Saturday, March 17, 2012

More newly-named welfare benefits


16 and 17 year olds and 16 to 18 year old teen parents who are receiving government financial assistance.
From 30 July 2012, a new Youth Payment and a new Young Parent Payment will be introduced with youth-focused obligations.

To qualify young people will need to be in education or training and they will have to meet certain obligations such as undertaking budgeting courses and, if a parent, parenting courses. Some of their basic costs like rent and power will be paid directly to suppliers with a small in-hand allowance paid direct to the young person and any remainder of their payment placed on a payment card for groceries.

To enable this policy to work the Minister is asking for the private sector to help:  

Letter to providers about youth services 

Dear provider, 

Changes to the way we work with young people 

The Government has announced its intention to undertake major changes to the welfare system. One of the first areas of focus is how Work and Income will manage young people at risk of long term benefit dependency. Currently too many young people in New Zealand are not in school, training or work. In addition to this, we know more than half the young people who end up on a benefit before they’re 18 years old spend at least five of the next 10 years on welfare. These people require intensive support, attention and encouragement. We need to change the way we identify, support and manage these young people before they end up trapped in the cycle of welfare dependency – and we need your help to do it.

Well, I could point out what many libertarians have in the past, that government money corrupts the impetus and motivation of charitable endeavours. However, using tax to buy ' hand-up' assistance is still better than using it for 'hand-out' assistance.

3 comments:

PM of NZ said...

"Currently too many young people in New Zealand are not in school, training or work"

Not in school - what do the truancy people actually do? Lock their parents up till the rugrats are in school.

Not in training or work - axe their benefits.

End of problem.

Viking said...

Simply can't understand why they don't understand that if they took the retraints off young people going to work many of these issues would solve themselves. What do parents do when a young person doesn't want to stay at home because 1. the parents are shit heads and have beaten him all his life till he got bigger then them, 2. the kid just has outgrown their parent and the education system. Plenty of kids like that who are much better working, earning their own cash and mixing with other grown ups.The current benefit system pays the parents to keep the kid in slavery or non productive education. Education per say is not everything. Job and life education os just as important.
Still pollies just will never grasp the need to allow p[eople their freedom. And that's at the nub of this issue.

Viking said...

PM people like you are the problem. Get the hell out of peoples lives and let them get on with it. Take away the things that stop them going to work i.e. lack of youth rates, lack of oppourtunity,assistance for young people going into the workplace by assisting the employers more. The current system (that I use often) is simply not enough. Get the trianing so called back out of waste of time polytech courses and back in the workforce. Spend the money in the workplace.
Education in the workforce should notbe the preserve of broken down tradesmen gone to overly paid postions in polytech's where their is no commercial incentive to get results. See this every day. A bloody great rort on kids, the taxpayer and lovely cussy jobs for broken down hacks.