Louise Upston. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Benefit sanctions risk hurting families for whom it is often logistically more difficult to take up paid work, one social work expert says.
People on the JobSeeker benefit are receiving warnings that their benefits are at risk of being cut if they do not keep up with their requirements, RNZ reported on Wednesday.
The traffic light system for sanctions has taken effect and the system will be expanded next year.
Ministry of Social Development data released last month showed there were 10,389 sanctions issued against beneficiaries in the June quarter, up 3630 or 53.7 percent compared to June 2023.
Child Poverty Action Group spokesperson and Massey University lecturer Jane Lee said benefit rates had been set below a level that people needed to live on for years.
"Look at the rates that families, especially one-parent families, are needing to utilise foodbanks - if people haven't got the basics for food … we know how high rents are to incomes, how the cost of living is so high in Aotearoa, this is something that's lagged behind and continued to lag behind."
She said she was "incredibly worried" about the impact of sanctions on families.
"My area of expertise is one-parent families with disabled children but thinking about families in general on the benefit, these are families doing it really hard as it is, the level of stress this is creating.
"We've got this rhetoric that these parents are 'living the lifestyle' but it's not much of a lifestyle."
She said there needed to be an understanding that someone needed to look after children.
"It's individualising the problem to say parents need to get out and work. Paid employment is four weeks' leave but there are 12 weeks of school holidays to cover. Our whole employment system, school system, is not set up structurally to support paid employment. We need to move away from this rhetoric that people don't want to work - they do but they want to make sure their children are cared for as well."
She said people would often struggle to find childcare if the only jobs they could find required shift work.
"This whole thing about 'can they just get a job'… if it was that easy. It's not because people don't want to, we're not set up structurally as a country."
She said the scenario was different for adults without dependent children.
"Once you bring children into it, that's a whole other level of logistics that need to be thought about. If we are serious about wanting parents to get into paid employment we need to look at structural stuff that means that doesn't happen."
She said the system should recognise that some people had more responsibilities than others, and reflect that within policies.
What might people receive?
A 20-year-old single parent, with one child who is 1 in her full-time care, living on the North Shore, Auckland, in a rental property that costs $600 a week, no childcare costs, earning nothing at the moment, no assets, will probably qualify for:
- Sole parent support $490 to $495 a week before tax
- Accommodation supplement up to $235 a week
- Best Start tax credit $74 per week
- Community services card
- Family tax credit $144 per week
A 40-year-old with two children, 7 and 10, and a partner, 50, also not working, living in Whangārei in a rental property that costs $500 a week, no childcare costs, no other income, no assets, will probably qualify for:
- JobSeeker support up to $635 a week before tax
- Accommodation supplement between $120 and $214 a week
- Family tax credit about $262 a week
An 18-year-old, no kids, living at home with parent, not paying board, will probably qualify for:
- Jobseeker up to $262 a week before tax
(from Work and Income's 'Check what you might get' website)
