Beneficiary families and low-income working families will get a boost of up to $25 a week as part of a child hardship package which is the centre-piece of Bill English's seventh Budget. It is the first increase in core benefits, apart from inflations adjustments, since 1972 and will affect 110,000 families.
The 10 key things you need to know out of the Budget announcement.
• A $790 million child hardship package which includes a $25 increase in core benefits for beneficiaries with children; minor adjustments up and down in Working for Families payments depending on income.
• Increased obligations on beneficiariesregarding finding part-time work.
• Budget deficit of $684 million this financial year, turning into a $176 million surplus in 2015/16.
• Economic growth to average nearly 3 per cent over the next four years.
• Unemployment expected to fall below 5 per cent next year.
• The prospect of "modest" tax cuts in 2017 - election year.
• A $52 million "contingency fund" to speed the building of houses on crown-owned land in Auckland.
