CHB beneficiary numbers up

Hawke’s Bay, and Central Hawke’s Bay in particular, has bucked the national trend of fewer people receiving benefits from Work and Income.

Nationally, 4000 fewer people were receiving benefits in the last part of 2016 compared to the same December quarter in 2015— a decline of 1.4 per cent.

But in Hawke’s Bay, the number of beneficiaries rose by 1.2 per cent while the number of CHB residents receiving benefits was up by 8 per cent— the largest increase of any district in the region.

Of the additional 164 Hawke’s Bay residents receiving a benefit at the end of last year, more than a third were living in CHB.

The Hastings district had a rise in beneficiaries of just under 2 per cent between the last quarter of 2015 and the same quarter last year. Napier was the only district in the region where the number of residents receiving benefits decreased— by less than 1 per cent.

There were 297,010 New Zealanders receiving some type of benefit in the last quarter of 2016.

Recipients of benefits such as Sole Parent Support and the Supported Living Payment were included in the data as well as those receiving Jobseeker Support.

More than half of beneficiaries in Hawke’s Bay, a similar percentage to the rest of the country, have been receiving WINZ assistance for more than a year.