‘Can we opt out?’: New Zealand benefit increases leave some worse off

Experts say failures of latest benefit changes show need for major reforms to labyrinthine welfare system

It feels like a broken promise," says Bella*, a thirtysomething Auckland mother of one for whom this month's ostensible benefit increases have turned into something quite different - a $75 a week loss of income.

On 1 July, New Zealand's Labour government lifted weekly benefits by $20 per adult, the first instalment in a $32-55 increase in May's budget that was the largest since the foundation of the modern welfare state in the 1930s.