The Government can make smart choices in next week's Budget that deliver big benefits at a small cost, the Green Party said today.
"Reinstating and extending the axed Training Incentive Allowance (TIA) would help approximately 10,000 people on benefits to upskill and improve their employment prospects at very little cost to the Government," Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said.
The Training Incentive Allowance is available to people on the domestic purposes and invalids' benefits to assist with the cost of tertiary education. However, it is no longer available for degree-level courses after a 2009 decision by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.
"We know from the Ministry of Social Development's own research that people who receive the TIA move off the benefit six months earlier, on average, than those who don't.
"They are also significantly more likely to move into paid employment, and are paid more when they do.
"If the Government is serious about reducing benefit numbers and supporting beneficiaries off the benefit and into meaningful work, then reinstating the TIA for degree-level courses is a no-brainer. It would also help those who have been on the sickness benefit for a long time to move into appropriate, well-paid work.
"A Green Government would reinstate the TIA for degree-level courses and extend it to long-term sickness beneficiaries."
Mrs Turei said the estimated $40 million per annum investment in the TIA would be largely cost neutral because of the savings generated by people moving off the benefit faster.
The maximum training allowance is just over $4000 per year. The Green Party estimates that the savings in benefit, accommodation supplement, and Working for Families expenditure from a sole parent spending six months less on the benefit - as they do on average after receiving the TIA - are around $10,000.
"Examples like this suggest that that reinstating and extending the TIA is a sensible investment," Mrs Turei said.
"Paula Bennett kicked the ladder out behind her when she decided to limit access to education. She used the TIA to get a university education while on the benefit, but she is denying the same opportunity to thousands of others.
"I also used the TIA when I was on the DPB, and I haven't forgotten how much it helped. I'd like to extend that help to other New Zealanders," Mrs Turei said.
"Reinstating the TIA would have a positive impact on child poverty rates, by helping sole parents move off subsistence-level benefits more quickly, and it would help those with illnesses and impairments to move into work that's appropriate for their level of impairment."
Mrs Turei said reinstating and extending the TIA was part of the Green Party's 'Mind the Gap' strategy to combat growing inequality in New Zealand.
"We need to close the gap between the haves and the have nots. If we can do that we'll all be better off, because a more equal society is better for everyone," Mrs Turei said.
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