Govt announces financial help for NZ's most vulnerable

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The Government is to boost the financial assistance for food and emergencies available to people on low incomes.

On Thursday, it released a report into inequality and hardship showing that since 2004, 130,000 children have been lifted out of poverty.

However, Social Development Minister Ruth Dyson says despite the fall in child poverty, changes are still needed to support New Zealand's most vulnerable.

From 4 August, financial assistance for food will double and emergency support will rise from $200 to $500.

The minister says for the first time since the 1980s the inequalities between rich and poor are starting to reverse, but there is still work to be done.

Ms Dyson also outlined a proposal to modernise the benefit system, including the timetable for the move to a core benefit to replace several existing benefits.

National says the Labour Government always makes such promises before an election and the single core benefit is again unlikely to see the light of day.

But Ms Dyson says the criticisms are nonsense and the names of the benefits will be changed in April next year.

However, she says it is not appropriate to raise the unemployment benefit level, as the Government wants to ensure that people in a paid job are financially advantaged by being in paid employment.

The Child Poverty Action Group says though the decline in figures is a positive step forward, the data shows there has not been improvement for children in benefit households, and in many cases things are getting worse.

It says it is timely for the Government to consider increasing the levels of benefits to ensure that circumstances for beneficiaries children do not get worse.