Minister of Social Development Anne Tolley has failed to collect any data on the number of working Kiwi families who are actually worse off as a result of the government's Child Hardship Package, says New Zealand First.

'In their promotion of the package the government has purposely played down the fact that thousands of families will lose money from their accommodation supplement, and child support payments would increase for many others,” says Darroch Ball New Zealand First's Social Services Spokesperson.

'It is unbelievable that the government has worked on this package without knowing the number who would be adversely affected.

'When we asked the Minister through written questions she simply admitted she didn't know.

'The legislation's original regulatory impact statement stated thousands of families would lose money every week. It seems the Minister is incredulous about the exact number of families and children being negatively impacted.

'The government boasts about increasing benefits for families for the first time since 1971, but they haven't a clue about how many working families this package has actually disadvantaged and taken money from.

'New Zealand First would ensure that this critical information was known well before implementing legislation with this size of expenditure, not after,” says Mr Ball.

SOURCE: Office of Darroch Ball