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Auckland Action Against Poverty is out this week at Work and Income offices helping people get the benefits they are entitled to.
Spokesperson Sue Bradford says the bulk of those helped out in previous such beneficiary ‘impacts have been Maori and Pasifika.
She says it’s hard for many people to deal with agencies, especially when they don’t know their rights.
"We help distress the situation, take some stress off the people and say 'You do need a machine because you're washing your clothes in the bathtub or you do deserve a benefit because you're a sole mum with three kids and they haven't given you one for two years which is a situation I saw last time we were out here, a young Pacific Island woman who for two years should have been on a benefit. A lot of it's down to structural racism. We're dealing with it, to the best of our ability," Ms Bradford says.
Work and Income are cooperating by putting on extra staff to ensure people get processed.
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