Appendix 4: Summary of legislative requirements for reducing child poverty

Effectiveness of arrangements for reducing child poverty

The table below sets out an overview of the requirements related to child poverty in the Children's Act 2014.

The Children's Act 2014
Purpose	The responsible Minister must adopt a strategy to address: Improving the well-being of all children Improving, as a particular focus, the well-being of children with greater needs Reducing child poverty and mitigating the impacts of child poverty and socio-economic disadvantage Improving the well-being of the core populations of interest to Oranga Tamariki
Consultation	The responsible Minister must carry out consultation before adopting or changing the Strategy, including with representatives of children and Māori, as considered appropriate
Targets, indicators, and measures	The Strategy must: say how outcomes will be measured, including by analysing disparities of outcome for children in poverty and socio-economic disadvantage assess the likely effects of policies to reduce child poverty and mitigate the impacts of child poverty and socio-economic disadvantage
Monitoring and reporting	The responsible Minister must publish an annual report on progress in achieving the Strategy's outcomes (including analysis of Māori children) and present it to Parliament
Review	The responsible Minister must review the Strategy within three years of adoption and every three years after that
Implementation	The Strategy must indicate the policies that the Government has implemented (if there is one or more earlier Strategies), the policies that it intends to implement to achieve the outcomes sought, and the steps it has taken to evaluate these policies The Children's Act also requires the Minister for Children to approve the Oranga Tamariki Action Plan, which sets out how the chief executives of six designated "children's agencies" (Oranga Tamariki, the New Zealand Police, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Justice) will work together to achieve the Strategy's six outcomes for the core populations of interest to Oranga Tamariki.

Source: Adapted from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (November 2023), "Briefing to the incoming Minister for Child Poverty Reduction (and Minister responsible for the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy)", Appendix 1, at dpmc.govt.nz.

The table below sets out an overview of the requirements related to child poverty measures and indicators under the Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018.

The Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018
Purpose	To help achieve a significant and sustained reduction in child poverty in New Zealand
Targets, indicators, and measures
Relevant to reducing child poverty	Specifies or requires four primary and six supplementary child poverty measures The Minister for Child Poverty Reduction must set targets for primary measures Persistent poverty measure is defined by the Government Statistician and a target set by the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction by 2024
Relevant to mitigating the effects of socio-economic disadvantage	The Minister for Child Poverty Reduction must identify one or more child poverty related indicators
Monitoring and reporting
Relevant to reducing child poverty	The Government Statistician must report annually on progress against child poverty measures The report of the Government Statistician must include an analysis of the identified populations, specifically Māori children, if the data is adequate to enable that analysis The Minister of Finance must produce a Budget Day Child Poverty Report (under the Public Finance Act, as amended by the Child Poverty Reduction Act) that indicates the extent that agreed policies will affect child poverty The Minister for Child Poverty Reduction must report to Parliament if the targets have not been met Relevant to mitigating the effects of socio-economic disadvantage The Minister for Child Poverty Reduction must report annually on child poverty related indicators
Review
Relevant to reducing child poverty	The Minister for Child Poverty Reduction must ensure that the targets are reviewed at least once during the period covered
Relevant to mitigating the effects of socio-economic disadvantage	The Minister for Child Poverty Reduction can change child poverty related indicators any time and must review them every three years

Source: Adapted from Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (November 2023), "Briefing to the incoming Minister for Child Poverty Reduction (and Minister responsible for the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy)", Appendix 1, at dpmc.govt.nz.