Lauren
Crimp Political reporter
Beneficiaries
are living on an average of $251 a week once they’ve covered
their housing costs, a government report shows.
A
budgeting advisor says her clients are not getting by, and
every day someone seeks help with KiwiSaver hardship
withdrawals to cover the basics.
The Ministry of
Social Development’s total incomes report showed
inflation-adjusted average incomes to April last year
continued to drop, from $262 in 2024 and $263 in
2023.
The average spanned from $216 for single people,
to $824 for bigger families.
Overall, incomes after
housing costs were higher in 2025 in real terms than they
were at the end of 2019, however they have remained
“relatively flat” since 2022, the report said.
Rent or
mortgage payments chewed up an average of 48 percent of
beneficiaries’ incomes, it showed.
Before housing
costs, beneficiaries’ average income was $486 a week – down
from $492 the year prior.
A
full-time worker on minimum wage who made minimum KiwiSaver
contributions would have earned $750.96 each week after tax,
during the same period.
Using KiwiSaver to cover
essentials
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Porirua Whānau Centre budgeting advisor
Christine Tawhara said she had never gone through a
beneficiary’s budget and found a surplus.
RNZ asked
how her clients were getting by.
“They’re not,” she
said. “There’s real stress, and their anxiety levels are
quite high.”
Every day her clients sought
help with KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals, Tawhara
said.
“That’ll give them some money to catch up on
debts, catch up on rent, catch up on their power bill, buy
a… shopping trolley full of food, but that’s only a
temporary fix, it’s almost like a sticking plaster,” she
said.
“I can see them two or three times a year, they
come back for a KiwiSaver withdrawal.”
They also put
many essentials like petrol on buy now, pay later schemes
like Afterpay to spread costs, Tawhara said.
Often,
given all possible costs had been cut, there was not much
the Whānau Centre could do, she said.
“We do the kai
box on a Tuesday, but if they’ve run out of kai on, say,
Thursday and they’ve got no money, because normally their
paydays are Tuesday and Wednesday, there’s just nothing,”
she said.
“My brain’s just ticking over all the time,
like, how can I help, how can I help?”
Tawhara did not
believe increasing benefits would help much, given
continually rising costs.
Govt striving for higher
quality of life – minister
Social Development
Minister Louise Upston said the Government was focused on
growing the economy to boost jobs and incomes.
“Work
in paid employment is the best opportunity for people to
achieve social and economic well-being,” she said.
“We
accept that the job market is a challenging one, and the
welfare system provides assistance for those who have not
yet found work.”
There was more work to do, Upston
said.
“But Government has made good headway despite
global headwinds and a challenging fiscal environment that
has been influenced by a period of high government
spending.”
The government’s changes to housing
supports would reduce the gap between the cost of private
and social housing, Upston said.
The upcoming social
housing shake-up would increase support for some
families and leave others worse
off.
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