Adding children to an existing benefit - numbers rise

Not such good news for National.

In October 2012 a policy to discourage beneficiaries from adding children to an existing benefit was introduced. When a new child turns one, the parent may have work expectations based on the next oldest child's age. The policy was specifically aimed at discouraging the addition of children to an existing benefit to avoid employment.

Data released to me  under the Official Information Act shows that the policy has made no difference.

In fact the number of children under 1 year-old added to an existing benefit has actually increased.

In the six months ending March 31, 2006, 5854 children aged under one were added to a benefit. In the same period prior to March 2014 the number increased to 6634 - a 13% rise.

Half of the caregivers adding children under the age of one were Maori: 26 percent NZ European and 12 percent Pacific Island.

Seventy two percent of the caregivers were 29 years or younger.

Over a quarter of those receiving the Youth Payment/Young Parent Payment added a baby. The majority of newborns were added to Sole Parent Support.

While the policy was well-intentioned it will not work in communities where there are no jobs or where a parent has significant barriers to work eg a criminal history. In these cases children continue to present an opportunity to increase income by an additional $3,328 annually.

This is a really thorny issue.

On one side there's those crying, what will happen to the children if we stop paying?

On the other is the grim reality that meal-ticket children are at-risk children.

When the policy was implemented it was accompanied by free access to long-acting reversible contraception, especially to women on a benefit and their "adult female dependent children".  MSD estimated just under 15,000  in the first group (according to Cabinet papers) and  1,000 in the second "may choose to utilise a long-acting reversible contraceptive."

In 2013 only 215  Special Needs Grants were paid for LARC.

So while the number of teen births is dropping significantly, there is a group of beneficiaries who either don't know about the new policy or are ignoring it.

Ironically these are the very parents hands are wrung over because their children are 'living in poverty'.

I don't have to come up with solutions because I'm not a politician. But capping the benefit (before the reforms) has been tried in the US and it didn't work.

Stopping welfare isn't acceptable with the electorate.

So my best alternative is time-limits. People need to know they have X amount of entitlement and when it's gone, it's gone. They have to make the right choices for their circumstances, and if they don't, they have to live with the consequences.