Officials warn key Government targets for welfare and education at risk

Author: Azaria Howell,
Publish Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2026, 5:00am

Officials have expressed concern two of the Government’s main policy targets may not be on track for delivery.

An update released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, lays out progress for the first quarter of the year towards nine different targets in health, crime, education, housing, welfare and emissions.

Reducing child and youth offending and violent crime were labelled “on track”, as were reducing the number of people in emergency housing, and bringing net greenhouse gas emissions down.

The Government’s plan for shorter emergency department stays, and shorter wait times for elective treatment were labelled as “feasible”, while increased student attendance was considered “probable”.

However, reducing the number of people on the Jobseeker Support benefit, and boosting student achievement were labelled “at risk”.

The Government is aiming to reduce the number of people on the Jobseeker benefit by 50,000 - to 140,000 people by 2030.

As of the quarter ending March 2026, there were 215,200 people on Jobseeker.

A fact sheet prepared by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for the Government, said flows of people on the Jobseeker benefit are “expected to decrease when economic conditions improve”.

Officials also said welfare system interventions being embedded this year would reduce pressure on the welfare system.

The Government announced $93 million of funding through Budget 2026 over two years, aimed at helping sole parents find work, and boosting case management services.

Red flags were also raised at the Government’s target to have 80% of Year 8 students at or above the expected curriculum level for their age in reading, writing, and maths by December 2030.

Officials noted some initiatives aimed at boosting student achievement were “still in the early stages”.

The 2025 Curriculum Insights results show improvements to writing and maths, but show just 45% of students were at or above the expected level in reading, a decrease from 47% in 2023.

Officials said results did show “encouraging signs” for Year 6 achievement, including a 6% improvement in the proportion of Year 6 students working at or above their maths level, and a 5% boost in writing.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said the Government’s targets were “deliberately ambitious and designed to drive change by focusing the public sector on delivering improved services that make a difference to people’s lives”.

“It is encouraging to see that we are outpacing four of the targets, with good progress toward achieving a further three. For New Zealanders, that means fewer victims of violent crime in their community, less serious and persistent child and youth offending, fewer people living in motels, more kids attending school regularly, shorter stays in ED and faster elective treatment,” the spokesperson said.

They added the Government expects Jobseeker numbers to reduce as the economy improves, and said it was “good news” that Treasury was forecasting solid economic growth over the next four years that would lead to the creation of 220,000 more jobs.

On education, the spokesperson said the Government was working hard to meet its curriculum target.

“To turn around well over a decade of declining student achievement, we are transforming the education system with a clear curriculum, mandated teaching of literacy and numeracy, better monitoring and reporting of student progressions, and investment into new literacy and numeracy initiatives,” they said.

Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.