now, as a Covid-19 relief measure.

A CPAG report on the pandemic's impacts on low-income children during the first Covid-19 year (March 2020-21) provides insight into these concerns.

The financial stresses and educational stresses are harder on people who don't have very many resources, McAllister says.

"Obviously those effects can last longer. If you go into debt it can take longer to pay it off...

"It's great the Government has already activated wage subsidies but our most disadvantaged families must not be overlooked - people receiving benefits also need assistance with the high costs of lockdown."

The Government has paid out $484 million in wage subsidies during the current lockdown.

Auckland Action Against Poverty (AAAP) co-ordinator Brooke Pao Stanley​ says not having enough food is the biggest problem for many people.

"Being at home all day, every day means all of us, our whole families are consuming way more food at home.

"Also not having enough money to pay for bills, people are worried about having to pay their rent.

"We as an organisation are worried about people who don't have access to a phone or internet and not having Work and Income offices open means people will slip through the cracks."

Another issue is that people are finding it harder to get help such as food grants compared with the previous level 4 lockdown, she says.

The Minister for Social Development says Work & Income's Covid-19 financial support tool shows the range of help available. People can access help via their MyMSD or by phoning 0800 559 009.

Source

• Stuff
• Image: The Spinoff

CPAG's criticism of the Government's response comes after more than 60 charities urged them to increase welfare payments in the lead-up to Christmas, which Ardern ruled out.

Progress on welfare reform is being made, she says.

CPAG's wrote its critique of the Government's performance after examining the Government's response to the 42 recommendations the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) made in 2019.

"The Government says it wants welfare reform to enable people to live in dignity with adequate incomes, and it asked WEAG for a plan to achieve this," says stocktake co-author Innes Asher, who served on the WEAG.

Asher says seven of the WEAG's key recommendations have been "partially" implemented.

A further 12 "minimally" implemented. There is no evidence that over half the key recommendations have been implemented.

"Given WEAG found that people receiving benefits are living 'desperate lives' on 'seriously inadequate incomes', the progress on implementation appears unjustifiably slow," co-author Caitlin Neuwelt-Kearns says.

Ardern says she disagrees with "some parts" of CPAGs report.

"For instance, their view is that we've made no progress on the issue of income when it comes to people on Government support. We've always been very open that that is something that was going to take time and I disagree with the criticism of no progress.

"We've had both the [$5 billion] Families Package, we've had the general benefits increase, we've had the winter energy payment [which was doubled this year to $40 per week for singles and $63 for couples and those with dependent children], we ... have indexed benefits to wage increases, which was actually one of the recommendations of the WEAF."

Also included in the package were $60 weekly BestStart payments for parents of newborns until they turn 1-year-old, as well as tax credits for families with dependent children based on income thresholds.

After modelling the Families Package to see how it impacted on the poorest children, CPAG found it wasn't enough to release children and their families from poverty.

CPAGs report accuses Ardern of overstating the Government's progress on welfare reform.

It notes during the TVNZ Leaders Debate in September, Ardern said: "We've implemented 22 of the recommendations so far and we have seen that the changes that we've made have already made a big difference."

CPAG says they haven't all been implemented - instead, they're being worked on.

This was confirmed by Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni, who said work is "currently underway" to address around 22 of WAG's recommendations.

"Hyperbolic claims ... do a disservice to the tens of thousands of New Zealanders who must continue to make ends meet with inadequate support," CPAG's report says.

Ardern responded saying the Government's welfare improvements include spending over $13 billion on the wage subsidy scheme in response to COVID-19 and removing some sanctions from benefits.

Source

• Newshub
• Image: Newstalk ZB