People are feeling the pinch, says the woman helping beneficiaries

Sunday, 6 March 2022

Benefits have failed to keep up with rising living costs, an advocate says. Most only have $20-$30 a week for food.

With no wiggle room left in their budgets, beneficiaries are struggling, Kay Brereton says.

The senior advocate from Nelson Beneficiaries and Unwaged Workers Trust (BUWT) said rising food and fuel prices were putting people under pressure.

“There’s no wiggle room in the budget: no putting $20 away for an emergency, and very little left for food.”

Brereton helps beneficiaries navigate the system, and where possible, take shortcuts through it. She also helps challenge benefit decisions, and connects clients to services that can help. Increasingly, that’s Nelson Community Food Bank.

* Caution taken to avoid beneficiary volunteering becoming 'work for the dole'

* Kay Brereton receives Queen's Service Medal for work with beneficiaries

Rising inflation rates and the impact it is having on food prices is leaving little wriggle room for those on tight budgets such as beneficiaries.

Benefits have failed to keep pace with rising living costs, and with some predictions forecasting 8 per cent inflation, the payment's ability to meet basic needs will be impacted as fuel and food prices rise, Brereton said.

This week, someone told Brereton they’d seen a cauliflower priced at $6 in the supermarket, she said.

“For some of the people we work with, there is only $20-30 in their weekly budget for food, forget about saving for a rainy day.

“Everyone is maxed out, I’m really quite worried.”

Brereton has been advocating for Nelson beneficiaries since 2006. Her only point of comparison to the present time was 2008’s Global Financial Crisis. But even that had a minimal effect on food prices, which meant not much changed for many of her clients, she said.

Benefits haven’t kept up with rising costs, says advocate Kay Brereton.

“They were on the bones of their arses anyway, they stayed there.”

Brereton was also concerned about reports of long wait times for phone help from Work and Income and other Ministry of Social Development (MSD) helplines.

“There are huge wait times on Work and Income’s 0800 number. People are waiting for two hours, and not always getting connected at the end of the wait.”

Brereton suspected this was partly due to MSD's drive to move applications online: people were struggling and needed help to navigate the online system.

“It's pushed people into a technological space they’re not comfortable with.”

While most had a smartphone and a WiFi connection, filling in an online form via your small smartphone screen was difficult, she said.

Although Brereton’s small team was working extra hard to deal with an increased workload under Covid conditions, she encouraged people to get in touch.

BUWT welcomed donations of money and food, she said. Money helps keep their office running, and non-perishable food is useful to help someone out while they wait for a food parcel.

You can donate or find out more at buwt.wordpress.com.