Serious deficiencies in the social policy processes

Many low-income families doing the essential paid work that is servicing the NZ economy now find they can’t keep their heads above water. Our once-prized welfare system is not working, including sadly, the main income support system for children Working for Families (WFF). And the pitiable ‘In Work Tax Credit’(IWTC) is the worst designed ‘work incentive’ imaginable, trapping the most impoverished children in further unremitting hardship. Looking back to 2018, WFF debt has grown 79% and there is every reason to expect that this debt continues to grow in the current uncertain financial year. Furthermore, they will have to repay any In Work Tax Credit they were not entitled to.