Government considered making solo parents return to full time work sooner

Budget papers also show it was former Social Development Minister Paula Bennett's idea to require solo parents to re-apply for their benefits every year. Photo / Getty Images

Budget papers show the Government considered making solo parents return to full time work when their youngest child was 12, instead of 14, but decided against it.

The papers also show it was former Social Development Minister Paula Bennett's idea to require solo parents to re-apply for their benefits every year "to send a strong message that benefit receipt is expected to be temporary."

The Ministry of Social Development also advised that change would come at a cost of between $8 million and $11.5 million over four years to administer.

The papers show the Government started work on the centrepiece of its Budget last August - a month before the election.

That was a $790 million 'child hardship' package aimed at low income families.

It included a $25 increase to core benefit rates for parents as well as $12.50 more a week for some on Working for Families.

However, the Government also required sole parents to return to re-apply for the benefit each year and to return to part-time work when their youngest child turned three - down from 5-years-old now.

The Government also weighed up whether to require them to move into full time work when their youngest was 12 rather than 14.

However, it did not go ahead with that.

The reasons given were because 14 was the youngest a child could be left at home without supervision and officials pointed to inconclusive overseas evidence that mothers working could have adverse impacts on young teenagers.

The papers released show officials initially favoured boosting accommodation grants rather than increasing core benefit levels to help children living in hardship.

They initially recommended increasing the accommodation supplement, extending Parental Tax Credits to beneficiary parents and lifting Working for Families for parents of children aged under two.

The latter two were scrapped because it would have been too expensive and meant families would face an income drop after their children turned two.

The papers show the initial package in March, after the Government decided to go ahead with benefit increases, was worth almost $100 million more than the $790 million package eventually decided on.

Some elements of that package were dropped, including a proposed new special needs grant specifically for children's needs.