Child Poverty Action Group has launched a series of papers to highlight the problems children face living in food insecure households.

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that the National Party’s welfare proposals to cut gang members’ benefits perpetuate damaging and discriminatory stereotypes about both welfare recipients and gangs.

CPAG and Ngā Tāngata Microfinance endorse the Salvation Army’s call for tougher regulations on debt collectors and mechanisms to provide forgiveness or waivers for debts that are “effectively unrepayable”.

Low-income families in private rentals are often struggling to meet their day-to-day costs and living in houses that are both difficult to heat and expensive to heat.

CPAG is deeply concerned about the impact for sole parents and their children of losing their financial independence when Work and Income decides the parent is in a de-facto relationship.

Making housing healthy under the Healthy Homes Initiative meant fewer GP visits and fewer admissions to hospital for children and fewer medicines dispensed.

The Minister of Education Hon. Chris Hipkins regarding the eventual dismantling of the decile system should be greeted with cautious optimism.

“What we are asking is that they make some simple, effective changes that will relieve stress among low-income families on benefits.”

If we want New Zealand to be the best place in the world to be a child, the Government needs to increase benefits, remove sanctions, individualise benefits, and fix abatement rates now.

Kathryn’s courage and strength in fighting the system that held her a prisoner to poverty were there until the last.

Low-income, vulnerable families and their children disproportionately affected by declining funding across the social sector, as they are ultimately those most in need of supportive services.

CPAG and Ngā Tāngata Microfinance jointly welcome the extra consumer protections added to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003.

The barriers to child and youth wellbeing that have been identified will be only able to be comprehensively tackled if the Government has a strong, clear and committed focus on child poverty.

Not only should housing be required to meet minimum standards, tested to be compliant for health and safety, but many more affordable housing options need to be provided.

Child Poverty Action Group applauds the recent spotlight on children’s health by the New Zealand Herald.

“We urgently need a greater number of state homes, and we need more solutions to housing across the board.”

“While household income for some families will be lifted over the 50% line through the Government’s Families Package, the children living in the hardest of situations just fall further behind.”

The number of children living in households regularly going without sufficient healthy food is unacceptable, especially when healthy food is plentiful in Aotearoa - New Zealand.

Welfare system rules around relationships unjustly punish and stigmatise already struggling single parents, says Child Poverty Action Group.

“The mental health impacts of poor nutrition in a child's early years as well as poor nutrition among pregnant mothers can be enormous.”

Child Poverty Action Group fears new legislation won’t go far enough to protect vulnerable families from loan sharks.

"We’re thrilled that Susan is to be acknowledged with this high honour, which is extremely well-deserved."

CPAG says the plan to index benefits to average wage inflation is a step forward to prevent families from falling even further behind, but it doesn’t address the almost three decades of failure to index adequately.

“Research shows that adolescence is one of two periods that are critically important for social and physical development, the other being pre-conception to 3 years of age.”

CPAG is looking to the Government to deliver a package in Budget 2019 that will truly transform the lives of children living in Aotearoa who experience the most severe poverty.

CPAG says that the Government is placing too much faith in its Families Package, which didn’t help children living in households where primary income is from a main benefit nearly enough.

CPAG recommends removing the Accommodation Supplement for around 250,000 families because the payment is overly complex and poorly designed.

CPAG has long been concerned about the ‘hidden costs’ of Aotearoa-New Zealand’s so-called free education.

The focus on meeting individual needs, rather than simply ticking boxes will go a long way to minimise the stresses we know that people who regularly interact with Work and Income experience.

Sole parent families whose primary source of income is a welfare benefit are among those who are suffering the worst of poverty.

Child Poverty Action Group cautiously welcomes the government’s response to the Tax Working Group’s final report.

Poor families and their children will continue to be the prey of loan sharks until the Government provides adequate consumer protection.

CPAG is in wholehearted agreement with the Taskforce’s analysis that the competitive environment established by Tomorrow’s School has driven educational inequality.

The new statistics will provide the baseline for measuring changes over the next ten years that will test whether the Government’s Child Poverty Reduction targets are met.

CPAG and Associate Professor Dan Exeter are launching a series of discussion documents which look at the concentration and drivers of deprivation in regions across Aotearoa.

Alarming new research from FinCap reveals the high occurrence of unsafe credit amongst those on low incomes in Aotearoa, and parallels Ngā Tangata Microfinance’s experience over many years.

“Those struggling to raise the next generation in the toughest of conditions should not miss out on future retirement subsidies that others receive exclusively.”

CPAG has been concerned that previous policy seriously undermined the value of parents providing care for their children in their early years.

CPAG says investing in children’s wellbeing requires more substantive and enduring changes than have been implemented to date.

An extensive study on welfare conditionality presented in 2018 from UK research reported that benefit sanctions "do little to enhance people’s motivation to prepare for, seek, or enter paid work.”

CPAG calls on the coalition Government to increase welfare benefits by at least 20% immediately and index to wages like New Zealand Superannuation.

CPAG believes that making children visible as one of the five priority areas of this Budget shows true commitment to reducing child poverty.

"It makes no sense to recover housing grants from people who simply are unable to afford to house themselves.”

Report finds that one in five children under the age of 15 (161,000 and 188,000 children) experience moderate-to-severe food insecurity.

The authors of the report should be congratulated for embracing the chance for generational change.

Such a strategy will be a significant development toward ensuring the rights of all children and young people in Aotearoa are reinforced and upheld.

