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# Fuel support limited to minority of working families
- URL: https://goodoil.news/fuel-support-limited-to-minority-of-working-families/
- Published: 2026-03-24T22:41:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-25T01:59:22.000Z
- Description: Roughly 92% of households get no direct help at all.
- Author: Centrist
- Tags: News

Summarised by [Centrist](http://www.centrist.nz/?ref=goodoil.news)

**The government has announced a fuel assistance package that will give about 143,000 families an extra $50 a week, while about 14,000 more will receive a reduced amount starting April 7\.** 

The support is limited to families with dependent children in which at least one parent is in paid work and neither parent receives a main benefit. Beneficiaries and superannuitants will not get the extra payment, with the government saying their payments will still be adjusted from April 1 under the normal annual process. 

In the 2025/26 tax year, the income cut-off for the credit is about $89,000 for a family with one child, $112,000 for two children and $135,000 for three children. 

The payment will last for one year or until the price of 91-octane petrol falls below $3 a litre for four consecutive weeks. The package is expected to cost $373 million. 

The announcement comes after petrol prices reached $4 a litre in some Auckland suburbs over the weekend, with the national average at $3.30 a litre for 91 and $3.61 a litre for 98\. 

**Editor’s note:** Roughly 157,000 working families with children will receive some level of support. Against about 2.06 million households nationwide, that means roughly 92% get no direct help at all.

In Auckland, where housing remains among the least affordable in the country, many middle-income families above the cut-off will receive no assistance. 

At $3.30 a litre, the government is [taking](https://www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-natural-resources/energy-generation-and-markets/liquid-fuel-market/duties-taxes-and-direct-levies-on-motor-fuels-in-new-zealand?ref=goodoil.news) about $1.20 a litre in official taxes and levies on 91 petrol. If the pump price jumps to $4.00, that rises to about $1.30 a litre because GST climbs with inflation, even though the core fuel taxes are fixed. However, Willis [claims](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/fuel-prices-government-to-announce-support-package-for-families-under-the-pump-as-petrol-hits-4-a-litre-in-some-areas/4IGEJBXRFZAUPOUCSWCB2ECOGA/?ref=goodoil.news) the overall increase will be offset by reduced demand. 

[**Read more over at The NZ Herald**](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/fuel-prices-government-to-announce-support-package-for-families-under-the-pump-as-petrol-hits-4-a-litre-in-some-areas/4IGEJBXRFZAUPOUCSWCB2ECOGA/?ref=goodoil.news)

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