Brooking RachelCHILD SUPPORT (PASS ON) ACTS AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon RACHEL BROOKING (Minister for Oceans and Fisheries) on behalf of the Minister for Social Development and Employment: I present a legislative statement on the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon RACHEL BROOKING: I move That the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill be now read a second time.This bill contains important amendments that will pass on child support to parents on a sole parent rate of benefit removing the current inequity in how they are treated compared to other groups. As a result approximately 41550 sole parent families will have more in their pockets and up to 14000 children will be lifted out of poverty in 2023-24. I wish to start by thanking the Social Services and Community Committee for their hard work and careful consideration of this bill and for the 13 submitters who took the time to give their views on this legislation.This bill is a complex one and the work of the committee has ensured that the bill is as robust as possible. The submissions were overall supportive of the bill and the proposals within that will lift the income of many sole parent families from receiving child support. Key themes discussed by submitters included the need to ensure that the changes are clearly communicated and that Ministry of Social Development staff are comprehensively trained to handle and explain the proposed changes. I want to assure submitters that the successful communication of this initiative is something that both agencies are committed to. Both agencies have a good deal of experience in implementing similar changes.Submitters also focused on the need to ensure that no benefit debt arises as a result of implementation. The income-charging rules for child support payments have been designed to avoid creating benefit debt. If the liable parent does not pay despite the receiving carer having an entitlement to child support it would not be considered income for the receiving carer. Rather child support passed on will be considered as income on a forward-looking basis—only the amount of child support received in the hand the cash amount will be considered. Child support is a monthly payment whereas benefits are paid on a weekly or fortnightly basis. This has required the introduction of forward-charging income rules which would treat child support as income for the periods it is intended to support the child. This means that child support would be divided into four or five weekly amounts and added to the client's total income. Their weekly total income must be above the income abatement threshold before it starts to affect their benefit. This is now $160 per week after this Government raised it in 2021. If debt arises from an error with an income-charging process including automation the bill proposes that the debt is non-recoverable and is written off. For these reasons there was no need to make further changes to the bill in response to those concerns.Some submitters also questioned why the bill does not propose to include recipients of the unsupported child's benefit. This is because a separate review is currently being undertaken by Oranga Tamariki into the system of financial assistance and support for caregivers. The recommendations by the committee are minor and technical in nature. Broadly these recommendations ensure that the rules operate as intended and that the policies apply consistently between the Social Security Act and the Public and Community Housing Management Act where appropriate.Overall this bill will remove the discriminatory policy which has withheld child support from some of our most vulnerable sole parents. Currently child support payments that sole parent beneficiaries are entitled to are retained by the Government rather than being passed on to support their children. However this is not the case for other beneficiaries such as those on a couple's rate of benefit or those only receiving a supplementary assistance who have their child support passed on. This bill fixes this inequality by passing on child support administered by Inland Revenue directly to the sole parent beneficiaries as is currently done for other parents receiving child support and benefits.This child support will then be treated as income by the Ministry of Social Development for benefits and other assistance. Following the abatement of income-tested financial assistance families will gain overall an average of $47 per week with a median gain of $20 per week. These changes are an important part of our ongoing welfare overhaul work programme and build on our earlier work including the 2019 change which removed the financial penalty for sole parents who did not name the other parent of their child when applying for assistance. Passing on child support was also recommended by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group in 2019. This is another example of how the Government is delivering on its commitment to put dignity back in the welfare system and make it fairer.The bill also removes the requirement for sole parents on a benefit to apply for a formula assessment of child support through Inland Revenue. This means that these parents will be able to make arrangements that better suit their circumstances such as a formula assessment or voluntary or private agreement. Research suggests that passing on child support will increase the incentive for liable parents to meet their child support obligations. This is likely because liable parents are more willing to pay child support when they know that their child will receive their financial support. The bill will also allow liable parents paying child support who have a formula assessment to claim this liability as a cost for temporary additional support and for special benefit.This bill will come into force on 1 July which means parents will be able to receive the benefits of child support in the coming months. This further highlights how the Government is prioritising addressing cost of living pressures by putting more money in the pockets of low income families. Passing on child support to parents on a sole parent rate of benefit is the right thing to do. We want to ensure that sole parent families get the full benefit of their child support payments and that they have more in their pockets. This bill does that and the committee's recommendations improve upon this by ensuring that this can be done as efficiently as possible. I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to.