Social security benefits are administered by Work and Income . As of July 2013 , they include : In 1930 , while Prime Minister George Forbes was in London for the 1930 Imperial Conference , the United Government passed the Unemployment Act , promising relief payments to those who registered as unemployed . Upon his return to New Zealand in January 1931 , Forbes announced there would be no payments made without work , meaning those registered would have to participate in government ' make work ' schemes such as building roads and working on farms or in forestry projects . When the register was opened in February , 23,000 people put their names down ; by June the number of registered unemployed had risen to 51,000 as the Great Depression worsened . The register did not include women , Māori , or boys under 16 . In 1933 ( by which time the number of unemployed had reached 80,000 ) , MP Gordon Coates introduced the Small Farms ( Relief of Unemployment ) Bill to help turn unemployed workers into small farmers
1930 Imperial Conference
1930 Imperial Conference
Welfare in New Zealand