In a week alone there was an increase of about 10,000 people now relying on welfare to get by. As the number of benefit recipients rapidly increases as a result of COVID-19, Auckland Action Against Poverty is calling on the Government to urgently lift benefits to liveable levels and change the welfare system to make it fit-for-purpose.
“We are disappointed to hear that Minister Carmel Sepuloni has not committed to exploring increases to benefit levels. Unless benefits are substantially lifted Work and Income will not be able to cope with the rapid demand for hardship grants for food. We already know that high rent prices, a lack of public housing and low benefit levels means people relying on income support are living week-to-week, often day-to-day”, says Brooke Fiafia, Auckland Action Against Poverty Spokesperson.
“The recent increase of $25 to baseline benefits is not nearly enough to alleviate the social circumstances of thousands of families. Our welfare system was already broken before COVID-19, with a consistently sharp increase in hardship grant numbers, long waiting times to reach the Work and Income contact centre and a record number of families living in emergency accommodation. The effects of COVID-19 have only exacerbated the problems that were already present in the welfare system.
“The concerns around the rise of unemployment due to COVID-19 is in large part because being unemployed means living in severe poverty. Politicians have all the resources available to ensure that everybody has a roof over their head and enough income, as we have seen the swift responses, they have been able to make in other areas due to this lockdown. Other countries around the world have shown us that bold changes to the welfare system can happen immediately.
“The increase of people in jobseeker benefits will mean a larger portion of our population is going to be subjected to punitive obligations. We’re calling for an end to obligations that result in people losing their benefit if they do not take any employment that is offered.
“People’s employment status shouldn’t dictate their right to a life with dignity, and their connection to their jobs should be tied to their aspirations. People should be enabled to find employment that is suited to them and the contributions they can make, instead of being pushed into low-paid jobs simply to reduce unemployment numbers.
“Lifting benefit levels is just one change the Government needs to implement to ensure COVID-19 does not increase further existing inequality. The Government needs to take a proactive role in the creation of good jobs, building enough public housing, and universal access to utilities so no one is left behind in the response to COVID-19.”
Auckland Action Against Poverty is calling on the following changes to our welfare system:
– Remove the limit of hardship grants people are eligible for in a period of 6 months before they must show they have exceptional circumstances.
– Increase benefits to liveable levels.
– Remove all benefit sanctions.
– Proactively call all income support recipients to offer hardship grants where required.
– Remove work-testing obligations that mean people lose their benefit if they do not accept an offer of employment.
– Increase the abatement rate to enable people in part time employment to receive income support.
– Individualise benefit entitlements.
– Increase the income threshold for income support recipients.
– Implement all other Welfare Expert Advisory Group recommendations.
Most of the changes you suggest sound reasonable but to not penalize people for not taking a job offer sounds wrong . I had had 45 jobs in my life . Starting work at 15 I have a vast array of work ranging from cleaner seaman labourer bank clerk salesman caterer food bar owner all these strands came together in my final job which drew on all my experiences and gave me a very well paid position. Sitting around waiting for the perfect job is soul destroying and when looking for staff I tended to go for those that were working than those that were not because I felt they wanted the job rather than needed a job.
It is not so much waiting for the perfect job it is the fact you can apply for 100s of jobs and get accepted for none after that your mental state is in another world. So why are you insinuating these people who may refuse a particular job obviously they refused it for a reason why should they be penalised.
When I was hiring staff I contact WINZ who ran a job seeker scheme .I struck some who stated 7 am was too early or they did not want to work weekends . These people were happy to take the benefit each week and not put themselves out to take a job. I aways paid above minium wage surely it would have helped their mental state to be occupied and earning than being at home doing nothing. The applicants were not all like this and I found 2 good workers who eventually moved on to become
trainee chefs.
Big thanks to AAAP for highlighting this!
We need to re-think the entire welfare system, ditch all the convoluted, tangled, antiquated red tape and begin modelling a simplified fair and equitable Universal Basic Income, to ensure that all those in need have the basic essentials of life.
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