Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Where and when will it end?

Here is a mother on a Sole Parent Support benefit. She has four children and debt to MSD of nearly $10,000. She repays $46 out of the basic benefit of $386 each week and says, 

"It’s a big difference 'cause we need that money. It’s not enough, even the benefits not enough. If they cannot do anything then we’re going to need a new Government that cares." 

Put aside that on top of the basic weekly rate of $386.78 she'll receive:

Souh Auckland accommodation Supplement = $305 max

Family tax credits for four children = $386.79

That's $1,078.57

And putting aside that there are many other top-ups including for non-repayable grants rent, food, etc...

Where is the father or fathers of her four children?

Why has she no sense of personal agency?

Where did she learn the mindset of entitlement?

What are her four children learning from her?

And why do idiot journalists frame her situation (and thousands of others) as being put into debt by the government because they don't earn enough on their benefit? (You'll have to watch the newsclip for that additional contortion of the facts).



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don’t you have to be in-work in order to receive family tax credits? Or has that changed permanently (ie not just for Covid-19)? Thanks

Lindsay Mitchell said...

No. Beneficiaries receive Family Tax Credits for each dependent child. See the link. You are thinking about the In-Work Tax Credit. This has been the case since the Clark/Cullen govt introduced the IWTC (to encourage sole parents especially back to work.)

Sam said...

"Where and when will it end?"

I'm afraid it will never end.

Is there any research into what happens to the children when they become adults? I don't think it would be fair to make blanket statements about any of them, but is there any information out there whether they tend to create different patterns than those of their parents or are likely to end up doing the same?

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Yes there is. I will gather some together and do a post. Some time soon.