The Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill 67-1:
This new, 191 page long, bill can be found under
the following link:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2012/0067/latest/DLM4542304.html
The new proposed
benefit regime is intended to come into force from 15 July 2013, and it contains
legal provisions under which the OUTSOURCING
of assessments on beneficiaries for work capacity, of “work preparation
exercises” and of “administrative services” will be made possible to private
non government agencies and service providers.
There are some obligations for ALL
beneficiaries, incl. beneficiaries as parent(s) and/or caregiver(s):
● A NEW section 60 GAG (by old section 39) of
the Act is going to place obligations on beneficiaries to work with “service
providers”;
● sanctions
can be imposed under section 117 if clients fail to comply with this;
● the attendance of “work preparation exercises” can
be expected under section 60Q;
● see also
section 125A (amended) re contracts with “administration service providers”.
Sole Parent Support:
● This new,
more restrictive benefit is covered by new sections 20A to 20H;
● already
announced “social obligations” will be expected.
Supported Living Payment:
● The new
benefit that can be granted on grounds of sickness, injury or disability, and
which is supposed to replace the invalid’s benefit, is covered by sections 40A
to 40K;
●
Supporting living payment recipients are exempted from work assessment
obligations ONLY if terminally ill, or if found to be suffering from conditions
that are likely to deteriorate or “not improve”;
Consequential Amendments:
Re
“supported living payment” benefit – see clause 88 re some changes in schedule
6 for present IB
Drug Testing Obligations:
● WINZ will
place such obligations on job-seeker beneficiaries that are asked to have drug
tests done on them for jobs where employers require this;
● A 50 per
cent cut to the benefit can be imposed if a client/applicant fails such a drug;
● section
12J is to be amended to limit rights of appeals to the Appeal Authority if “medical”
reasons are given (see sections 116C and 102B) for failing drug tests;
● WINZ will
“compensate” employers for costs of drug tests where clients “fail” to pass
them, and will then reclaim those costs from the clients (!);
● Beneficiaries
who fail an initial drug test will also have to pay for re-compliance drug
tests;
Social Obligations by beneficiary parents will
include:
a) Enrol
newborns with GP;
b) Participate
in ECE;
c) Ensure
attendance of school by children in their care
(There are at least in part NO such legal
obligations for non-beneficiaries: Discrimination!)
Stopping benefit payments for clients who face
a warrant of arrest after 28 days of issue:
● if a
warrant has been issued by the police, and once a 10 days notice has been given
and not been acted on, then a “cut” of the benefit can and will be imposed;
● an immediate
“stop” can and likely will be imposed, if a beneficiary - against whom a warrant
has been issued - poses a “serious risk to the public”.
Disability Allowance changes and other “preferred
supplier arrangements”:
● Possible “preferred
supplier arrangements” for “procurement of goods and services” for welfare
recipients in certain circumstances (see s 69C and also sections 125AA and
132AD);
● Under
section 82 the C.E. can determine payment to a “preferred supplier” - or alternatively
to a beneficiary, for goods or services required as advance or special assistance
needs (see also section 125AA);
● See also
section 124 (1BA) for further provisions re “special assistance”.
Regulations:
● Section
132AD provides for making regulations that can set harsher standards and
criteria for how “disability allowance” funds paid to beneficiaries are to be
used for “specified expenses”;
● Other
sub-sections under section 132 provide for regulations to be made for covering the
granting, expiry and re-granting of “specified benefits” and so forth.
Re the Application for Benefits:
● New
sections 11E and 11H to be introduced for “job seeker support” (incl. sick,
injured, disabled) applicants, setting out particular “pre benefit activities”
expected of them; new sections 11G and 11H set out consequences for applicants
“failing” to meet such “activities” (incl. their spouse/partner);
● All beneficiaries
appear to have to re-apply for their specified benefits (after 12 months);
● See also new
sections 80BE and 80 BF re the expiry, re-granting and so forth of benefits.
Work Ability Assessments:
● Section 88F sets out job seeker obligations
for seeking employment, and under
88F (2) the C.E. must determine the capacity to work for a job seeker - granted
that support because of sickness, injury or disability; this basically allows
the C.E. to “over rule” medical based assessments (in some forms)!
● Hence a “deferral” for “job seekers” is to some
degree discretionary and will be based
on C.E.’s determinations;
● Section
88H (2) allows job seeker (with sickness, injury or disability) to “apply” for
“deferral” (leaving it to the C.E. to decide upon the application put to
her/him);
● New sections 100B and 100C to require
beneficiaries to attend and participate in work ability assessments (covers virtually ALL beneficiaries);
● Section 100B (4) leaves it to the C.E. to
determine the way such assessments are conducted;
● Procedure(s) for doing this are determined
by the C.E. or her/his staff (!!!)
● Section 100C also leaves it up to the C.E.
to determine appropriate times and frequencies of re-assessments!
The existing medical appeal rights to a ‘Medical
Board’ will in future be covered by a new section 10B (re-enacting section 53A),
it changed only a bit
Sanctions:
● New
sections 116B and 116C replace existing sections 115 and 116A for imposing
sanctions of beneficiaries not meeting a range of obligations;
● Other
sections address matters how other sanctions for non compliance are imposed;
● Section
116C (2) lists some exemptions from sanctions to be imposed for failing drug
testing, like drug dependency, medication that is prescribed and needs to be taken
by a client
Abatement:
A harsh
abatement regime under section 88B (6) for jobseeker support (52 week earnings
to benefit comparison); so if a person earns as much as she/he could get on a
benefit within 52 weeks, that may mean, NO benefit, as a client/applicant may
be expected to “save” and provide for unforeseen job-loss.
Ineligibility:
Section 88D
penalises unemployed “job seeker” beneficiaries if “fellow workers” (of a union
the client/applicant belongs to), caused industrial action (strikes) leading to
resulting “unemployment”. This basically makes it yet more difficult to defend
worker’s rights.
Appeal rights denied in certain cases:
When it
comes to forms of certain payments of advances, of disability allowance costs
and some other “special assistance”, there is NO right to appeal WINZ
decisions!
These bits
above are just some of the main points that can be spotted when studying the
bill presented to Parliament on 17 Sept. 2012. Surely there are a few more
“nasty” bits that will crystallise and be discussed in the coming weeks and
months.
This bill
is a also MONSTER bill, not only due to some controversial, excessively harsh
provisions; it is so overly complex, it will be impossible to properly
implement and apply in praxis. It further “over-amends” an old Act that has
previously received endless amendments. The proposed changes make the Social
Security Act extremely difficult to use and apply, as it is very difficult to
do this already. Staff will face an administrative nightmare to use the law
after all these changes. It would have been a better solution to bring in a
whole new statute!
Ultimately
all this will just re-enforce the reality we have already: That beneficiaries
are second class, stigmatised and disowned citizens and residents in this
country.
