Fix Working for Families (WFF) is the latest campaign from the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG)
The campaign puts forward the view that WFF needs to be made available to all low income children.
The principle of equal treatment for all low-income children should be restored by adding the IWTC to the first child Family Tax Credit (FTC), and the payment adjusted accordingly for larger families. All children in low-income families deserve and need this important source of income support.
This all sounds a reasonable expectation given the policy intent of the WFF payment is to assist with the living costs of children.
So what is the problem? It seems the very group of children most in need of some extra dollars ($72.50) miss out because their parents do not meet the work-based eligibility criteria.
There are many reasons for this, but the bottom line is, children, who we are told are the center of all government policies, have no control over:
their parent’s :
- education
- skills
- health
- disability
- mental well being, or
The economic/social structures of their time.
Children simply need to be loved, to eat (nutritious) food, to live in a warm, healthy, stable home and to be kept safe. They are reliant on adults for their needs.
However, the reality for a highly vulnerable group of children couldn’t be further from the truth.
This group of children could tell Treasury officals a thing or two about what it’s like:
- to feel hungry
- to feel cold,
- to miss out on friend’s birthday parties,
- to move schools,
- to move houses,
- to leave friends behind,
- to live in overcrowded houses, caravan sites and unsafe boarding houses
to name but a few deprivations.
NZCCSS believes in the intrinsic value and dignity of all children and that they should not be held responsible for situations and structures well out of their control.
Let’s raise the household income of our most vulnerable children and give every child the chance to shine