Beneficiary saves the tax payer $400,000

“Single parents who receive government benefits not only make a significant contribution to our society in parenting their children, but their other often unrecognised work can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax payer money” says Tony Westbrook, Kaitiaki member, Poverty Action Waikato.

The woman profiled in the recent Waikato Times front page article as Waikato’s longest claiming beneficiary has been caring for her sick, elderly mother for the last 10 years. Brent Selwyn, a specialist in elderly services and seniors law states that it costs between $40,000 and $42,000 per annum
to keep a person in senior care. According to these figures, the work of the woman in this article has saved the taxpayer around $400,000 in senior care costs.

“Parenting, along with caring for the sick and elderly is essential work and it needs to be recognised, valued and supported by all of us and by our economic system” says Anna Cox, Researcher, Poverty Action Waikato.

In May 2011 a Waikato Times front page article ‘Count down for a job’ outlined how 1000 hopefuls queued for hours competing for 140 Hamilton supermarket jobs.

“It is simply misleading to suggest that many beneficiaries chose to remain unemployed when there is such extreme competition for the paid work that is available. A lack of paid employment opportunities is currently the most significant cause of people remaining on a benefit, and it is getting worse”
Westbrook says.

Figures from the Department of Labour show that the unemployment rate in Waikato increased by 0.8% - from 5.9% in the year to June 2010 to 6.7% for the year to June 2011. The national average for unemployment was 6.6% in June 2011.

“There is a real danger in not carrying out a full analysis of an issue, or situation, as hidden benefits that are significant to the country can be overlooked. Individuals creating savings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the country can be unfairly vilified when they are actually fulfilling a very valuable role” he says.

Poverty Action Waikato, together with Link House and Birthright Waikato will be holding a pre-election forum on October 28th where election candidates will get to listen to the experiences and realities of single parents and discuss how government policies can better support their valuable parenting work.