United Future Policy Statement

Welfare

Communities Managing and Co-ordinating their Welfare Issues

United Future supports a 'for community by community approach' to regional welfare. Each geographical and cultural community within New Zealand has varying needs. The Government should not necessarily make blanket proclamations for the entire country, but must enable each community to examine its own unemployment and welfare situation.

United Future will co-ordinate the delivery of social services so beneficiaries can access the services they require, such as community support and employment agents, at one convenient location. While there has been some progress in this area, for too long the emphasis has seemed to involve the client (beneficiary) having to work through red tape and layers of bureaucracy to access support they are entitled to.

As acknowledged there has been, and continues to be, good progress in this area, but more work is needed. United Future will ensure this occurs.

United Future will:

• Establish 'One Stop Shop' community service centres which will provide an all encompassing living skills and career advisory service. These centres will become a point of contact and networking location for all those who are seeking work and on a benefit, and attend to all long term beneficiaries' information and counselling needs on an individual basis.
• Break down the red tape that suffocates beneficiary access to fair support when they need it most
• Provide a greater family focus in the marketing and provision of welfare services
• Continue the strong client focus of the Department of Work and Income
• Introduce a community volunteer rebate for those receiving the 55 plus benefit or who qualify for New Zealand Superannuation.
• fund regional programmes and initiatives (established by the communities themselves) which examine specific community unemployment symptoms and the regional issues that create unemployment, as well as helping long-term beneficiaries return to the workforce
• establish family service centres in communities where parenting and family support needs are greatest, with emphasis on local solutions for local problems.
• offer incentives to providers of approved budgeting services so that families are able to access quality budgeting advice.
• establish stronger links with the volunteer sector, so that they can work with welfare recipients to become self sufficient
• establish clear guidelines by which communities and regional councils can apply for funding of community based welfare programmes.

Long Term beneficiaries

Generational welfare dependency is a debilitating situation and impacts negatively upon too many New Zealand families. Research indicates that children from welfare dependant families are more likely to have poor health, difficulties with learning, dysfunctional social relationships and criminal convictions. United Future believes that the key to a fully functioning and cohesive society is to break the welfare dependency cycle.

Solutions must be developed by involving communities and co-ordinating support services, incorporating:

• Assistance to help people recover from a setback quickly so they do not become long term beneficiaries.
• Empowering long-term beneficiaries to rejoin the workforce
• Offering compassionate support to meet specific individual situations

Long-term welfare dependency is very different to temporary unemployment or the movement between education, jobs and careers and should be treated as such. United Future believes that it is most important to catch people as they leave school or are between jobs, and ensure that short-term assistance does not encourage long-term dependency. At the same time, access to assistance should be made easier by cutting down on red tape and restrictive stand down periods which sometimes penalise and punish short-term beneficiaries for situations that are outside their control.

Long-term welfare dependents will be eligible for United Future's community based programmes if they have been receiving an unemployment benefit or the domestic purposes benefit for over one year or they have been on a sickness benefit for two years. Long-term recipients of the sickness and invalids benefit will be assessed by an independent medical tribunal. Any beneficiary found to be abusing or defrauding the Government by making false welfare claims will be prosecuted.

United Future will also:

• promote legislation requiring Government to set, monitor and evaluate its social goals annually. Through regular monitoring and evaluation we can ensure positive progress is made in achieving objectives and more effectively target spending.
• establish a policy advisory panel which examines the causes and problems of unemployment and welfare. This 'think tank' will advise government on actions that it can take to deal with national long-term unemployment.
• improve work place literacy, as currently 20% of New Zealand adults have insufficient literacy skills to hold down a job.
• continue support for current low income state rentals, so that low income tenants pay no more than 25% of their income in rent.

United Future Parliamentary Office: Bowen House, Lambton Quay, Wellington
Email: Phone: (04) 471 9890