Contributing to Better Public Services
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In 2012 the Government set ten challenging results for the public sector to achieve over a five-year period, and in May 2017 announced six new targets.
In 2017/2018, following the Better Public Services results refresh, we will be responsible for leading two Result programmes:
- Result 1: Reducing long-term welfare dependence
- Result 8: Better access to social housing.
In 2016/2017, we were responsible for leading two of the Results:
- Result 1: Reducing welfare dependence
- Result 4: Reduce assaults on children. [28]
We lead efforts to achieve targets for Result 1
Result 1: Reduce working-age client numbers (targets: achieve a 25 percent reduction in working-age client numbers from 295,000 in June 2014 to 220,000 in June 2018, and an accumulated actuarial release [29] of $13 billion by June 2018 [30])
Currently the proportion of the working-age population dependent on welfare is the lowest since 2007, and the number of beneficiaries is the lowest it has been since December 2008. As at 30 June 2017 the number of working-age benefit recipients was 276,041, a reduction of 3,765 (1.3 percent) from 30 June 2016. A fall in the number of people receiving Sole Parent Support by 4,791 (7.3 percent) to 60,631 was the major contributor to the overall reduction. The accumulated actuarial release for the period from 30 June 2014 to 30 June 2017 is $5.2 billion. This is an increase of $1.1 billion since 31 March 2016.
We have invested in employment interventions known to be effective for high-liability clients. This includes providing more support and intervening earlier with people who have significant barriers to employment, to get them off benefit and into work.
MSD has:
- developed new interventions with support from a cross-agency working group, and tested these
- continued to improve business-as-usual activities, like transforming online services through initiatives such as the Simplification programme.
Since the implementation of the social investment approach, we have made considerable strides in reducing long-term benefit dependence. Most of the supports and services available to our clients enable them to achieve improved outcomes, ideally resulting in sustainable employment. However not all of the services we currently provide work for all of our clients: there is a growing number of clients who have high barriers to entering employment and who require different types of services to those we currently offer.
We are setting a new strategic direction, which will enable us to strengthen our understanding of return on investment, how to redirect resources to high-performing services, and how this is reflected in our Employment Outcomes Investment Strategy.
Liability release vs. liability reduction
The actuarial release target for BPS Result 1 (BPS1) was developed to encourage working with people who are at higher risk of long-term dependency, have barriers to employment, and need more support to achieve employment goals than some of our other clients who have less complex needs. The method used for this measurement was adopted because it:
- can be updated on a timely basis
- correlates to the other BPS1 target (number of beneficiaries)
- removes any impact of subjectivity.
The release is made up of two parts: (a) the difference in benefit payments actually made up to the date we are calculating the release at and the benefit payments we would expect to be made if the number of people receiving benefits had stayed constant, and (b) the expected savings from future benefit payments due to the lower number of people receiving benefits at the calculation date using June 2014 valuation assumptions. Adjustments are made for seasonality and for changes to benefit rates arising from the Budget 2016 Child Material Hardship Package (CMHP), to be consistent with how the target was set. Removing these adjustments from the calculation would reduce the release by $0.3 billion (for seasonality) and $0.2 billion (for the CMHP).
Other suitable methods could have been used to calculate an actuarial release, including using the movements from the annual valuation updates. The full liability figure reported from year to year reflects the influence of many factors, including changes to economic forecasts for inflation and interest rates and numbers of clients. It also reflects changes to our estimates of how future benefit experience will evolve; these are subjective, are only calculated annually and some time after the year end, and can have a disproportionate effect on the liability either to increase or to decrease it.
On the other hand, the actuarial release measure has been designed to remove subjectivity and simplify the calculation. It also more clearly reflects the effect on the liability of policy development and management influence. The adopted methodology satisfies the criteria required by MSD and for that reason was selected for the BPS1 target.
Number of working-age people on a main benefit (excluding Jobseeker Support – Student Hardship)
In 2016/2017 we led efforts to achieve the target for Result 4
Result 4: Reduce the number of children experiencing physical abuse (target: halt the 10-year rise in children experiencing physical abuse and reduce 2011 numbers by 5 percent by 2017 [31])
We were the lead agency for this Result to 31 March 2017. On 1 April 2017 responsibility for leading this Result passed from MSD to the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki.
The number of children experiencing substantiated physical abuse is measured on a 12-monthly basis. In the year to December 2016 physical abuse was substantiated for 3,046 children, compared with 2,968 for the year to December 2015. Since the BPS results programme began in June 2011, the number of children experiencing substantiated physical abuse in a year is now 2.1 percent lower.
We have established ten Children’s Teams, the latest being Counties Manukau. As of 31 March 2017, 4,184 children had been referred to the ten Children’s Teams (3,405 were accepted) and 443 children had successfully exited with a transition plan.
Under the Community Investment Strategy, we continued to work on ensuring that funding is aligned with priority investment areas, is well targeted, and is based on evidence of effectiveness. Some funding has already been reprioritised to better support vulnerable children. In October 2016 funding was reprioritised to expand Family Start: this resulted in four new Family Start sites being established in Timaru/Ashburton, Taranaki, Tauranga and Manawatu.
Children with substantiated findings of physical abuse (12-month periods)
We supported other agencies to deliver on Results 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 10
Result 2: Increase participation in early childhood education (ECE) (target: by the end of 2016, 98 percent of children starting school will have participated in ECE [32])
Until 31 March 2017 we supported the Ministry of Education as lead agency with responsibility for these Results. On 1 April 2017 this responsibility passed from MSD to Oranga Tamariki.
As at 30 September 2016 (latest published result [33]) the ECE participation rate was 96.6 percent.
