Nick Mills: The rise in benefit sanctions shows the government is getting serious

OPINION Well, Louise Upston did warn us.  The Social Development minister told us she was going to get tough on beneficiaries who were not complying with the requirements set out for them. There were going to be sanctions; and a lot of them. And now we're seeing it happen. It's a new approach from the government, an approach some might call heavy-handed. I call it completely reasonable. The first thing you need to know is the number of people on the benefit has risen. The latest data from the Ministry of Social Development shows at the end of June 380,000 people were receiving a main benefit of some kind. That's up 8.3 per cent, or roughly 29,000 people compared to June 2023.  Of those, 114,000 were receiving job seeker support and are work ready. That was up 14.8 per cent year on year. But the sanctions are the biggest part of this story, and the numbers don’t lie. There were roughly 10,400 sanctions issued in the June quarter, up 3600 or 53% compared to June last year. And the main reason for the sanctions was that these beneficaries didn't attend appointments, including seminars. There were also about 1800 of what are called graduated sanctions - that's a sanction that involves things like cutting a portion of a person's benefit. Those sanctions have increased a whopping 81.5% from a year earlier. It really shows you how little the last government was sanctioning people on the benefit for not complying with the simple thing we ask of them; try and find work.  Obviously the Green Party are up in arms about this, saying Louise Upston is more interested in punishing the poor than actually supporting people into meaningful work. Rubbish.  I understand that with the state of the economy, the number of people on a benefit will rise, and I firmly believe people in that position should be treated with dignity and respect, and have enough to live on. It's also important to note that it's a small minority of beneficiaries facing these sanctions.  But there should also be responsibilities. Every person on the benefit should be trying as hard as possible to find work, and if they aren’t making an effort, then it's completely reasonable to crack down on them with sanctions.  In some cases, this will instil discipline in people who haven't worked for a while or simply don't want to work. I would have thought that was a great way to push people into work and get them to understand that in the real world if you've got an appointment you've got to be there. If you've got a commitment, you've got to commit to it. And if you are on a benefit, it’s a hand to help you to do the right things. To show and prove that you are better than picking up a benefit every week. That you have potential. And if you don't want to commit to doing the right things to make something of yourself, then it's going to cost you. This is life in the real world.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.