Radical welfare reform suggested

At least 100,000 people on benefits are expected to be back into work within 10 years if radical welfare changes suggested are adopted, critics say.
The Welfare Working Group yesterday released its final report, giving the Government 43 recommendations to reform the welfare system into a work-focused programme.
But beneficiary advocate Sue Bradford said the report was a "disgraceful, dirty attack" on beneficiaries.
The report focuses on cutting the number of people on welfare, currently about 360,000, by setting work obligations and harsh penalties if people do not comply.
The new system would be overseen by a new agency tasked with cutting the numbers of people on benefits by 100,000 by the year 2021.
"The Welfare Working Group is confident that if the reform package is implemented effectively, it will have a positive impact on many individuals, their families and the wider community," Welfare Working Group chairwoman Paula Rebstock said.
But Ms Bradford said the Government should have enough compassion and sense to throw the group's report in the rubbish.
"I'm beginning to think they've been looking to Nazi Germany for inspiration, with their underpinning 'work makes free' philosophy, attempted eugenic control of a portion of the population, and its potential racist implications for Maori."
She said the new system would subject beneficiaries to punitive work testing and sanctioning, including the sick, injured and disabled. "Everyone involved in this report ... should hold their heads in shame," Ms Bradford said.
One of the recommendations in the report was merging all existing categories of benefits, including the sickness and invalid's benefits, into a single Jobseeker Support payment.
The additional costs of other benefits would be converted into supplementary payments, meaning overall payments would not be cut. The working group also suggested solo parents look for work when their youngest child reached three years old.
If they had a subsequent child while on welfare, they would have to look for paid work when the child turned 14 weeks, but the Government has already ruled that recommendation out.
Recipients who do not meet their obligations would get a 25 per cent payment cut for the first failure; 50 per cent for the second; 100 per cent for the third; and a 13-week stand-down for a fourth or any subsequent failure.
The establishment of a delivery agency, Employment and Support New Zealand, which would administer the system, was also recommended.
Ms Rebstock said the proposed changes would reduce the number of people looking for work, and the Government's forward liability would go from $47 billion to $34 billion by 2021.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said the Government would consider the report.
"This Government certainly believes a radical shift is needed, to put the focus on what people can do, not what they can't do," she said.
She said the 2021 target sounded ambitious, but other recommendations were not extreme.
"I'm hugely optimistic and think there are great stuff that we can take out," Ms Bennett said.