The mother of the 12-year-old girl John Key took to Waitangi three years ago says she feels let down by the Prime Minister.

A sickness beneficiary with a taxpayer-subsidised state house was instead living in an upmarket Auckland suburb and driving luxury cars worth $250,000.

Today's unemployment figure has surprised many, with most - including the Reserve Bank, expecting a figure well under 7 per cent.

Angela McCarthy finds a company helping women get back to work.

An official survey has found that families with children are far more likely to be in hardship than any other New Zealanders.

In the United Kingdom, calls are growing by opposition politicians and the public that the full report of the review of the case of two brothers who savagely attacked a pair of boys in Edlington, South Yorkshire, should be made public.

An ACC staff member emailed a recent widow saying: "Just so you know ... I am not God and therefore I do not determine when people live or die".

Private-school scholarships for poorer students have been attacked as an "elitist" use of taxpayers' money.

If some beneficiaries are too dangerous to be dealt with face-to-face, their benefits should be cancelled says Kerre Woodham.

Beneficiaries who undergo a review after a year on an unemployment benefit will not lose that assistance if they can't find work, Paula Bennett says.

A man who lived in a state house while he rented out two properties of his own has been sentenced for defrauding the taxpayer.

Thirteen of the 20 highest-paid beneficiaries and almost a third of those on more than $1000 a week are looking after other people's children.