previously announced in May’s Budget<\/a>, were being brought forward from an initial implementation date of July 2027.<\/p>\n“Going on welfare when you\u2019re young is a trap, with recent modelling suggesting that people under the age of 25 on Jobseeker Support will spend an average of 18 or more years on a benefit over their lifetimes.”<\/p>\n
As of June 2025, 15,045 18-19-year-olds were receiving Jobseeker Support, she said.<\/p>\n
The Government estimated around 4300 would become ineligible under the new rules, while 4700 would remain eligible.<\/p>\n
The test would include:<\/p>\n
A parental income test, demonstrating whether their parents earn income at or below the income limit, and\/orA parental support gap test, demonstrating they cannot reasonably be expected to rely on their parents for support.The income limit will be set at an income cut-out point for a couple with children receiving the Supported Living Payment and will be adjusted annually.<\/p>\n
Currently this limit was $65,529 and it was expected to rise to reflect the Annual General Adjustment of benefit payments.<\/p>\n
Upston said: “This limit will ensure that young people from very low-income families will still be able to access support if required.<\/p>\n
“This targets welfare assistance to those who need it the most, as young people will be expected to first be supported by their parents.”<\/p>\n
$1000 bonus for staying in work<\/p>\n
In addition to tightening eligibility, the Government will introduce a $1000 bonus payment for young people who find work and stay off the benefit for a year.<\/p>\n
The payment will be available from October 2026 to 18- to 24-year-olds who: <\/p>\n
Have worked with the Ministry of Social Development\u2019s Community Job Coaching service after being on a benefit for at least 12 months,Find employment,Remain off the benefit for 12 months,Are in work at the time of applying.<\/p>\n
Upston said the bonus was designed to reward young people who made the transition from welfare to work and stuck with it.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve got 4000 places for young people to get community job coaching. We\u2019ve also got more regular work seminars, and a traffic light system to help them stay on track with their benefit obligations.<\/p>\n
“I am determined that young New Zealanders see education, work and training as their best options for the future.”<\/p>\n
Full details of the Parental Assistance Test and bonus payment scheme would be released closer to their implementation dates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of young New Zealanders will soon face stricter rules for accessing Jobseeker Support while others could earn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[138,1122,232,111,139,69,135],"class_list":["post-60392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jobs","tag-business","tag-employment","tag-jobs","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}