More people interact with the Ministry in a digital environment
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We will use technology to support continuous innovation and improvements across our business. Technology will also provide easier and more cost-effective ways to engage with our people.
Enhancing our online services
Increasingly, the people we work with expect us to use technology to make it easier for them to connect with the Ministry. During the year, we continued to enhance our online options and channels to improve the delivery and efficiency of our services.
For our clients, this has meant being able to apply for financial assistance29, update personal details, and report changes in circumstances more conveniently, while maintaining security.
We introduced the RealMe login portal for online applications, which allows clients to easily and securely prove their identity online and access different services using a single username and password.
In the three months to 30 June 2014, 37.4 per cent of all financial assistance applications we received were made online.
Supporting students
We have used feedback and ideas from students to enhance the StudyLink website home page. Behind these changes is an enhanced search engine and meta data which improves the results of any search.
In addition, we launched the MyStudyLink mobile view in March 2014 to enable students to access their personal information from mobile devices. The mobile view simplifies the login process to allow students to move between the mobile and full website views more conveniently.
More students are now using the MyStudyLink channel to lodge and monitor their student support payments. In the last year, 98 per cent of 213,068 students applied for student support online. Seventy-nine per cent of current, eligible students used MyStudyLink to review and confirm their student loan contract.
Online channels for older people
We sent regular email updates to around 170,000 New Zealand Superannuation clients and SuperGold cardholders to advise them of annual payment increases, health- and wellbeing-related issues, legislative changes, and special offers from SuperGold Card business partners.
How we demonstrate our success
|
Intermediate outcome | Indicator |
Intended trend |
Result |
Trend |
Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
More clients are using a wider range of services online |
The proportion of people aged 65 and over taking up online services |
Up |
2013/14: 30.0% 2012/13: 32.0% |
Down |
Online applications for New Zealand Superannuation have declined slightly since the introduction of a more secure login process in December 2013. |
|
The proportion of clients applying for a benefit online |
Up |
2013/14: 15.95% 2012/13: 18.95%30 |
Down |
In 2013/14, we introduced the RealMe login portal to enhance online security. This has resulted in a decline in the number of clients applying for benefits online. |
|
|
Transactions with the Ministry will be more convenient for clients |
The proportion of students applying for student support online |
Equal |
2013/14: 98.0% 2012/13: 96.6% |
Up |
In 2013/14, we maintained the high level of students applying for student assistance online. |
|
More students access their MyStudyLink e-accounts using smart applications |
Up |
2013/14: No result 2012/13: No result |
N/A |
The mobile view was launched on 16 March 2014 and will enable us to measure and report on this indicator from 2014/15. |
|
|
More eligible students review and approve their student loan contract through their MyStudyLink e-accounts |
Up |
2013/14: 108,527 |
N/A |
This is a new indicator and a baseline is being established to determine future trend. |
Note: Result changes below 1 per cent between 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 are considered not statistically significant.
Footnotes
29: ‘Financial assistance applications’ refer to student loan, student allowance, superannuation and benefit applications.
30: In the Ministry’s 2012/2013 Annual Report, we reported 31.7%, which counted all online applications, irrespective of whether the applicant had their application processed. For 2013/2014, we changed our measurement and only counted online applications that were processed. This is now consistent with the way we count online applications for other service lines.
