Benefit numbers swell as govt programmes fail, says Labour

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The number of people on benefits has increased by nearly 50,000 since National took office and the Government's response has proved "spectacularly unsuccessful", Labour's Social Development spokesperson Annette King said today.

Figures released to Ms King showed the number of working age people collecting a main benefit had risen from 274,605 in November to 323,160 last month.

"That's an increase of 48,555 people. Sadly there are no signs yet that the trend is alleviating, with almost 7500 additional people on benefits in August than there were in July," Ms King said.

The Government's programmes to alleviate job losses had not worked.

"When the Government launched the Restart programme in December, it was estimated 70,000 people would benefit from the redundancy assistance package over two years.

"But the latest figures released to Labour show that just 4401 people have received Restart in the nine months since it was launched."

The programme to help people through redundancy and get back into work was confusing and badly promoted, she said.

"The much vaunted Nine Day Working Fortnight has been even more of a flop, with only 37 applications from employers by late August," Ms King said.

- NZPA