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Child poverty is worsening according to latest statistics, so what will be the effect of looming benefit changes and the government's promised "tough love" approach to beneficiaries?
The latest child poverty statistics from Stats NZ show three out of nine measures of child poverty became worse in the year to the end of June 2023.
That includes 23,000 more children than the year before going without household essentials such as fresh groceries, doctor's visits, and good pairs of shoes.
200,000 children live in households with less than half the median disposable income after housing costs - that's up by around 3 percent.
On April 1 benefit increases will align with inflation, rather than wage growth, meaning smaller increases to benefits than would have been the case.
Auckland University economist associate professor Susan St John has spent decades researching poverty and government policy. She says we are seeing an unprecedented depth of poverty.
