Can $20 more a week restore hope and dignity? Budget 2021's more than $3 billion boost to benefits is billed as the biggest in a generation, and the government hopes it will do exactly that.
In July this year main benefits will go up $20 a week, while students will be $25 better off from April next year.
What does that actually buy? More petrol, food on the table, maybe a few hours running a heater.
RNZ Hawke's Bay reporter Tom Kitchin went shopping with Karen from Hastings who is on the sickness benefit, to find out how far $20 can stretch.
