Child Poverty Report 2026
Te Pōharatanga Tamariki

Budget 2026 initiatives

Budget 2026 initiatives that will have an impact on the incomes of eligible households and can be modelled for their effect on child poverty measures are outlined below.

• A fiscally neutral package that makes housing support fairer by reducing the gap between financial assistance for people in social housing and financial support for lower-income households renting in the private market. This package:
1. Increases the amount that people in social housing pay toward their rent from 25 per cent to 30 per cent of their income, from 1 April 2027, bringing this closer to, but still lower than, the levels paid by low-income private renters.
2. Increases the maximum rates of the Accommodation Supplement, from 1 April 2027, by between $10 and $30 per week.

• A temporary, $50 per week increase to the in-work tax credit to support up to 157,000 low‑to-middle-income working families as conflict in the Middle East drives up fuel prices and adds pressure to household budgets.[3]
• A reduction in the maximum rate for Temporary Additional Support (TAS) from 30 per cent to 25 per cent of the relevant main benefit rate (net of tax). This change to the TAS formula partially offsets the impact that large above-inflation increases in main benefit rates over the last two terms of Parliament had on the size of weekly hardship payments.

Other Budget 2026 initiatives that could impact on child poverty, but are not able to be modelled, are:

• funding 1,800 to 2,250 new social houses, delivered by community housing providers or Kāinga Ora
• greater employment support for sole parents, including increased case management
• continuing the Healthy School Lunches and Early Childhood Education Food programmes for the 2027 calendar year, and
• ongoing funding for community providers to source and distribute food through food hubs and foodbanks, and funding for the KickStart Breakfast programme.