Background
In 2014, CPAG launched a campaign to reform the government’s approach to relationship status within the welfare system. The current system means that those who are deemed to be in a relationship ‘in the nature of marriage’ – a definition that is ambiguous and open to interpretation – can lose their eligibility to welfare support and be investigated for ‘relationship fraud’.
This investigative process is often invasive and traumatic, with beneficiaries treated as ‘guilty until proven innocent’. Further, if deemed guilty, sole parents can be assigned crippling debts, or worse, imprisoned. Far from promoting healthy family relationship building, these welfare settings are damaging for children and detrimental to whānau wellbeing.
As a first-step to the much-needed individualisation of benefits, CPAG urges the government to allow a partner’s income of up to at least the average wage to be disregarded.
Over the years, CPAG has published a series of reports highlighting the devastating impacts of these relationship rules and calling for welfare reform to redress these policy settings. You can read material related to this campaign below.
The complexities of ‘relationship’ in the welfare system and the consequences for children (2014)
CPAG’s 2014 report The complexities of ‘relationship’ in the welfare system and the consequences for children introduces the challenges of using the presence or absence of a relationship in the nature of marriage to determine entitlement in the welfare system. Co-authors Hannah Anderson, Rebecca Fountain, Susan St John and Catriona MacLennan discuss the inconsistent treatment of marital status, and highlight the concerning impacts on children in cases where ‘relationship fraud’ is alleged.
Kathryn’s Story (2014)
Kathryn’s Story serves as a case study of the consequences of current relationship rules, and a powerful account of the detrimental and unjustified treatment of one woman by the justice and welfare systems. Her story illustrates the unfair and unjust treatment that can follow an allegation of relationship fraud, with long-term suffering experienced consequently by her and her children. CPAG has published Kathryn’s Story in the hope that her account will provide some insights and a richer picture of the chaos, ill-health and tragedy that afflicts many women who fall foul of the welfare system.
‘Relationship status’ and the Welfare System in Aotearoa New Zealand (2019)
CPAG’s report ‘Relationship status’ and the Welfare System in Aotearoa New Zealand was produced in partnership with University of Auckland Public Policy Institute and prepared for the Peter McKenzie Project in May 2019. In this report, co-authors Olivia Healey and Jennifer Curtin overview the treatment of relationships within current welfare policy settings, including discussion of enforcement and the investigative process, comparing New Zealand’s approach to that of Australia and the United Kingdom. Healey and Curtin highlight pathways forward, arguing for the need to redesign the welfare system in such a way that encourages family relationship building, rather than punishing women on benefits and their children for seeking to re-partner.
Read CPAG’s report ‘Relationship status’ and the Welfare System in Aotearoa New Zealand (PDF) here
Open letter to the Prime Minister (2019)
We are not alone in this call for fairer treatment of beneficiaries. In December 2019, alongside our partners Auckland Action Against Poverty, ActionStation, and a range of other groups from across New Zealand, CPAG presented an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to stop punishing beneficiaries in relationships. You can read the open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern here.
Let’s See All Mums Get a Fair Go