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Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Beneficiaries will get up to $55 more in their pockets each week, once the increases are fully implemented next April.
The first $20 increase will come into effect on 1 July and the rest will come next April.
It is estimated up to 33,000 could be lifted out of poverty - on the after housing-costs measure - because of the changes.
For Tony and his whānau in the Napier suburb of Maraenui, the more money the better, because it was not easy trying to survive on the benefit. Food, power and all that - you re left with nothing. If the benefit increases, at least you ve got something leftover, he said.
I m really scraping, she told Newshub.
On the sole parent benefit, Leah will soon get more cash. It ll help but the basics will still be unaffordable. Gas just to get my kids to school, she said. But yeah, it ll just go towards what my kids need.
Further north in Kaitaia, Jean Crossley sleeps on the couch to make room for her kids. She has to make difficult decisions for her children every week. It s pretty hard because then you ve got to choose whether you pay this bill or you pay for the doctors or you miss out on food.
In an attempt to help children like Leah s and Jean s, the Government announced a once-in-a-generation Budget benefit bump.
Budget benefit bump hailed as 'wonderful' but scepticism remains over ending child poverty msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Auditor-General s office launched an inquiry last year into how the scheme was being managed.
The report released today has praised some efforts to keep businesses from taking money.
The Auditor-General s Office said MSD s so-called audits of companies that received payments needed to go further.
The government spent more on the wage subsidy scheme than any other part of its Covid-19 response. At one point $1.8b was paid out in a single day with 70,000 applications in 24 hours.
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the department was operating under a high-trust model which needed to be rolled out with speed.
And for the most part that has worked: unemployment remained lower than the daunting forecasts of last year s lockdowns.