Mitigate adult poverty to improve child poverty outcomes.

The facts

There are around 622,000 people in poverty in this country or one in seven households.
Some groups are more likely than others to be in poverty: Beneficiaries, children, Māori and Pacific peoples, and sole parents.
What poverty means for people: Being in poverty means experiencing hunger and food insecurity, reduced life expectancy, poor health outcomes, debt, and unaffordable or bad housing

Benefits are not enough to live on with dignity – this is the real issue.
The resources of organisations providing emergency assistance are stretched.
The benefit system is complex and people are often not made aware of their entitlements.
Housing assistance is inadequate.

Because people in poverty must survive on very low incomes, they are adept at budgeting and making ends meet
Contrary to the popular myth, people in poverty don’t spend all their money on alcohol, smokes and gambling
Inadequate income levels is the real issue impacting on the ability of people in poverty to manage their finances
Debt can be a problem for some low-income people, but debt is often linked to tragic circumstances
Debt and problems managing money isn’t just an issue for people in poverty

Living on a benefit is not a ‘lifestyle choice’
Few women receiving a benefit are unmarried teenage mums
Most sole parents stay on benefits for a short period, and usually only while children are young
There is some concern about benefit fraud, but almost all debt to Work and Income is the result of negotiated ‘recoverable assistance’ loans or ‘Innocent Overpayment Debt’.

Employment alone does not solve poverty and unemployment remains high.
Most beneficiaries want to work. International research does not support the assumption that beneficiaries lack a work ethic and are content with the beneficiary ‘life-style’
Obtaining work in itself does not guarantee that poverty will be alleviated. Many jobs are ‘precarious’ or insecure and don’t pay as well (or offer the same security) as a full-time, permanent job
There are good reasons why not all beneficiaries should get a job right now: health problems, disabilities and childcare responsibilities all present major barriers to work

Most people are on benefits only for a short time
There is no evidence that cutting benefits reduces dependency
An argument for back-to-work policies is that it is good for children to see their parents working but research has shown negative outcomes for older children when parents are pushed back to work
It is poverty, not dependency, that is the problem
In New Zealand we can afford to look after our own

Economic growth alone will not necessarily address poverty and inequality
The gap between the rich and the poor is large and shows little sign of declining.
There are more people in poverty now than there were in the 1980s
Income disparities between Māori, Pacific peoples and Pakeha remain high