4 July 2013
Children Burdened with Warrants for Arrest
Parents and caregivers with outstanding arrest warrants should front up and sort out their issues so that children are
not affected by their mistakes, says New Zealand First welfare and social spokesperson Asenati Lole-Taylor.
New welfare reforms will allow Work and Income to cut or stop benefit payments for individuals with outstanding warrants
if they do not clear their name within 38 days – from July 15.
“We need to ensure that the safety of children is not jeopardised by irresponsible parents and caregivers who have
warrants out for their arrest” says Mrs Lole-Taylor.
“For its part the Government must avoid making any mistakes in punishing the wrong people given the recent WINZ IT
systems failure.
“The system is not perfect and it would be most unfortunate if benefits were cut to the wrong people because of a
computer glitch or clerical error,” says Mrs Lole-Taylor.
ENDS