When a non-beneficiary parent applies for child support and the application goes through, the child support payments get paid to IRD and then transferred to the parent who is looking after the child. However, if the parent is receiving a benefit from Work & Income, the child support money does not get transferred to the parent who is looking after the child, it is instead kept by the state.

Whilst it is up to a non-beneficiary parent whether or not they apply for child support, beneficiary parents have to apply for child support as part of the benefit application process.

It is clear that these sanctions are not about supporting children, they were instead put in place as a way of gathering revenue and cutting costs for the state, at the expense of mothers and their children.