The Government is cutting $155 million from current services aimed at getting youth and the unemployed into work to help fund its $287.5 million welfare reform support package.
The cuts include $58.8 million in savings from disestablishing the Youth Transition Service, which provided support, training and education to school leavers and currently costs about $12.6 million a year. There will also be $96.4 million in cuts over four years to employment assistance currently offered by Work and Income - that will be cut from $111 million this year to $93 million next year.
Welfare minister Paula Bennett said the savings would be channelled into the new package of support for unemployed job seekers under the welfare reforms - a package for which $287.5 million has been set aside over four years. Of that amount, only $81.5 million is in new funding - the remainder has come from cuts and underspends elsewhere within Social Development.
The funding for support for beneficiaries who face stricter work testing under the welfare reforms will provide about $20 million a year for early childhood education and childcare allowances for solo parents - about half of which will be funded by the Ministry of Education.
It will also include $55 million over four years for Work and Income staff solely dedicated to getting beneficiaries back into work and about $37 million a year in youth services, to provide budgeting and parenting courses, and financial support for young people.
