An welfare advocacy group is warning that thousands of Kiwis will suffer under newly implemented changes to the beneficiary system.
Auckland Action Against Poverty said the latest round of reforms, which require all sickness beneficiaries ,sole parents and widows with no children under 14 to look for fulltime employment like other job seekers, would have a brutal impact on the wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of children and adults who are dependent on the state for survival.
The reforms, which come into force today, represent the biggest upheaval in the welfare state since the Social Security Act was passed by the first Labour Government in 1938.
Other new obligations include drug-testing for jobseekers in relevant industries.
Auckland Action Against Poverty spokeswoman Sarah Thompson said the changes were aimed at decreasing the number of beneficiaries in New Zealand, rather than job creation.
"All New Zealanders who end up on welfare will have more hoops to jump through or face punitive measures as the Government attempts to push them into low-paid insecure work - no matter what the downstream cost.
"This is not about getting people into decent work [and] it's not about job creation. It's about cutting costs by pushing vulnerable people off the books," she said.
The group will hold information stalls outside three Work and Income offices in Auckland today.
Ms Thompson said there had been an increase in the number of beneficiaries who had been "sanctioned" for slip-ups in the last two months.
Some had also had their benefits reduced due to Work and Income errors.
