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....

If an investment approach is suitable for other beneficiaries, education and healthcare it should also be applied to government superannuation, writes Peter Lyons.

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.

Editorial: The rebuilding of the city has created plenty of opportunities. Any initiative that makes it easier for beneficiaries to move to this work is, therefore, welcome.

Life is just fine for many Kiwis living in Australia who say they have nothing to moan about after crossing the Tasman in search of a better life.

Just one in 100 beneficiaries who had pre-employment drug tests under a new government policy showed any sign of drug abuse.

'Cave' dwellers will officially get top priority for social housing under new rules that kicked in this week.

Editorial: The news that at least 21,000 beneficiaries have travelled overseas in the past nine months had a predictable response.

More than 21,000 beneficiaries have had their benefits cut for going on unapproved overseas trips in the last nine months.

Family disputes are problems to be professionally mediated rather than wars that will be won or lost.

Helpline services for smokers, gamblers and other groups are being merged into a new national "telehealth" service - possibly with a simple 111-style number.

Maori are living longer and their infant mortality rate will soon be the same as Pakeha - but they're still over-represented in poverty statistics.

New Zealand is still wasting its "demographic dividend" of young Maori and Pacific people reaching working age.