Latest from Social Welfare

Closing the gaps: Longer life expectancy

Maori are living longer and their infant mortality rate will soon be the same as Pakeha - but they're still over-represented in poverty statistics.

Closing the gaps: The ethnic job divide

New Zealand is still wasting its "demographic dividend" of young Maori and Pacific people reaching working age.

Closing gaps favour young

Gaps between New Zealand's main ethnic groups are closing for our youngest citizens - but remain deeply entrenched on many indicators for older children and adults.

Brian Fallow: Playing politics with poverty hides truth

If the issue of inequality and poverty is to loom large in this election year there are a couple of cherished beliefs on both sides of politics that need to surrender to evidence, writes Brian Fallow.

Homeless shelter forced to close doors

Homeless families like first-time mum Lydia Mataiti and her newborn baby will find it harder to find shelter after the closure of one of Auckland's handful of emergency houses.

Good news on state of our nation

Crime is at a 34-year low, incomes and employment are rising and teenage pregnancy has plunged, a new report on the state of our nation shows.

Cunliffe denies misleading the public

'We've been absolutely clear in all the materials.' David Cunliffe has defended against accusations he mislead the public over his $60 baby bonus.

Key: Cunliffe misleading NZ

Prime Minister John Key has accused Labour leader David Cunliffe of "misleading New Zealanders" over the $60-a-week child payment scheme.

Economists: Less work, more babies?

Labour's $60-a-week child payment scheme may produce less work and more babies, economists say.

Live-in mentors eyed for welfare teens

The Government is looking at putting some teenagers who are already supported by welfare benefits into a flatting situation with a live-in mentor to prevent them going off the rails.

Editorial: Living wage could miss its family target

Editorial: Mayor Len Brown's pursuit of a policy that would see the Auckland Council pay the "living wage" to its staff has drawn a variety of objections.

Benefit fraudster jailed

13,000 parents' benefits cut

Almost 13,000 parents with dependent children have had their benefits cut for failing work tests in the first 2 years after sole parents first had to look for work.

Food work payout

Fast-food giant McDonald's has been paid $272,000 by the Government to help unemployed people get back to work.

Welfare cuts for almost 100 fugitives

Nearly 100 beneficiaries on the run from police have had their welfare cut in the six weeks since the policy was introduced, says Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.

Rodney Hide: PC approach obscures facts

Let's start with the numbers. They aren't mine. They come from a recently published Ministry of Social Development "factsheet".

$274k fraudster's bizarre explanation

A caregiver who admitted defrauding the benefit system of more than $274,000 says she did it because she "believed that she was two separate people".

Child protection laws