Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni says she does not want accessing benefits to be a stressful or anxious experience. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni says she does not want accessing benefits to be a stressful or anxious experience. Photo / Mark Mitchell
All of Work and Income's service centres will undergo a $2.5m transformation from cold, clinical waiting rooms into colourful, well-furnished spaces as part of the Government's plan to make the welfare system "kinder" and less punitive.
The renovation of the 126 centres comes after the more welcoming approach was trialled at four service centres around the North Island.
"It's the right thing to do," said Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni.
"We don't want to be pushing people into further hardship or causing unnecessary stress and anxiety in people's lives because we're making it difficult for them to access something that they are actually eligible for."
The changes were applauded by beneficiary advocates, though they said it would take time to rid Work and Income of its "toxic" culture and more substantial welfare reforms were needed.
Service centres in Wellington, New Plymouth, Rotorua, and Flaxmere in Hawke's Bay were renovated this year with brightly coloured walls, more comfortable furniture, water coolers, plants and a children's play areas with iPads. Security guards welcome clients instead of asking for ID or evidence of an appointment.
The new look at the Winz service centre in New Plymouth.
"It all just changes the way people feel about coming into a Work and Income office at a time that is really tough for them," said the Ministry of Social Development's deputy chief executive of service delivery, Liz Jones.
In further changes, beneficiaries have been able to access hardship grants over the phone instead of coming into a service centre.
"People have to travel with little kids and pay for transport costs when what they need is money," said Jones. "It seems dopey to actually have them come in. So we're doing that over the phone wherever we can."
A further eight offices will be renovated by the end of the year and the remainder of the service centres will be refitted within the next three to four years at a cost of about $20,000 per centre.
Auckland Action Against Poverty co-ordinator Ricardo Menendez said beneficiaries sometimes waited hours at a service centre for an appointment, often with babies and without access to water or family rooms.
"So we would welcome these changes. But these are the bare minimum that needs to happen. Far more work needs to be done at least in Auckland to alleviate the ongoing toxic culture that we have been addressing for a few years now."
He hoped that it would be matched with more substantial reforms of welfare, noting that the Government had not yet followed through on plans to repeal the most punitive welfare sanctions - which is part of its governing agreement with the Greens.
Sepuloni defended the pace of welfare reform, saying she had already directed changes to benefit sanctions which had led to a 35 per cent drop in penalties in the last year.
She hoped to repeal one of the sanctions - which penalised parents who did not name their child's other parent - next year.
