Pitched as "a fair day's work, for a fair day's pay" for low-wage workers and working parents facing high living costs, NZ First's policy would turn a temporary Working for Families boost into a permanent, larger payment.

📋 NZ First: Increasing Working for Families and Minimum Wage, October 2026 →

What it does

• Makes permanent the temporary $50-a-week boost to the in-work tax credit that began in April 2026, and adds a further $70 a week, which NZ First describes as a total of $120 a week.
• 1News reported the change would take the total in-work tax credit to $217 a week for eligible families. The current boost runs until 31 March 2027, or ends earlier if 91 petrol stays below $3 a litre for four consecutive weeks.
• Is estimated by NZ First to cost $500 million to $600 million a year.
• Commits to raising the minimum wage by at least inflation in every year of the next term.
• Was announced on 10 October 2026.

The debate

• NZ First said the change would turn temporary relief into "a long-term pathway" for working parents, and that workers need to be able to afford the basics "without falling behind the rate of inflation".
• ACT is campaigning on the opposite approach to wages, a three-year freeze of the adult minimum wage and a training wage of 60% of the adult rate for workers under 20 in their first year with an employer, RNZ reported. ACT's Laura McClure said laws designed to improve pay had not worked and that higher wages required businesses being allowed to grow.