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		Social Security Amendment Bill 2000 New Zealand Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux submission to the Social Services Select Committee 13 October 2000

Introduction The New Zealand Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Social Security Amendment Bill 2000. We would value the opportunity to appear before the committee to speak to this submission and can be contacted through the Association. The aims of the New Zealand Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux are: To ensure that individuals do not suffer through ignorance of their rights and responsibilities or of the services available: or through an inability to express their needs effectively. Me noho matära kia kaua te tangata e mate i töna kore möhio ki ngä ähuatanga e ähei atu ana ia, ki ngä mahi ränei e tika ana kia mahia e ia, ki ngä ratonga ränei e ähei atu ana ia; i te kore ränei öna e ähei ki te whakaputu i öna hiahia kia märama mai ai te tangata. To exert a responsible influence on the development of social policies and services, both locally and nationally. Kia tino whawähi atu ki te auahatanga o ngä kaupapa-ä-iwi me ngä ratonga-ä-rohe, puta noa hoki i te motu The New Zealand Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (hereafter, the Association) provides a national service which provides free to all individuals an impartial and confidential service of information, advice and support and makes responsible use of the experience so gained. The Association has 91 member Citizens Advice Bureaux (hereafter, bureaux) throughout the country, handling over half a million enquiries each year.  In these bureaux over 2,700 trained volunteers take time to listen, offer options of relevant services and information, and, as necessary, work with clients to identify an effective course of action.  Bureaux enquiry statistics and case studies provide information that is used to inform our submissions on social policy issues.     General Statement Our submission discusses the broad aspects of the Bill and some specific clauses.  We also provide recommendations on some specific areas of the Bill, and discuss how the Bill could work in practice, using our own organisation as an example. The Association reminds the Committee of our and other organisations’ objections to the work test amendment bill in 1998.  We are pleased that this Bill repeals those provisions that we objected to.  The Association welcomes the Bill’s intentions to remove compulsory voluntary work and to encourage involvement in community activities, to simplify the benefit system and sanction regime and to improve the one-on-one service that the department should be providing job seekers. The Association acknowledges that this Bill is the first step in the Government’s reshaping of social assistance, however we do have some concerns with aspects of the Bill.  We ask that the Committee listen to these concerns and the recommendations we make for improving this Bill. The Association also endorses the comments and recommendations made in the submissions of the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services and the Downtown Community Ministry.     Comments on the Bill The Association acknowledges that this Bill will improve social assistance and the workings of the benefit system.  We would like to comment on two broad aspects of this Bill: · Increasing the options for community involvement, and · Supporting and promoting voluntary and community organisations. Increasing Options for Community involvement  The Association supports the intention of the Bill to remove compulsory voluntary work for work-tested beneficiaries.  The Association believes this Bill will restore the value of voluntary community work and that a greater number of organisations will offer volunteer and community work for job seekers. The Committee must remember that many community organisations, including the Association, boycotted the community work scheme because they strongly opposed compulsion for volunteer work.  Other organisations opposed the scheme but did agree to take part only to provide job seekers with volunteering options.  That scheme is one factor in the poor relationships that now exist between the Department of Work and Income (hereafter, the Department) and the community and voluntary sector. In order to increase the range of volunteering options for job seekers, it is important that the Department actively works to mend the poor relationships that developed between it and the voluntary sector when the community work scheme was introduced. The Association recommends that the Bill directs the Department to work closely and consult with community and voluntary organisations in order to broaden the range of options available to job seekers, in regard to activities in the community and job seeker development activities. In addition to broadening the range of activities available to job seekers, the Association recommends the Participation Allowance apply to the full range of recognised community activities (that is, both activity in the community and voluntary work) and that the Bill be amended to show this. Supporting and Promoting Voluntary and Community Organisations In our 1998 submission to the Committee on the work test amendment we discussed the impacts it would have on volunteer-based organisations – such as ours – and volunteers. We argued (and subsequently experienced) that volunteers would have their bureau training affected and would not be able to commit to their volunteer work, and that the Association would experience an increased turnover of volunteers.  In some cases a volunteer’s work with a bureau was more relevant than the work they were compelled into by the Department. The Association feels that, with the removal of compulsion, the Bill goes some way to restoring the value of volunteering.  