Working For Families roll-out poorly planned

National Party Welfare spokeswoman Judith Collins says David Benson-Pope can no longer ignore the impact of the bureaucratic tangle being caused by Labour’s Working For Families welfare package.

“This package is causing major headaches for Work and Income staff. It was poorly planned and executed incompetently. David Benson-Pope has some urgent issues to deal with.”

Ms Collins is referring to a surge in resignations from the Work and Income office in Canterbury, and a leaked letter from staff to managers that says the Working For Families workload ‘has reached critical mass’.

“These resignations are placing extra pressure on existing staff, who are now carrying average Working For Families caseloads of almost 300 cases per staff member.

“When you’re juggling that many balls, sooner or later you’ll drop one or two.

“The Minister knew the numbers and he must’ve known Working for Families was going to cause a bureaucratic bottleneck.

“Mr Benson-Pope needs to tell us whether any planning was done at all to prepare for the extra workload caused by this Government policy?

“If the reaction of staff in the Canterbury region is any indication, the answer must surely be no,” says Ms Collins.

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