Former Commerce Commission chair Paula Rebstock will head a new panel tasked with overseeing the actuarial valuation of New Zealand's long-term welfare liabilities.
The government-appointed Work and Income Board will advise the Ministry of Social Development on how to best implement welfare reform and report to the social development, finance and state services ministers.
The government will spend $1.1 million over four years on the board, and will review its operation in June next year.
"It makes good economic and social sense to provide targeted support up front to get more people into work sooner, ” Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said in a statement. "They will help make decisions about which interventions work best for individuals and will oversee trials to collect best evidence."
Earlier this year, Bennett unveiled the first tranche of reform targeting youth beneficiaries and tougher job requirements for parents on a benefit. Legislation for the second set of reforms will be tabled in Parliament in July, and will streamline benefit categories and clamp down on benefit fraud.
The board has been appointed for its experience in insurance and finance sectors that already use investment approaches to valuing future liabilities.
Rebstock is joined by Southern Cross Healthcare chief executive Ian McPherson, AUT Professor of Rehabilitation Kathryn McPherson, Crown Fibre Holdings director Andrew Body, business consultant Reg Barrett and former South Taranaki District Deputy Mayor Debbie Packer.
Under the so-called 'investment approach' to welfare, an actuarial valuation will be completed to determine the long-term future spend needed for the welfare system. It will take into account how long people are expected to claim benefits as well as wider economic and demographic trends.
In the nine months ended March 31, the government spent $1.36 billion on the domestic purposes benefit, $688 million on the unemployment benefit, $994 million on the invalids benefit and $581 million on the sickness benefit.
Those transfers amount to 22 percent of what the government spends on social assistance, which includes KiwiSaver and Working for Family tax credits and superannuation payments.
(BusinessDesk)
9 Comments
and how do you know who's leaving? I see no %s to indicate socio-economic groups, education levels etc of ppl leaving. Maybe if we hadnt taken so much money and gambled in housing instead of putting into productive businesses ie making a good......that's a double whammy, less jobs and over-priced housing, also a thorf probably less tax income. We need to wake up to the damages the imbalances are causing....and fix them, though without crashing the economy in the process.
regards
The history of welfare payments points to a simple solution (too simple for ideological simpletons like Bennett and Key and English and Rebstock) and that is jobs -- the number of people on welfare reduces as jobs increase. The order is important though for it to work -- jobs first then the number on welfare reduces, not toss people off welfare first and just imagine/delude yourself that there are jobs out there for all.
Which jobs are you talking about Andrew ? The free Auckland convention centre's 2,000 plus jobs no one wants, or the mining jobs no one wants activated, or the deep sea drilling jobs people don't want, or the green energy wind farms no one wants built, or the increased dairy herds no one wants, or the ............................ a nation of whingers who contribute nothing to this country, never a productive useful pragmatic idea, just whinging.
What you both talk about is can kicking.....what happens to the next generation when coal is gone? oil is gone (if its even there?) If you look at Aberdeen it will decline as the North Sea declines....all it and the UK achieved is a short term boost for a few decades.....indeed the UK now has an energy dis-advantage....it has no long term contrcats and is on the end of a very long pipe from Russia. It exploited its natural resources very badly...Norway fairs better....guess thats the big difference between the types of Govns at the time.
How much GE stuff is organic? or more importantly needs specific pesticides and manufacturer's fertilizer? and in sufficient quantities? ie doesnt act as an arbitrage between oil and food.......because when you look at GE that is substantially its mechanism is.
This is also highly relevent to biofuels. ethanol isnt green in the slightest....and its ERORI sucks....at best 1 to 1 and we need 10 to 1. How's your investment in biofuels going btw? sounds like its looking for a Govn handout.....
regards
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