Solo parents, invalids forced to work
Solo parents, invalids forced to work
Solo parents on the Domestic Purposes Benefit and people on sickness and invalid benefits will have to spend at least 15 hours a week in work, training, or job-seeking activities if National wins the election.
National Leader John Key has unveiled National's benefits policy saying the party will have an unrelenting focus on getting beneficiaries into employment.
"National is committed to a benefit system that is a genuine safety net in times of need. We also recognise that many people on a benefit will never be able to work because of illness or disability," Key said in a speech.
"National is going to have an unrelenting focus on work.
"Paid work is the route to independence and well-being for most people and is the best way to reduce child poverty. Long-term welfare dependency locks people into a life of limited income and limited choices."
Key says National will extend the part-time work obligation to DPB recipients, once their youngest dependent child is aged six or over, and people on sickness and invalid benefits who have been assessed as being able to work part-time.
About 5,600 sickness and invalid beneficiaries have been categorised as capable of working right now, Key says.
He says National will not be introducing a 'work for dole' or 'community wage' scheme but will be going one better, focussing on long-term unemployed by requiring them to get paid work and get off the benefit.
Within 12 months of taking office, National will require everyone who has been on the dole for more than a year to re-apply for their benefit and undergo a comprehensive work assessment, Key says.
"All long-term unemployment beneficiaries will be required to do what it takes to secure employment. This may include practical training, attending a basic skills course, or attending drug and alcohol rehabilitation."
After that, they will be required to actively look for a job, go to any job interview they are referred to, and accept any suitable offer of employment.
"If they don't comply with these obligations, their benefits will be reduced in the first instance; then suspended, then cancelled."
Key says currently, Work and Income case managers have, with few exceptions, only one option - to stop payments of a person's benefit altogether.
He says this is a a severe sanction and National's more graduated system will give case managers for flexibility.
National will also make the benefit abatement regime more generous to give beneficiaries an incentive to work.
Beneficiaries and their partners can currently earn up to $80 a week before their benefit is affected.
"Benefit abatement is a necessary part of the system, but the
high marginal tax rates it creates are a disincentive for people to
work even a few hours a week," says Key.
National will allow beneficiaries to earn up to $100 a week before
their benefit begins to be abated.
National says it will also:
- Introduce more frequent reassessment during the first few months a person is on a sickness benefit. Anyone on a sickness benefit continuously for 12 months will automatically be sent to a 'designated doctor' for a second opinion on their work prospects.
- Enshrine in legislation CPI adjustments to welfare benefits so they rise each year in line with inflation. Currently this is only done by convention.
- Reject Labour's planned new benefit terminology. Labour's pursuit of a 'single core benefit' has ended in a complete farce.
- Require the most frequent applicants for benefit advances to attend a budget advisory service at the government's expense to get qualified, experienced, non-judgmental budgeting advice to help them manage their finances. Those not attending will not be eligible for any further benefit advances.
Beating up
However, Prime Minster Helen Clark says this is typical National party policy, beating up on solo parents.
She says it's a complete waste of time trying to enforce work for the dole and it's better to find people real employment.
Clark says the people behind Key are people responsible for disastrous policies in the 1990s which got National booted out in 1999.
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