Figures released last week by Statistics New Zealand show shifting of the dial on child poverty has been in the wrong direction in the year to June 2025.
While from a statistical viewpoint the change in the percentage of children living in households experiencing hardship, now at 14.3%, was not considered significant, that will not mean much to the estimated extra 10,500 children now in this category.
That increase bumps the numbers up to an appalling 169,300, an increase of around 47,500 since 2022.
These depressing figures also show much higher rates of poverty are experienced by Tamariki Māori, Pasifika children, and children with disabilities.
When we wrote about this subject last May, the government was emphasising then that its strategy of going for growth in the economy would save the day.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ view was that "the absolute best thing we can do to get children out of poverty is to support their parents into work and to better-paying jobs".
But, if that is true, there is little evidence of it happening yet.
Frequently telling the public unemployment is the last thing to come right after a recession does not help anyone pay for food, electricity, rent or anything else today.
That mantra also does not deal with the issue that many people who are in work are turning up at food banks because they are struggling to cover basic everyday costs.
As Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad points out, jobs need to be paid at a rate that would get children out of poverty.
She said about half of families living in poverty had parents in paid work, but their wages were not enough.
It is a pity the government did not think it was worth its time bothering to see what impact its changes to the pay equity law might have on child poverty.
If some of the 33 claims lodged under the old legislation had reached settlement by now, how many children’s lives might have been changed already?
Minister for Child Poverty Reduction Louise Upston is still trying to convince us reducing children’s material hardship is a priority in the government’s child and youth strategy.
Trotting out National’s election year slogan to tell us the government taking action to reduce child poverty involves fixing the basics and building the future is not convincing.
The government can point to increasing the in-work tax credit, lifting the threshold for Working for Families, some tax relief, reduced inflation, and its FamilyBoost childcare package.
But it has not been enough to make a real difference for many struggling families, particularly those in benefit-dependent households.
The Child Poverty Action Group says indexing income support to general inflation rather than wage growth has meant families are being punished by the costs of housing, utilities, and food, which were all rising faster than average inflation.
It says we know what works. Poverty rates had been reduced in the past by lifting incomes, indexing supports to wages and properly funding services.
However, as the CPAG points out, the Government’s Budget Policy Statement leaves practically no fiscal headroom for the wealth transfers needed to reduce child poverty this year.
As a result, its statutory child poverty targets were mathematically impossible to achieve.
Dr Achmad says it is clear that children, who get only one chance at childhood, cannot wait for the economy to improve and there must be action now.
With more and more being understood about the long-term effects of child poverty it is both social and economic madness for governments not to be bold on this.
Without more significant action, we are not expecting Statistics New Zealand’s report on persistent poverty, looking at three years’ data, and due next February, will tell a happy story.
