Auckland anti-poverty group calls on Government to pay back sole parents who've had benefits sanctioned

May 3, 2019
Anti-poverty groups are disappointed a social investment approach is being entrenched in legislation.

Auckland anti-poverty advocates are calling on the Government to pay back sole parents who've had their benefits reduced for not naming their child's other parent on the birth certificate, now that the sanctions are being scrapped.

The move is among welfare changes totalling $286 million announced today following recommendations made by a welfare advisory group.

Auckland Action Against Poverty says the sanction detracts up to $28 per child per week that does not have the father named in their certificate, and it's celebrating an end to the penalty after campaigning on the issue since 2016. 

The group says the Government needs to not just uplift the sanction but ensure that every women who has been wrongfully sanctioned gets back-paid. 

"We’re calling on the Government to act quickly and remove all the other sanctions outlined by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group. It should not take years of campaigning by Auckland Action Against Poverty and people on the benefit for the Government to listen," said Ricardo Menendez of Auckland Action Against Poverty.

The organisation says its advocates regularly work to help mothers overturn their sanctions and receive backpay, with some of these sums amounting to over $20,000. 

Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said "around 24,000 children will be significantly better off as a result of the change, with many sole parents’ incomes increasing by an average of $34 a week". 

The change will cost $113.4 million over four years and come into effect from April 2020 along with other welfare changes.

Auckland Action Against Poverty says the Welfare Expert Advisory Group made more than 40 recommendations on changes needed to the welfare system, including raising core benefit levels up to 47 per cent, removing most sanctions and changes to how people can access their benefit entitlements. 

However the anti-poverty group says the Government has only committed to three changes in this year’s Budget, including the end to sanctions on sole parents, changes to the abatement rate, and additional frontline staff. 

Auckland Action Against Poverty says it condemns the Government’s lack of action on welfare reform following the recommendations of the advisory group.

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