Up to 31 March 2017 we subsidised the cost of ECE for children aged between 18 and 36 months in our care and for those who were enrolled in the Family Start programme. At 31 March 2017
34, 72.6 percent of children in our care aged between 18 months and five years were enrolled in ECE, while 72 percent of children in Family Start aged between 18 months and five years were enrolled in ECE.
Prior ECE participation rate
Result 3: Increase infant immunisation rates (target: achieve full immunisation of 95 percent of eight-month-olds by December 2014 and maintain this through to June 2017), and reduce the incidence of rheumatic fever by two-thirds (target: 1.4 cases per 100,000 people by June 2017 [35])
Until 31 March 2017 we supported the Ministry of Health as lead agency with responsibility for this Result. On 1 April 2017 this responsibility passed from MSD to Oranga Tamariki.
An immunisation rate of 93.3 percent was reached in December 2016 for babies turning eight months of age [36]. This represents an increase of 8 percent in infant immunisation coverage since the start of the target (June 2012).
Through the Gateway assessment programme, we ensured that children in our care were fully immunised [37]. As at 31 March 2017, 78.3 percent of children in our care had been referred for individualised health and education assessments through the Gateway programme.
At 31 December 2016 the incidence of rheumatic fever was 3.0 cases per 100,000 people (137 cases), which is a 23 percent decrease from the baseline rate of 4.0 cases per 100,000 in the 2009/2010 to 2011/2012 period.
Rheumatic fever
Immunisation coverage for children at eight months
Result 5: Increase attainment of NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent qualification (target: increase the proportion of 18-year-olds with NCEA Level 2 or equivalent qualification to 85 percent by 2017 [38])
Until 31 March 2017 we supported the Ministry of Education as lead agency with responsibility for this Result. On 1 April 2017 this responsibility passed from MSD to Oranga Tamariki.
The result for the 2016 calendar year is projected to be around 85.2 percent [39], compared with 83.3 percent for 2015.
We contributed to this target through the Youth Service, which aims to assist disengaged young people back into training or education. As at 30 June 2017, 88.8 percent of the 10,166 participants in the Youth Service were engaged in education, training or work-based learning.
18-year-olds’ achievement of NCEA Level 2
Result 7: Reduce crime rates (target: reduce crime by 20 percent by June 2017 [40]) and Result 8: Reduce reoffending rates (target: reduce reoffending rates by 25 percent by 2017 [41])
As a member of the Youth Crime Action Plan (YCAP) until 31 March 2017, we supported the Ministry of Justice as lead agency with responsibility for these Results. Our areas of focus were responding to youth crime and the prevention of youth reoffending. On 1 April 2017 our membership of YCAP passed to Oranga Tamariki.
As at 31 March 2017 the youth crime rate was 221 court appearances per 10,000 [42]. The total recorded crime rate had reduced by 13 percent and the youth crime rate by 31 percent since June 2011.
The rate of reoffending rose from 28.3 cases per 10,000 population at 30 June 2016 to 28.6 at 31 December 2016 [43]. The reoffending rate had reduced by 4.3 percent since June 2011.
Youth crime rate
Reoffending rate
Result 10: Enhance New Zealanders’ ability to deal with government agencies in a digital environment (target: increase the percentage of New Zealanders who complete their transactions with government online to 70 percent by 2017 [44])
We supported the Department of Internal Affairs as lead agency with responsibility for this Result. Our contributing indicator to the Result is the proportion of applications for financial assistance that are completed digitally.
In the quarter ended 31 December 2016, 66.2 percent of applications for financial assistance were lodged online, up from 55.9 percent a year before [45].
In the same quarter 58 percent of New Zealanders‘ common transactions were completed digitally compared with 52.9 percent for the same period in the previous year.
We received 38,739 more online applications in the quarter ending 30 June 2017 than in the same quarter in 2016. The process for clients applying online is now more streamlined. When they come to a service centre for their appointment, they do not have to complete a paper-based application and then wait while a case manager manually processes the application (including re-keying information).
In 2016/2017 our greatest increase in online uptake was in the Sole Parent Support category (up 24.4 percentage points), followed by supplementary benefits (20.3 points) and Jobseeker Support (19.8 points).
Average rate of transactions completed in a digital environment
Footnotes
[28] Until 31 March 2017. On 1 April 2017 responsibility for this Result transferred to the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki.
[29] An ’actuarial release’ is an estimate of the change in long-term liability of the benefit system resulting from changes in the number of beneficiaries and their likelihood of long-term benefit receipt.
[30] These targets replaced the previous targets in February 2015.
[31] This target was set in 2012.
[32] This target was set in 2012.
[33] Source: http://ssc.govt.nz/bps-supporting-vulnerable-children (extracted 23 August 2017).
[34] On 1 April 2017 this responsibility passed to Oranga Tamariki.
[35] This target was set in 2012.
[36] Source: http://ssc.govt.nz/bps-supporting-vulnerable-children (extracted 23 August 2017).
[37] On 1 April 2017 this responsibility passed to Oranga Tamariki.
[38] This target was set in 2012.
[39] Source: http://ssc.govt.nz/bps-boosting-skills-employment (extracted 23 August 2017).
[40] This target replaced the previous target in 2015.
[41] This target replaced the previous target in 2015.
[42] Source: http://ssc.govt.nz/bps-reducing-crime (extracted 23 August 2017).
[44] This target was set in 2012. In the May 2017 BPS refresh, the Government set a new target of 80 percent of the most common transactions being completed in a digital environment by 2021.
[45] Source: http://ssc.govt.nz/bps-interaction-with-govt (extracted 23 August 2017).
