7. Question No. 7—Social Development and EmploymentDr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei) to the Minister for Social Development and EmploymentQuestion No. 7—Social Development and Employment7. Dr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei) to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: What announcements has she made on extending hardship support for dental grants?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): In Budget 2022 the Government announced a lift in the amount someone can receive in hardship support for dental grants from 300 to 1000 per year. This change came into force on 1 December. During 2021 approximately 40000 people used the $300 special needs grant for dental support through the Ministry of Social Development. However the grant had not been increased since 1 July 1996 and $300 was no longer adequate. This is why many people needed an advance payment of benefit to fully meet their emergency dental costs. By increasing the dental grant to $1000 it's estimated that we will reduce the amount of client debt to Ministry of Social Development clients by $95 million over 4 years as more of the costs will be covered by the non-recoverable grant.Dr Emily Henderson: What other changes to hardship support will help people access dental grants?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: In Budget 2022 we announced a lift in the income limits for hardship support. This means more low-income people will be able to access hardship assistance which includes help for costs such as food bedding bond car repairs electricity gas and of course dental grants. We estimate the changes we have made will increase the number of people accessing dental support from 40000 to 50000 people per year.Dr Emily Henderson: Why is extending this support important?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Dental care is something that can be put off by people due to affordability difficulties especially in low-income households. We also know that issues with dental health have a negative impact on people's general health financial health ability to work and quality of life. This is particularly important when it comes to employment. Having bad oral health can decrease someone's confidence and affect their ability to secure long-term sustainable employment. Therefore the changes to the grant could have a positive effect on getting people disadvantaged in the labour market into employment.Dr Emily Henderson: Are there any changes to the criteria for the grant?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: Yes. Alongside increasing the grant and lifting the hardship thresholds we have widened the criteria for the grant. Instead of the grant only being available in an emergency treatment it will now be available for essential treatment to help stop minor problems becoming major ones. We've also changed the amount of times you can access the grant throughout the year. Previously you could only receive one dental grant even if it did not reach the $300 limit. Clients will now be able to access the grant multiple times in one year up to the value of $1000 meaning if you have a treatment that costs $400 you still have $600 you can access if another necessary treatment is required.Ricardo Menéndez March: Why was the non-recoverable amount set at $1000 when no one should be getting into debt because of their oral health?Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I think it's fair to say that it is a significant lift considering it hadn't been shifted in over 25 years. What we did see was that many clients who were accessing the $300 grant previously were also incurring debt via the advanced benefit payment that they were having to access to pay the additional amount that wasn't covered by the grant. From memory they were ending up with a debt that was around $800 because of that—I think that was on average. So this goes a long way to supporting the clients with their dental health needs as well as addressing the debt issues that many of our clients experience.