Almost 50 per cent of New Zealander support individuals being able to access income support payments regardless of their relationship status, a new poll has found.
JobSeeker support is paid at a rate of $250 a week after tax for single people.
But the amount that is paid out reduces as soon as an applicant and their partner, if they have one, earn a combined $90 a week. A married couple can earn up to $664 between them, or $702 if they have children, before they are eligible for no support.
A UMR market research poll found 47 per cent of New Zealanders supported changing that policy. Just 24 per cent of the poll’s 1128 respondents wanted the rules to remain as they were.
READ MORE:
* Budget 2020 has forgotten about the unemployed, advocates say
* Breadwinner asks: Why can't I access Government support?
* The benefit battle: 'Every cent counts'
* Cost of hardship grants rise sharply as Government accused of working on the margins
* Child Poverty is everyone's problem - Children's Commissioner
ActionStation’s campaigner Ruby Powell said the Government had already shown it could provide a decent income with the Covid-19 income support payments, which offer a higher rate of pay for 12 weeks.
Its household income rules are much more generous.
“The Covid-19 payment ensures people have enough money in the bank to stay on their feet and allows people to access the support as long as their partner earns under $2000 a week.”
123RF
Dating for just six weeks can lead to the loss of a benefit, according to existing rules.
Couples dating for anything from six weeks could be deemed to be in a “relationship in the nature of marriage" and therefore lose part or all of their income support.
The expectation was that the new partner would step in and offer financial support.
In June, there were 353,440 people accessing income support. Of these, 64,029 were receiving sole parent support.
In May, a spokeswoman for Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said entitlement to most benefits and social assistance was reliant on the "couple" unit of assessment.
“Moving to an individual unit of entitlement would be very complex however it is something that is in our medium to long-term work programme.”
Powell said the UMR poll showed a willingness in New Zealand to accept a kinder welfare system.
“Allowing people in relationships to access income support is an important step to unlocking a fairer and more vibrant Aotearoa,” Powell said.
Powell said the choice facing political leaders was to either overhaul the welfare system to create a fairer system or to continue with the status quo, “which will lock more and more individuals and families into poverty for decades to come.”
The welfare system was an important part of the solution to eliminate poverty, but its current design meant it was part of the problem, Powell said.
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) researcher Janet McAllister said one step towards eliminating poverty was to deal with the welfare framework that held back vulnerable families.
Stuff
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni says entitlement to most benefits and social assistance was reliant on the “couple” unit of assessment.
“Our current income support system has too often entrenched inequities, indignity and intergenerational trauma,” McAllister said.
“It penalises people in relationships and it keeps those caring for children or unable to work below the poverty line.”
McAllister said the group’s vision was for an income support system which upheld the mana and dignity of all people.
“Such a system would guarantee all of us an adequate standard of living regardless of our ethnicity, gender, age or relationship status,” she said.
“It would protect all children and their families and whānau, including families in low-paid work.”
Among the recommendations, CPAG is calling for the Social Security Act to be rewritten to embed kaupapa Maori values into this piece of legislation, raise all benefit levels, individualise benefits, remove sanctions for parents of dependent children, forgive any existing MSD debt, and extend the In-Work Tax Credit to all those eligible for a benefit.
"relationship" - Google News
July 27, 2020 at 03:43AM
https://ift.tt/3hDD065
In a relationship? Almost half of NZers think you should get benefit anyway - Stuff.co.nz
"relationship" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QDgTSV
https://ift.tt/3dklxNV
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "In a relationship? Almost half of NZers think you should get benefit anyway - Stuff.co.nz"
Post a Comment