Welfare in New Zealand
The Unemployment Benefit gross rate at 1 April 2011 ranged between $150.01 and $375.04 a week depending on the applicant's age and living situation.The Domestic Purposes Benefit (DPB) was introduced in 1974 following the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Social Security.People receiving DPB – Sole Parent are encouraged to name the other partner and to seek child support payments.There is a financial penalty for Sole Parents (section 70A of the Social Security Act 1964) who do not seek child support without sufficient reason."[8] Ruth Dyson, Minister for Social Development and Employment, reported, "...the main reason for people leaving the unemployment benefit is to enter paid work.Then Minister for Social Development and Employment David Benson-Pope later stated that, when implemented, the reforms will move between 3,000 and 6,000 people off the Sickness Benefit.[12] This established some key features of public pensions in New Zealand, such as the use of general government spending rather than individual contributions, and a "pay as you go" rather than an actuarial approach to funding.[13] The Third Labour government introduced a compulsory superannuation scheme in 1975, according to which employees and employers each contributed at least 4 per cent of gross earnings.[13] A move to a partially pre-funded or "smoothed pay-as-you-go" system came with the establishing of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund under the aegis of Labour Minister of Finance Michael Cullen in 2001.In July 2007 the Fifth Labour Government introduced KiwiSaver as a voluntary retirement-savings scheme on top of New Zealand Superannuation.An added incentive for younger people is the ability to make a one-off withdrawal from their KiwiSaver fund to help to buy their first home.[23] A woman with two children received the equivalent of at least a full day's pay for a labourer as benefits, unlike wages, were not taxed.Most women received more as the average number of children born to mothers in the 1950s was 3.4.On 1 April 1946, the family benefit was increased to 10 shillings a week and the means test was dropped.This increased family benefit was payable for all children up to the age of sixteen, or up to the end of the year when the child turned eighteen if they were in full-time education or unable to earn a living due to incapacitation.[25] The family benefit was increased to 15 shillings per week per child in 1958–59, and was able to be capitalised up to a maximum of £1000 when buying, altering, or paying off a home from 1959 to 1960.In 2018 the Sixth Labour Government implemented numerous measures to reduce acute hardship and provide assistance for families.The scheme was introduced to avoid what MP William Pember Reeves described as the "worst social evils and miseries", referring to the British workhouses where the elderly lived in spartan institutional circumstances.The small-scale scheme that resulted from this legislation can be seen as a precursor to the much larger state housing introduced by the first Labour government in the 1930s.Under the Act the Government introduced a raft of social welfare benefits, mostly means tested, that were more generous and covered more people than before.The fourth Labour government did not overtly change the main welfare system, however, real expenditure per benefit recipient fell.[clarification needed] In the early 1990s the fourth National government embarked on a free market programme aimed at reducing public spending and 'dependence on the state'.[37] The impact of these changes was particularly pronounced as the unemployment rate was high due to the 1987 stockmarket crash and the cost-cutting programmes of the previous fourth Labour government, which had reduced the staff of many state services.The cutbacks were, however, only partially reversed by the fifth Labour government but inflation meant that in real terms benefits are still lower before April 1991.[5] Susan St John and Louise Humpage have also commented that the changes "wipes away any notion that our social security system is about ensuring everyone can participate as citizens.
Ministry of Social DevelopmentGlen EdenWest Aucklandoccupational welfaresocial policySocial welfareState housing in New ZealandWork and IncomeChild Disability AllowanceSole Parent Supportsingle parentsGeorge Forbes1930 Imperial ConferenceUnitedGreat DepressionMāoriGordon Coates1935 electionunemployment benefitSocial Security ActSickness Benefit and Invalid's BenefitNew Zealand HeraldDomestic Purposes Benefitchild supportDavid Benson-Popemultiplesold-age pension1938 Social Security ActThird Labour governmentRob MuldoonThird National governmentSuperGold CardNational PartyNew Zealand First1996 general electionreferendum in 1997New Zealand Superannuation FundLabourMichael CullenFifth Labour GovernmentKiwiSaverprivatelyPAYE taxWidow's pensionAnn BeagleholeWorking for FamiliesTax creditsInland Revenue DepartmentSixth Labour GovernmentConsumer Price IndexLiberal GovernmentWilliam Pember ReevesBritishworkhousesfourth Labour governmentRuthanasiafourth National governmentfree marketFinance MinisterRuth RichardsonJenny Shipley1987 stockmarket crashParliament of New ZealandDomestic Purposeswelfare benefit simplificationStructural discrimination in New ZealandWayback MachineChild Poverty Action GroupAustraliaNew ZealandHistoryTimelineArchaeologyEconomic historyMilitary historyMāori historyNatural historyPolitical historyTreaty of WaitangiNew Zealand WarsWomen's suffrageNew Zealand and AntarcticaColonyDominionIndependenceGeographyPhysicalBiodiversityClimateClimate changeEarthquakesEnvironmentGeologyIslandsNorth IslandSouth IslandMountainsProtected areasMarine reservesNational parksRiversVolcanismCitiesAucklandChristchurchDunedinHamiltonHastingsInvercargillNapierNelsonNew PlymouthPalmerston NorthRotoruaTaurangaWellingtoncapitalWhangāreiSubdivisionsRegionsTerritorial authoritiesPoliticsConstitutionElectionsElectoral systemPolitical parties