Sepuloni Carmel; O'Connor GregCHILD SUPPORT (PASS ON) ACTS AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): I present a legislative statement on the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: I move That the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 24 May 2023 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 193 195 and 196.The Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill will remove the discriminatory policy which has withheld child support from some of our most vulnerable sole parents. Through this legislation this Government is delivering on its commitment to put dignity back in the welfare system and to make it fairer. 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 rated benefit or those only receiving supplementary assistance who have their child support passed on. The bill fixes this inequity by passing on child support administered by Inland Revenue directly to 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 (MSD) for benefits and other assistance.This bill will put more money in the pockets of sole parent families. Passing on sole child support will mean that from 1 July 2023 approximately 41550 sole parent families will have more money in their pockets. These families will gain overall by an average of $47 per week with a median gain of $20 per week. The lift in income this will provide for these families also contributes to our Government's ongoing focus on reducing the number of children living in poverty in New Zealand. It is estimated that this will reduce the number of children in poverty by up to 14000 in 2023-24.As well as increasing a family's financial resources 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 that financial support. There is also evidence that if child support is passed on it increases engagement by the parent paying child support with their child.These changes contribute to 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.When a parent receives child support the normal monthly payment they receive needs to be spread equally and charged across four or five weeks against their benefits. The Ministry of Social Development will then treat this child support as income for their assistance using automated systems. Because information on child support payments will be shared with the Ministry of Social Development by Inland Revenue parents will no longer need to self-declare their child support payments to the Ministry of Social Development in most cases. This approach will reduce the likelihood of debt accumulation demands on the time of these families and increase MSD's consistency and accuracy of income charging.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 formula assessment voluntary or private agreement. The bill will also allow liable parents who have a formula assessment of child support through Inland Revenue to claim this as a cost for temporary additional support and for special benefit.This is a complex bill and our Government is taking the time it needs to get this right. Preparation for this reform has been substantial and time-consuming requiring changes to IT systems operational guidance and business processes. Work on the detailed design of this policy has brought up technical issues around how to treat child support as income while maintaining fairness and consistency.Due to the complexity of the changes required to the welfare system to facilitate this our Government is taking a phased approach to implementation. The first phase prioritises getting more money in the pockets of sole parents by passing on child support from 1 July 2023. A second phase of changes will focus on ensuring that the charging rules used for child support create fairer outcomes in more niche situations. Overall this means that all sole parent beneficiaries will benefit from child support pass-on but some will be temporarily advantaged or disadvantaged by the first phase of changes compared to how they will be impacted after the second phase of changes are made. This Government isn't shying away from implementing child support pass-on because of the complexity and that's why our phased approach ensures sole parents on a benefit get additional income from July this year while we continue to work through phase two.This is one of those complex pieces of legislation that I've spoken about so many times as we've been undertaking the welfare overhaul. This is a policy that has basically been in place since 1936. Other Governments have identified it as something that's discriminatory and needs to change but it has been viewed as too difficult to change and therefore not tackled. I've seen how difficult this is but we've still gone ahead with pursuing that change. We do recognise that there has to be two phases to getting it done but the primary consideration for us is making sure that we get the money in the pockets of those sole parents as soon as we possibly can which will be 1 July 2023.This bill is a representation of this Government's continued focus on the things that matter most to New Zealanders. We know that sole parents do it tough and we know that they do need more money in their pockets. By delivering on our commitment to pass on child support to sole parents 41550 affected sole parent families will receive the benefits of the policy as soon as possible. These changes will make a real difference for these whānau and raise up to 14000 children out of poverty. I'm really proud that as a Government we get to tackle this discriminatory policy and I really am hoping that we get support from across political parties to get this over the line and in place and that money in the pockets of the whānau that need it by 1 July 2023. I commend this bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.