Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni says an announcement on the promised overhaul of the welfare system can be expected in the next three to four weeks.
Questions have been raised again about Work and Income's culture and processes, following RNZ's story this week about a south Auckland mother who was told her benefit was cut because she'd been on two Tinder dates.
The government isn't going into details about just how far the overhaul will go, but people working with the country's poorest say changes can't come soon enough.
Child Poverty Action Group spokesperson Susan St John said questions had to be asked about whether benefit sanctions had worked, or whether they had just caused further hardship.
"Particularly where there are children, it's a great concern. We've got far too many families below the very low 40 percent after housing costs poverty line, and those are the families who just simply can't manage to have a reduced benefit for whatever reason."
All sanctions - not just excessive ones - have to be looked at, Ms St John said.
"We really ought to be seriously looking at the overall way in which beneficiaries have been punished by these sanctions and how their children have been affected."
National's social development spokesperson Louise Upston said the government hadn't adequately explained what the problem was that it was trying to fix with its welfare system overhaul.
"Overhaul implies something fairly significant in terms of changes. We actually think the balance is right, people in New Zealand, if they have hard times, are able to get support and that's important, but when they can work, they should."
