Our role

We are responding to the impact of the recession by helping people gain employment and training opportunities, by helping individuals and families to maintain stability and wellbeing and by managing the increased demand for our services. This is our commitment to supporting New Zealanders in these tough economic times.

We are the lead agency for the social sector. Our services are important to every New Zealander at some point in their or their family's lives. We help the Government to set priorities across the sector, to co-ordinate the actions of other social sector agencies and to track changes in the social wellbeing of New Zealanders. We do this by providing evidence-based advice to Government, working with other government and non-government organisations, employers and industry, private organisations, advisory and industry groups, and communities and iwi.

We have around 300 sites that provide services to more than 1.6 million people.

Our core business is about providing services to those in real need, helping people to help themselves be successful in their lives through:

• employment, income support and superannuation services - Work and Income and Senior Services
• the care and protection of at-risk children and young people and youth justice services - Child, Youth and Family
• connecting families with their communities and funding early intervention programmes - Family and Community Services
• student allowances and loans - StudyLink
• protecting taxpayers' money through fraud investigations and debt collection.
  

How we work

We've organised our business groups into three clusters so we can provide our diverse range of services in the best way possible. This clustering enables our people to:

• understand the big picture of what is going on in their cluster areas and in the Ministry as a whole
• identify, compare and benchmark best practice
• network internally.

The three clusters are:

Service delivery
Work and Income, Students, Seniors and Integrity Services, Child, Youth and Family, and Family and Community Services.

Policy
Social Sector Strategy (including the Offices for Disability Issues, Senior Citizens and the Community and Voluntary Sector which provide advice and support to distinct portfolios) and Social Services Policy (including the Ministry of Youth Development).

Corporate
People, Capability and Resources, Risk and Assurance, and Corporate and Governance.

Each of the business groups is headed by a Deputy Chief Executive.
These Deputy Chief Executives, together with the Chief Executive, form the Leadership Team.