A pregnant mum of two has been left with less than $300 a week to feed and clothe her family after a formula for child support payments came into force.

Pressure to broaden the use of identification numbers attached to preschoolers has concerned the Privacy Commissioner.

The conservative Maxim Institute think-tank has joined the call for official targets to reduce child poverty.

Larger subsidies for first-home buyers and extended paid parental leave are among a raft of Government changes which kick in tomorrow.

Kelly Brown found a new "family" on the streets of Auckland after being removed from his biological family at the age of 7.

A tough new policy cracking down on beneficiaries with unresolved arrest warrants has resulted in the issuing of thousands of alerts.

Leading Maori tribes are lobbying to get first bidding rights for state houses when they start going up for sale this year.

It is difficult to erase the suspicion that the social housing policy is motivated by ideology as much as anything else, writes John Armstrong.

Why are we burdening some of the poorest mothers in the country with lifetime debts while writing off the tax debts of some of our richest citizens?

The latest figures show nearly one quarter of our 1.1 million children under 18 live in households with very low incomes after housing costs.

The queues start about 3am each day, but the Auckland City Mission says just a third of the donations it needs this Christmas have been raised.

Hundreds of families from as far away as Hamilton are queuing at the Auckland City Mission for help to put food on the table this Christmas.

Nineteen youths with unsettled upbringings were honoured for their outstanding achievements at a special ceremony yesterday.

The Families Commission is rebranding today taking a name which almost identical to that of a French supermarket chain.

The Treasury is looking to "crowd source" policy ideas about how to improve the effectiveness of welfare spending.

Bill English's masterplan to radically "reform" the Labour-initiated, octogenarian state housing scheme has all the hallmarks of being ideological for ideology's sake.

The most notable item in the Government's third term agenda outlined to Parliament yesterday is an intention to hold "job fairs" in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane aimed at New Zealand....

Prime Minister John Key has split housing issues across three ministers as National speeds up its shift toward developing social housing by private providers and reducing reliance on state....

Dear John and David. Please forgive the first-name familiarity. I'm older than you are so it doesn't feel terribly out of order.

When I was in Christchurch recently to interview the two main candidates in the Christchurch Central electorate, I was shocked to see that people on the street seemed even more weary than ever.

Almost 1 million families will be eligible for low- and no-interest loans under a new Government-backed scheme aimed at saving low-income families from "loan sharks".

Dr Ellen Nicholson and Jenni Mace detail six ways to keep young people safe through adolescence.

A terminally-ill divorcee faces being evicted from her home despite being owed nearly $1 million, after her case was put off for three months while a judge is on holiday.

The Government is putting another $100 million into getting beneficiaries such as solo parents and the sick into work and stopping them ending up on welfare in the long term.

Government will slash tertiary tuition fees for science, agriculture, and some health science courses, Budget 2014 shows.

While young working families got treats in the Budget, there was nothing extra for beneficiaries' pockets - the key welfare announcement was an extra $25 million a year to help get beneficiaries back into work.

Join us for a live video stream from Parliament as Finance Minister Bill English delivers the 2014 Budget from 2pm.