SNEK POLICY
A Safety Net That Protects People and Builds Families
SNEK believes society should protect people who genuinely cannot provide for themselves, help capable people through temporary hardship, and make building a family easier without turning public assistance into a permanent alternative to independence.
Protect people who genuinely cannot work
People with serious physical or mental disabilities who cannot reasonably support themselves should have access to food, housing, healthcare, basic utilities, disability services, and other essential support.
Help people through temporary hardship
Illness, injury, pregnancy, layoffs, family emergencies, and economic downturns can justify temporary assistance while otherwise self-sufficient people recover.
If you can work, move toward independence
Able-bodied working-age adults receiving continued assistance should generally be working, actively seeking work, attending school, participating in training, apprenticeships, rehabilitation, or another legitimate path toward self-sufficiency. Duration and requirements should be judged case by case.
Repeated refusal eventually ends adult benefits
An able-bodied person who repeatedly refuses reasonable work, training, education, or other realistic opportunities should eventually lose most adult assistance.
Children are separate
Children should not lose food, healthcare, or basic support because of their parents’ failures. Child-focused benefits should be treated separately from adult work requirements.
Childcare should be free
SNEK supports publicly funded childcare so employment and family formation are not undermined by childcare costs. Families remain free to use private childcare, relatives, one parent at home, or other arrangements.
Six months of paid maternity leave
Mothers should receive six months of government-funded paid maternity leave with job protection following childbirth.
Two weeks to one month of paid paternity leave
Fathers should receive at least two weeks and up to one month of government-funded paid paternity leave with job protection following birth or adoption.
Promote family formation
SNEK believes building families is good for the country. Public policy should reduce unnecessary financial barriers that make people who want children feel they cannot afford to have them.
Fix benefit cliffs
Benefits should phase out gradually as income rises so accepting a raise or more work never makes someone poorer overall.
Addiction requires case-by-case judgment
Addiction should neither automatically create lifetime eligibility nor become an excuse to abandon people. Assistance should reflect actual ability to work and should encourage treatment, recovery, and eventual independence when possible.
Audit assistance programs
Government should regularly evaluate eligibility, fraud, disability determinations, work requirements, training outcomes, administrative costs, and whether programs actually help people become independent.
The SNEK position
Take care of people who genuinely cannot take care of themselves. Help people through temporary hardship. Expect capable adults to move toward independence. Protect children. Make childcare free. Provide six months of paid maternity leave and two weeks to one month of paid paternity leave. Make work always pay.
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Why SNEK thinks this
SNEK believes a decent society should protect people who genuinely cannot care for themselves and help people survive legitimate temporary hardship. That is different from designing assistance so permanent dependency becomes easier or more rational than work. The same platform also treats family formation as a positive social good worth supporting directly.
How it would work
People who cannot reasonably work because of serious physical or mental disability should have access to food, housing, healthcare, utilities, disability services, and other essentials. Temporary assistance should help people through illness, injury, pregnancy, layoff, family emergency, or economic downturn. Able-bodied working-age adults receiving ongoing assistance should generally work, look for work, attend school, train, apprentice, rehabilitate, or pursue another realistic path toward independence. Repeated refusal of reasonable opportunities should eventually end most adult benefits. Child-focused benefits should remain separate so children are not punished for a parent’s choices.
Where we’re flexible or still working it out
Benefit duration and work expectations should be judged case by case rather than by one automatic cutoff. Benefits should phase out gradually so earning more never leaves someone worse off. Addiction should be handled individually. SNEK also supports publicly funded childcare, six months of government-funded paid maternity leave with job protection, and two weeks to one month of paid paternity leave. Families remain free to use private care, relatives, or a parent at home rather than being forced into a public childcare arrangement.
Related SNEK policies
Adult Autonomy, Identity and Compelled Participation • A Safety Net That Protects People and Builds Families