The Social Development Minister went against officials’ advice, in not allowing beneficiaries on non-financial sanctions to access hardship assistance.

From next year, new non-financial sanctions are being introduced as an option for some jobseekers who fail to meet obligations to seek work.  

It includes a community work experience sanction, requiring them to find and complete work experience at a community organisation before the sanction is lifted.

A draft Cabinet Paper from July shows officials recommended beneficiaries under this sanction should still be able to access hardship assistance - with which Minister-in-charge Louise Upston disagreed.

Upston says this was for the sake of consistency, to ensure new non-financial sanctions being introduced next year would be consistent with the existing sanctions.

But Labour’s Social Development spokesperson Carmel Sepuloni says it’s mean-spirited, and “punitive for the sake of being punitive”.

“I find [that decision] really difficult to comprehend, given how tough it is for families out there at the moment, particularly those on the lowest incomes.”

Hardship assistance includes payments such as Special Needs grants (including food grants), temporary additional support and emergency benefits.

Sepuloni says it can cover food, clothing, electricity or other supports around the home.

She says job seekers under the non-financial sanctions will be unable to access this, at the same time many community service organisations are struggling - shown by the news last week Community advocate Dave Letele was closing his South Auckland food bank.

“And the Minister is making it harder to access hardship support on the front line through the Ministry of Social Development as well,” Sepuloni said.

“Where are these struggling Kiwis going to go for the support that they need, if they can’t get it from the Ministry of

Social Development and they’re struggling more and more to get it from their community service providers?”  

Last week Prime Minister Chris Luxon pointed to the availability of hardship assistance for people in need, following the news Dave Latele was closing his South Auckland food bank.

Upston says the new non-financial sanctions - including also Money Management, which puts half a person’s benefit onto a payment card - won’t be introduced until next year.

“My message very clearly is to avoid any of that - we just want people to comply with their obligations, and it’s great to see 98 percent of beneficiaries are.”

In August, the Government launched the traffic light system to communicate to people receiving a benefit whether or not they were complying with obligations.

Preliminary data out yesterday shows that almost all beneficiaries with work and social obligations were meeting their requirements in the first month of the new system.

Meanwhile MSD figures from last month show the number of people who receive the Jobseeker Work Ready payment has increased by almost 12% in the past year.