One in five kids food-deprived
Children’s Commissioner ‘disappointed’ at poverty stats in household income report
The Childrens’ Commissioner says he’s disappointed child poverty statistics have stayed stagnant as kids continue to live in deprived households. Andrew Becroft says information in the latest Household Incomes Report shows one in five Kiwi kids live in a house without access to food, while many beneficiaries are spending half their income on rent alone. In releasing the annual Child Poverty Monitor report, Becroft says he is “concerned and frustrated” not to have information usually supplied by the Ministry of Social Development.
The ministry decided not to publish its latest figures, saying there appeared to have been unusually low response rates by low-income households with children which skewed the results.
The information the ministry provides puts a microscope on the 17 key items Kiwis should have or own, including shoes, a raincoat or having three meals a day with fruit and vegetables.
Instead, Statistics NZ had been given extra funding to expand the sample size to 20,000 households, rather than just 6000.
As the survey is currently being carried out, that information won’t be available until mid next year.
But even without the ministry’s information, Becroft said he could tell there had been little change in the past two years. “The other indicators we usually follow have shown little sign of either a significant increase or decrease in recent years.”
The number of children — about 80,000 — suffering material hardship could fill Eden Park twice, he said.
He was buoyed a new bill — the Child Poverty Reduction Bill — was about to pass its third reading in Parliament, an effort he praises both National and Labour for supporting.
“That was a game changer . . . having a cross-party accord is historic and the bill is about to be passed any day now and it will be all systems go and I will be watching very closely.”
He said a key way to tackle child poverty would be to see benefits — which go to parents with children — increased annually, rather than the current sporadic nature of when a Government sees fit.
“The evidence is, the increase in benefits invariably go to children. I mean the stereotypical put down is that more money into the hands of families invariably means more on alcohol or gambling or cigarettes. But no, the evidence is that it usually is spent by parents who really are concerned about their children.”
Becroft said overall he was “optimistic” about changing the statistics.