Tolley Anne: Social Security (Extension of Young Persons Services and Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Social Security (Extension of Young Persons Services and Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 23 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5285. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): I move That the Social Security (Extension of Young Persons Services and Remedial Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services Committee to consider the bill. As part of our 2014 election manifesto we committed to extending the Youth Service approach. We said that we would extend it to 19-year-olds and to many other 18 and 19-year-old beneficiaries who are at risk of long-term welfare dependency. This Government is committed to supporting young people to make positive transitions into adulthood. We know that when young people have the right supports from the Government society family and whānau they can make this transition successfully. However when young people do not have the supports at the right time it is much more difficult to make that positive transition. Problems can become entrenched and difficult to shift later on.This Government introduced the Youth Service in 2012 to support some of our most vulnerable people to get an education to have a better chance of getting a good job and to live full and successful lives. Youth coaches currently support about 3000 young beneficiaries to get back into education. These coaches also get involved in other aspects of a young person’s life including help with budgeting and health concerns and depending on their needs sometimes just some plain old parenting for teen parents. Early findings from the Youth Service show that it is having a very positive impact on many of these young people and is helping them to turn their lives round. Over the year to March 2014 70 percent of the youth payment recipients were able to live independently rather than moving on to an adult benefit. At the end of March 2014 87 percent of young parent clients were engaged in some form of education; 43 percent gained National Certificate of Education Achievement (NCEA) credits in the first year compared with 20 percent of their predecessors. If we look at just the numbers 18 and 19-year-old youth on jobseeker support will spend an average of almost 13 years on a benefit. Nineteen-year-old parents are likely on average to spend almost 18 years on a benefit. The outlook for them and their children is not bright and this Government believes in them wants them to succeed and recognises that they just might need some extra help and support.That is not to say that everyone who comes on to a benefit at a young age remains on a benefit. In fact of the 18 and 19-year-olds who left jobseeker support because they found a job 67 percent did so within 6 months of first coming on to a benefit and we celebrate that. So this bill reflects the Government’s commitment to doing more for those young people who are the most likely to remain on a benefit for a long time. It focuses on better education for some clients and training or work for others. Teen parents face many disadvantages which is why we are extending the eligibility from 18 years to 19 years so as to make sure that we cover all of our teen parents. A 19-year-old parent whose spouse or partner is an older beneficiary will be referred to the Youth Service and will receive the same support as their peers. They will have a youth coach who will help them to focus on their education and gain better parenting and budgeting skills including being money-managed. For many teen parents this will allow them to continue to receive the Youth Service for another year because recent figures show that 66 percent of the 19-year-old sole parents support clients had previously received Youth Service support so it simply makes sense to reduce the bureaucracy for this group and keep them on the Youth Service.This bill also reflects the diverse needs of 18 and 19-year-olds who do not have any children and it will allow the Ministry of Social Development to target more intensive support to those 18 and 19-year-olds most at risk. The ministry can determine their chance of gaining employment in the market and refer those at significant risk to the Youth Service for support. The bill covers clients who already have existing work obligations—that is 18 and 19-year-old jobseeker support clients and any 18 and 19-year-old partners who have work obligations. They will remain on their existing benefit. Where a young person is not at significant risk they will continue to receive case management support from Work and Income. But those who are deemed to be at risk will be referred to the Youth Service and the youth coach will then help them to find work or training learn budgeting skills and be money-managed.Some of these young people do not have NCEA level 2. The bill allows the Ministry of Social Development to defer their work obligations so that they can study full time towards this qualification where this is the best outcome for them because we all know that this qualification is the minimum needed for most jobs in the workforce today and for any ongoing training and qualification. An initial estimate shows that for every dollar spent on the existing Youth Service the taxpayer’s liability reduces by $2.53 and I expect that there will be a similar return on investment for this older cohort.Currently a lot of young people finish in the Youth Service on 31 December once they have completed their studies. That includes about 10000 young people who participate in the Youth Service voluntarily. They are not on a benefit but have left school and are not working and we commonly talk about them as “neets”. Finishing in the Youth Service on 31 December means that a lot of young people have no support from their youth coach over the holiday period when the labour market tends to slow and schools and tertiary institutions are on a summer break. So it makes good sense for Youth Service providers to stay in touch with these young people over this time to make sure that they are ready for their next step in the new year and that could be to get their first job out of school or to continue with study.To assist this transition period and give Youth Service providers the time that they need to help these young people the bill changes the exit date from the Youth Service to 31 March for those who finish school or a course in December. However if the young person is completing their study at another time of year they will finish with the Youth Service then. This is what happens currently and we have no intention of changing that. The bill also allows young partners to be eligible to receive incentive payments. These young partners are not eligiblecurrently but in all other ways are treated the same as other young beneficiaries in the Youth Service. In my view these young partners should have access to the incentive payments which means that when they meet their obligations they will also be able to earn an additional $10 to $30 a week.We are taking the opportunity in this bill to correct four matters to improve the clarity of the Social Security Act and to ensure that the Government’s policy intent is upheld. It also means that the practice and understanding that has been applied to date by the ministry is validated and that it avoids any financial costs to the Crown that were not anticipated. First it will mean that people are able to review or appeal only decisions made about their own financial assistance not someone else’s. Where some of that benefit needs to be recovered from the partner the partner will still be able to review and appeal that decision. Secondly it means that the Ministry of Social Development can continue the practice of paying terminal benefits into the deceased’s account if a surviving partner or a person caring for a surviving child has not applied for these payments. Benefits will continue to start the day after a stand-down period ends—this is current practice and the bill ensures that it continues. Finally the bill will allow the Ministry of Social Development to pay money held on a payment card directly to a young person when they cease to be money-managed. Many of them have not spent all their entitlements. Some have saved deliberately and they should have it paid to them.The Youth Service initiatives previously introduced by this Government have offered life-changing opportunities for many at-risk young people. This Government believes in them. We want them to have every opportunity to thrive and succeed. I am pleased to introduce this bill which represents this Government’s commitment to extending these opportunities to more 18-year-olds and 19-year-olds. I commend this bill to the House and move that it now be read a first time.