Working for Families (WFF) and paid parental leave (PPL) payments are essential to many customers as they manage living expenses week in and week out, especially this year. We've focused on registering eligible customers and getting payments out quickly. 99.8% of WFF and PPL payments have gone out to customers on the first regular payment date after they applied.
Our transformation changes have made applying for PPL much easier. Over 90% of the 780 parents who apply every week do this online - we pre-populate much of the information needed so customers do not have to find this out from their employer.
Some families do not realise they are eligible to receive Working for Families Tax Credits. To make more people aware, and to encourage customers with families to check if they qualify, we ran a campaign from March to May this year. It was inspired by what children say they would do with the extra money.
We reached approximately 670,000 customers who could potentially qualify by advertising on Facebook and Instagram. We also advertised on YouTube, Google search and Trade Me. YouTube video ads were viewed 171,800 times and Google search advertising drove 59,862 clicks to the webpage (mostly from mobile devices).
We know not all our customers can access digital platforms, so we also advertised in 35 supermarkets and recreational locations across Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington and Ōtautahi Christchurch. Our people engaged with community and advocacy organisations and advertised on radio stations to reach whānau with children.
There is some complexity in calculating the WFF entitlements customers receive, and this year has been a challenge because many customers have seen changes in circumstances such as jobs that can result in over or under payments. This is part of a wider picture around families, income and debt that we and other agencies are focused on.
Working for Families Tax Credit overpayments or underpayments get progressively smaller
Tax debt