However, we strongly endorse the recommendation of the Council of Christian Social Services that the Bill includes a statement on the value of voluntary work and the community sector.  Such a statement would be timely in the lead up to the International Year of Volunteers. There are a number of other ways where the Bill could provide greater support for the voluntary sector and volunteers. The first is to ensure that low or nil compliance costs be associated with job seeker volunteering.  This has been achieved in some part through the simplification of sanctions where the community organisation is no longer required to report minor instances of non-compliance.  The Association also strongly recommends that an organisation with an existing agreement or contract with the Crown, local authority or similar be given the same status as one with a contract with the Department.  This would mean that organisations would not have to continually account to and negotiate contracts with the Department when they have already accounted to and negotiated contracts with another Crown agency or local authority. An additional way would be for the Department to financially contribute to voluntary organisations’ costs associated with placement for job seekers through an extension of the Participation Allowance to include both the job seeker and the organisation. The Association also recommends that the Department consult and liase with the community sector on the initial implementation of this and subsequent volunteer programmes, activities in the community, and job seeker development activities associated with this legislation.     How the Bill could work – the example of Citizens Advice Bureau The Association feels that the Bill has potential in terms of providing greater community activity options for job seekers.  Our member bureaux represent some of these options for the reasons we outline below.  Bureau volunteers undergo a range of basic and advanced training that provides them with a wealth of skills.  In addition to the training, their work in the bureau providing personal face-to-face or over the phone advice and assistance to clients equips them with real life practical skills and experience that training schemes are unlikely to provide. Some of the skills a bureau worker acquires are: · How to use a computer, including internet and email · Team work · Finding and using information · Treaty of Waitangi · Communication skills ·  Listening skills · Report writing · Legal and consumer issues · Social justice and advocacy. The Association has 91 member bureaux nationally.  Our bureaux network covers the whole country, including remote, rural and poorer areas in New Zealand.  As such, we are able to offer volunteering options in many parts of the country, especially in areas where the Department would not have existing Community Work schemes. The Association and our member bureaux have funding and service contracts with a range of Crown agencies and local authorities (e.g. Child, Youth & Family, the Lottery Grants Board and COGS).  We always satisfy the reporting requirements of these funders, and as a result our contracts are renewed.  Our member bureaux would be unwilling to enter into contracts with the Department that impose further compliance costs, when they have already proved their value to the community and to Crown agencies.     Conclusion and Recommendations The Association generally supports the Bill but recommend amendments in the following areas. To increase the options available to job seekers for community involvement the Association recommends: That the Bill direct the Department to work closely and consult with community and voluntary organisations in order to broaden the range of options available to job seekers, in regard to activities in the community and job seeker development activities. That the Participation Allowance apply to the full range of recognised community activities (i.e. both activity in the community and voluntary work). To provide more support for and to promote voluntary and community organisations the Association recommends: That the Bill includes a statement on the value of voluntary work and the community sector. That the Bill ensures low or nil compliance costs be associated with job seeker volunteering for organisations. That an organisation with an existing agreement or contract with the Crown, local authority or similar be given the same status as one with a contract with the Department (for the purposes of defining activity in the community). That the Department financially contribute to voluntary organisations’ costs associated with placement for job seekers through an extension of the Participation Allowance to include both the job seeker and the organisation. That the Department consult and liase with the community sector on the initial implementation of this and subsequent volunteer programmes, activities in the community, and job seeker development activities associated with this legislation. In addition to our concerns about specific aspects of the Bill, the Association feels strongly about broader issues around social assistance that have not been addressed in the Bill.  The Association would encourage further legislative and operational work to be done soon in the areas of: · the adequacy of benefit income · restoring the Emergency Unemployment Benefit · writing off beneficiary debt owed to the department, and further simplification of the benefit system. This Bill has great potential for further building community and voluntary work that underpins New Zealand society.  It is very relevant and timely in the lead up to the International Year of Volunteers.         Information | Contact Us | Volunteering | Social Policy | About Us