Auckland Action Against Poverty (AAAP) is celebrating an end to sanctions on sole parents after the Government announced during the Welfare Expert Advisory Group report that they would change the legislation within this term. The sanction detracts up to $28 per child per week that does not have the father named in their certificate. AAAP has been campaigning on removing sanctions on sole parents since 2016, which currently affect over 11,000 mothers and 15,000 children.

“We are glad to see the Government finally taking action to stop punishing sole parents and children. Successive Governments have failed to show that the sanction was working as intended, and not just making life harder for people on the benefit who are already struggling to get by.

“The Government needs to not just uplift the sanction but ensuring that every women who has been wrongfully sanctioned gets back-paid. Auckland Action Against Poverty advocates regularly work to help mothers overturn their sanctions and receive backpay, with some of these sums amounting to over $20,000.

“We’re calling on the Government to act quickly and remove all the other sanctions outlined by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group. It should not take years of campaigning by Auckland Action Against Poverty and people on the benefit for the Government to listen.

“We dedicate this victory to members of our team and the many people who worked alongside us on the frontlines to put this issue on the political agenda”

© Scoop Media