The Government is looking at putting some teenagers who are already supported by welfare benefits into a flatting situation with a live-in mentor to prevent them going off the rails.

Editorial: Mayor Len Brown's pursuit of a policy that would see the Auckland Council pay the "living wage" to its staff has drawn a variety of objections.

Almost 13,000 parents with dependent children have had their benefits cut for failing work tests in the first 2 years after sole parents first had to look for work.

Fast-food giant McDonald's has been paid $272,000 by the Government to help unemployed people get back to work.

Nearly 100 beneficiaries on the run from police have had their welfare cut in the six weeks since the policy was introduced, says Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.

Let's start with the numbers. They aren't mine. They come from a recently published Ministry of Social Development "factsheet".

A caregiver who admitted defrauding the benefit system of more than $274,000 says she did it because she "believed that she was two separate people".

When Robin Vinod turned 17, he couldn't sign a tenancy agreement or be responsible for bills - but that was when CYF left him to fend for himself.

We don't really see the street. Most of us don't even look. Kids look, as I'm about to find out, but we adults, most of us walk on by, our attention fixed on anything other than that dude over there

The Government claims it has detected thousands of welfare fraudsters, though Labour is questioning how many have actually committed fraud.

A doctor's certificate is often a ticket to social welfare. From this week it becomes a recipe for work. At least - that's the hope.

Youth services are meant to be the model for transforming our welfare system from "gatekeeping" to "coaching" but results so far in Papakura are patchy.

Young beneficiaries share their experiences of work requirements. Intended to be 'motivational' some say staff are 'pushy' and 'racist'.

Drug and alcohol addicts may face longer waiting times for treatment.

Identification numbers attached to children as young as three could be used to track and punish their parents.

Going back to work left Jan Berry either $23 or $40 a week worse off than she was on a benefit.

Three children under 5 and a sick husband didn't save Carla Bradley from being told to prepare for work.

An welfare advocacy group is warning that thousands of Kiwis will suffer under newly implemented changes to the beneficiary system.

Even being the sole carer for triplets can't excuse Jared Chase from work obligations under the new welfare regime.

Sole parents have got a clear message from today's welfare upheaval - planning to go back to work has to start from the moment a baby is born.

Hopefully the agreed provisions in the bylaw for socially responsible intervention to deal with the problem of begging will remain intact. writes Mike Lee.

Instead of recriminalising begging, a better guide is the Homeless Action Plan the old Auckland City Council initiated in 2005, writes Brian Rudman.

Making begging an offence at law counters many years of positive action by Auckland City Council and will serve only to criminalise beggars. writes Cathy Casey.

A crackdown on beggars in Auckland has the support of police, who believe it could reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

Bob Jones asks: "How have we descended to this situation where so many citizens feel no moral qualms in living off their fellow citizens' toil?"

Editorial: Campaigners for the legalisation of cannabis must be watching with interest. While the law would apply only to synthetic equivalents, it might be hard to deny the same tests to naturally grown leaf.

A state house with 19 people living in it has been identified as one of the homes receiving more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded benefits each year.