Analysis and Findings

The decision to cut the TIA for sole parent beneficiaries intending to study at university has been identified as resulting from government failure. The government has failed to recognize the importance of training incentives for sole parent beneficiaries at such a crucial time, particularly in the current economic downturn. Furthermore, the government has failed to assess the potential negative impact of this decision on sole parent beneficiaries and their children.

The methodology that is used to investigate the policy problem is a social impact assessment .Social impact assessment is defined as predicting the social effects of specific policy decisions upon people and on aspects of their life.[1] Furthermore, it assesses the effects of policy decisions on the daily lives of people, and the way in which they live, work, play, relate to one another and cope as members of society.[2] This is a relevant method to research this problem as in this report I will be identifying the potential impact of the government’s decision to cut eligibility to the TIA for sole parent beneficiaries intending to access higher education. I conducted research for material on the government’s decision to cut eligibility to the Training Incentive Allowance (TIA) for sole parent beneficiaries, by using recent news articles from the New Zealand Herald, websites of government departments, and also by searching ‘Training Incentive Allowance’ and ‘sole parents’ in Voyager to find the materials.

In this report I will assess the potential impact of the cuts to the TIA on women and children across four ‘domains’, or aspects of life that are important to social well-being.[3] These are ‘aspects of life that society collectively agrees are important for a person’s happiness, quality of life of life and welfare.’[4] The domains that are relevant to this problem are Knowledge and Skills, Paid work, Health and Economic Standard of Living. Knowledge and skills are important to well-being as it improves people’s ability to meet their basic needs, widen the range of options open to them in every area of life, and allow them to influence the route their lives take. [5] Furthermore, the skills people have can also improve their sense of self-worth, security and belonging.[6] Paid work is also important to social wellbeing, as it provides people with incomes to meet their basic needs and to contribute to their material comfort, and gives them options for how they live their lives. [7] Good health is also essential to wellbeing, and without this people are less able to enjoy their lives, their options are limited and their levels of satisfaction and happiness are likely to be diminished.[8] Economic standard of living relates to the physical circumstances in which people live, the goods and services they are able to consume and the economic resources they have access to.[9] In the social impact assessment I have used the governments desired outcome statements for each of these domains, in order to assess whether the potential impacts of the government’s decision will lead to positive or negative outcomes for sole parent beneficiaries, and their children.

The following table shows a social impact assessment of the government’s decision to cut eligibility to the TIA for sole parent beneficiaries intending to access higher education ,in four key domains: Knowledge and Skills, Paid work, Health and Economic Standard of Living.

Social Impact Assessment

Domains

Potential Impacts

Knowledge and Skills

DESIRED OUTCOME STATEMENT‘

Everybody has the knowledge and skills needed to participate fully in society. Lifelong learning and education are valued and supported.’[10]

Significantly decrease opportunities for sole parents to obtain training and prepare themselves for entry into employment.[11]
Some parents may give up the idea of training because of the substantial extra cost, and may experience hardship to cover the costs.[12]
Sole parent’s lack of educational qualifications may result in poorer educational outcomes for their children.[13]

Paid Work

DESIRED OUTCOME STATEMENT

‘Everybody has access to meaningful, rewarding and safe employment. An appropriate balance is maintained between paid work and other aspects of life.’[14]

Lack of support to access higher education may increasingly confine women to work that are low-skilled, and low-paid, with no parental leave, unpredictable and limited hours, low status, and be insecure, temporary and casual.[15]
Lack of training incentives may result in sole parent beneficiaries unmotivated to change their situation, and this may increase their welfare dependency.[16]

Health

DESIRED OUTCOME STATEMENT

‘Everybody has the opportunity to enjoy a long and healthy life. Avoidable deaths, disease and injuries are prevented. Everybody has the ability to function, participate and live independently or appropriately supported in society.’[17]

Sole parents and their children may face increasing stress and experience poorer health.[18]
Increase in sole parents anxiety, and fear about their circumstances, and worries about the future.[19]

Economic Standard of Living

DESIRED OUTCOME STATEMENT

‘New Zealand is a prosperous society, reflecting the value of both paid and unpaid work. Everybody has access to an adequate income and decent, affordable housing that meets their needs. With an adequate standard of living, people are well-placed to participate fully in society and to exercise choice about how to live their lives.’[20]

Will lead to more sole parents and their children at risk of living in poverty, diminish their quality of life, and their security and ability to make choices about their lives.[21]

The social impact assessment of the government’s decision to cut eligibility to the TIA for sole parent beneficiaries intending to access higher education ,has shown that this decision will likely have negative impacts on women and children, and negative outcomes in the four key domains: Knowledge and Skills, Paid work, Health and Economic Standard of Living. The social impact assessment has shown that the cuts to the TIA are likely to further disadvantage sole parent beneficiaries, both socially and economically. As a result, the government should reinstate the TIA for sole parent beneficiaries intending to access higher education. However, there are alternative policies that are also recommended.

The method that is used to decide on the appropriate policy alternatives is a cost-benefit analysis through the construction of a policy choice matrix. Cost- benefit analysis reduces all the impacts of a proposed alternative to a common impact, specifically in dollars. [22] However, in this report the impacts of the proposed alternatives will not be monetized, as it is more appropriate in this report to assess the magnitude of the non-monetized impacts by identifying them as high, medium or low.[23] I will score the alternatives and the possible outcomes as high, medium or low according to the criteria’s of efficiency, administrative simplicity, and equity.

Policy Alternatives

Criteria

Policy1: Reinstate the TIA for the degree or diploma qualifications that would address New Zealand’s continuing skill shortages.

Policy2: Increase the amount that can be borrowed under the Student Loan Scheme.

Efficiency

High

Administrative simplicity

Low

Medium

Equity

Medium

Findings

The social impact assessment has shown that the government should reinstate the TIA for sole parent beneficiaries intending to access higher education, in order to improve their lives and those of their children. I think that if other researchers were to examine this topic using a similar method they would come to the same conclusion that I have reached. The table above shows that the second alternative policy appears the best as it had more positive scores in efficiency, administrative simplicity, and equity. However, this will may lead sole parent beneficiaries into high debt. While the first alternative policy had low scores when judged against the criteria’s. However, I still recommend the first policy as many sole parent beneficiaries choose to enrol for study in these high level degree courses, such as nursing, teaching, midwifery and social work, and are guaranteed jobs on the completion of their study.[24]

[1] C.J Barrow, Social impact assessment : an introduction (London: Oxford University Press, 2000),4.

[2] Barrow,4.

[3] Ministry of Social Development, ‘‘The Social Report 2008,’’ http://socialreport.msd.govt.nz/introduction/social-wellbeing.html (accessed September 18, 2009).

[4] http://socialreport.msd.govt.nz/introduction/social-wellbeing.html

[5] http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/knowledge-skills/index.html

[6] http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/knowledge-skills/index.html

[7] http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/paid-work/index.html

[8] http://socialreport.msd.govt.nz/health/index.html

[9] http://socialreport.msd.govt.nz/economic-standard-living/index.html

[10] http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/knowledge-skills/index.html

[11] Levine and others, 61.

[12] Ibid., 61.