The report highlights the critical link between material hardship and emotional and physical health outcomes for children.

As well as improving incomes for affected families, an urgent response is needed to ensure that schools are sufficiently resourced.

“Understanding people’s lived experiences of poverty and the welfare system is critical.”

CPAG has collaborated with ActionStation on their crowd-sourced report calling for reform and transformational change of our welfare system.

“These 600 new staff are essential, and the move shows that the Government is truly committed to improving outcomes for children with disability and disadvantage.”

CPAG is disappointed to see that there is no analysis of the fundamental problems with Working for Families in the TWG Interim Report.

The scope proposed in this review really only considers the question of tenure security and then not in a particularly comprehensive way.

Any relationships, even very unsatisfactory ones that hurt children, mean sole parents can lose their independent source of income.

The Salvation Army’s focus on a “KiwiBuy” scheme is an effective approach to ensuring that more people have access to stable and secure housing.

New measures announced by Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi, that will strengthen the net of protection for vulnerable consumers.

“The time is right for all political parties to come together to improve the lives of tens of thousands of children.”

There needs to be a groundswell of public support for reform to encourage Government to adopt the critical changes needed.

Aotearoa desperately needs a new and better approach for supporting parents who are doing it tough while performing the vital role raising children.

It is widely acknowledged that there are inadequacies in the current design of the Welfare System in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

What will it take to ensure that all children living in Aotearoa-New Zealand have all their wellbeing needs met?

With loan capital provided by Kiwibank, and partnering with Budgeting Services, Ngā Tangata Microfinance provides no fees, no interest loans to qualifying low income families.

CPAG urges Government to redouble its KiwiBuild efforts and to commit more money to building state housing in response to this shortage.

Families going without food on a regular basis is dangerously on the verge of becoming normal in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

More than ever families will need financial support if job losses occur, or work hours are reduced along with spending power.

In Aotearoa, where it is legal to charge 500% interest, and then charge administration fees on top of that, having a low income and borrowing money is very high risk.

"Child poverty will not be solved until there is a safe, ethical credit environment for low-income consumers in Aotearoa."

“New Zealanders would not want hundreds of thousands of dollars spent pursuing low-income parents living honestly while Government Ministries try to uphold their right to treat beneficiaries unfairly.”

This year we are calling on policy-makers and politicians reform the welfare system so that it is fit for families in the 21st century.

As a country we should see that every every Kiwi child has the right to live in a home which is warm, safe and secure.

Urgently needed are policy changes to vastly improve the lives of our worst off children, long before the results are presented.

Families in Aotearoa-New Zealand need a system that provides compassion and understanding when they are faced with their greatest need.

Working families on low incomes have been particularly hard hit by past cuts to the income threshold from which families’ payments start to reduce.

Are you a current member of CPAG and passionate about the well-being of New Zealand children? Would you like to play a bigger part in CPAG's work?

Just as in the UK, in New Zealand welfare sanctions have been in place for a long time and have been used much more aggressively in recent years.

“I am very pleased to see that across Aotearoa-New Zealand, there is an intensity of focus on reducing child poverty and improving child wellbeing.”

Any approach to improving mental health outcomes need a strong focus on reducing poverty and deprivation for pregnant women, young children and their families.

Professor Asher will join a cohort of highly respected professionals working across various fields such as social policy, human rights, welfare, justice, economics, Māori wellbeing and health.

Budget predictions of a $3.8 billion surplus show that resources exist to provide children living in the worst of poverty the real, substantial lift they need over the next six months.

CPAG joins with families nationwide in asking that the new Government delivers hope for low-income families and their children in this budget.

While it has been indicated that the 1 July changes are just the start, families are desperate now, and cannot wait.

Find out what the impact of Budget 2018 will be for families and children, in Child Poverty Action Group’s 2018 Post Budget presentations.

Chronic poor physical health in children can lead to problems lasting into adulthood, and poor dental health is no exception to the rule.

A child-centred re-envisioning of tax policy is required urgently.

Professor O’Neill’s research and advocacy work to build a more equitable and inclusive education system has been central to CPAG’s on-going campaign to end child poverty and improve education outcomes.

The new report looks at how new and current legislation could be improved to ensure that all children’s rights are protected and that they are able to thrive.

CPAG has been working alongside Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa to lead the development of an overarching submission from a wide range of groups with expertise on children.

If passed, the Education Amendment Bill could put schools serving income poor and materially deprived communities at risk of losing funding they desperately need.

Professor Asher, a committee member and health spokesperson for CPAG for 20 years, on Tuesday received the New Zealand Medical Association’s Chair’s Award for 2017.

The celebration acknowledges all the partners, associates and supporters who have enabled NTM to reach these milestones, making a real difference for whānau and families.

A genuinely free education will relieve financial pressures on low-income households, and improve the likelihood that children will attend school more regularly.

“Many working families on low wages are facing increased financial pressure as they struggle to meet housing costs, and food insecurity is a growing problem.”

Childhood illnesses, transience and a disastrous rate of homelessness in New Zealand are attributable to a desperate lack of housing required to meet the needs of a growing population.

A nutritious lunch for every child would go a long way toward ensuring that all children have the same chance for good educational outcomes, and support healthy development.

By the time the Families Package comes in, families’ costs, such as rent, may have increased yet further.

Fair indexation of WFF to reflect Cost-Price Index inflation and also average wage inflation is critical to the success of child poverty reduction policies.