Targeted help to get off benefit

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

AN increasing trend of sole parents in Gisborne getting off benefits and back into work or education is expected to further improve, after the Government announced it would make more help available for single parents.

There have been successive year-on-year falls in the numbers claiming Sole Parent Support locally, with numbers falling by more than 150, from 1623 in September 2013 to just 1446 this year.

Social Development Minister Ann Tolley said an additional 40,000 places for work-focused case management would now be made available for beneficiaries across the country this year.

A spokesman for the minister said that would include additional places for sole parents in the Work and Income East Coast Region (which includes Hawke’s Bay).

“In the East Coast it means more than 1,500 extra places have been made available for clients to receive this more intensive form of case management,” the spokesman said.

Mrs Tolley said the government’s proactive approach to supporting clients prepare for employment had seen the number of children in a benefit-dependent household reduce by over 42,000 in the past three years.

“We want to continue this excellent progress by helping more people who want to work get into work, and to support those at risk of being long-term beneficiaries.

“Those with health conditions and disabilities who want to work deserve the opportunity and the extra support, while sole parents can deliver better lives for their families and help break the cycle of dependency.

“The number of sole parents on a benefit is down by almost 22 percent over the past three years. We are doing more to try and bring the figures down even further, so we can help these clients off welfare and into work.”