No April Fool's joke: New Zealand hikes benefits, minimum wage and healthcare funding from April 1

New Zealand will see increases in benefits, minimum wage, power prices, student loan repayments, and Pharmac funding, along with changes to investor visas, starting April 1, 2025. These adjustments are due to annual general adjustments, coalition agreements, infrastructure needs, and government policy decisions.

The changes will affect lakhs of beneficiaries, minimum wage earners, power consumers, student loan borrowers, patients requiring specific medications, and prospective investors.

Wages will increase by approximately 2.22% for most recipients, while Superannuation and Veterans Pension recipients will see a 3% increase. Jobseeker Support for sole parents will rise by $9 to $505.80, for couples with children by $7.06 to $324.61, and for single individuals over 25 to $361.31, or $307.42 each for couples.


Those living alone on Superannuation or Veterans Pension will receive $1076.84 a fortnight, while couples will receive $828.34.

The minimum wage will increase by 1.5% to $23.50, impacting an estimated 80,000 to 145,000 workers. The starting-out and training minimum wage will be $18.80, maintaining 80% of the adult minimum wage.

However, average household power bills will increase by $10 per month this year, followed by $5 increases per month for the next four years. This is due to necessary investments in the electricity network.

Student loan repayments will increase by an average of $1.20 per week for approximately 370,000 New Zealand-based borrowers, due to the government freezing the repayment threshold.

This change “would have an estimated five-year operating saving of $7.674 million and an additional one-off increase in the value of the student loan asset of $13.017 in 2024/25.”

Pharmac will fund six new cancer medications: nivolumab (Opdivo), ipilimumab (Yervoy), axitinib (Inlyta), sunitinib, inotuzumab ozogamicin (Besponsa), and crizotinib (Xalkori). It will also fund ceftazidime with avibactam (Zavicefta) for antibiotic-resistant infections and desogestral for endometriosis. Approximately 180 cancer patients and 30 individuals with antibiotic-resistant infections are expected to benefit in the first year.

The Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa category will see two changes: the Growth category will require a $5 million minimum investment over three years, and the Balanced category will require a $10 million minimum investment over five years. Other adjustments include expanding acceptable investments and removing the English language requirement.