KEY POINTS:
Five teenagers refused the dole by Work and Income's Rotorua branch are taking legal action against the department.
The 18 and 19-year-olds claim they were told they can not get the benefit until they are 20 and must instead go on courses. Rotorua People's Advocacy Centre manager Paul Blair says by law, anyone 18 and over is entitled to a benefit.
Four have already filed proceedings in the High Court at Rotorua against the Ministry of Social Development, under which Work and Income operates.
Amo Doherty-Jones, an 18-year-old living in Kaingaroa, plans to join them.
Already owing $18,600 in student loan debt from two courses Work and Income made her undertake, she was recently refused the dole again and told she must go on a nine-month hairdressing course, costing $13,000.
Miss Doherty-Jones said she had understood anyone 18 and over was entitled to the benefit. She was trying hard to find a job and did not want to go on another course and incur more debt. Her grandparents were having to financially support her.
"It's so stupid. I went to their seminar and did everything they asked of me. I'm getting no money but plenty of debt. It's going to take all my life to pay off my student loan now."
Andre Bidois, 18, applied for the dole more than a month ago but was refused and told he had to go on a course.
His benefit application was accepted only after Mr Blair got involved and he has gained work experience with Maori Television. He was a genuine job seeker and did not think he should be forced on to a course, he said.
Mr Blair said case managers were making it difficult for genuine job seekers to get what they were entitled to.
Patricia Reade, Work and Income deputy chief executive, was unavailable for comment yesterday but in a letter to the Daily Post stated the department always helped those genuinely looking for work. "Those people who are not prepared to look for work and to take up jobs will always find it hard to get a benefit. That is as it should be."
-Daily Post
