We have a central role in social development in New Zealand - Annual Report 2019 - 2020
We want to achieve a better future for New Zealanders. This involves working with and through others to take a holistic approach to meeting people’s needs, and intervening early to get the best solutions.
Our social development work includes:
- providing stewardship of the social security system
- providing services to support individuals and whānau, such as paying benefits
- investing for wellbeing, such as funding community-building programmes.
We take a joined-up approach to achieving the Government’s social vision
To provide a range of essential services, and to maximise our reach and impact for New Zealanders, we partner where appropriate with other organisations (both government and non-government) that can deliver services more effectively. We lead and co-ordinate social policy development for the Government, including its commitment to the overhaul of the welfare system, but we work with others to achieve outcomes. This means working across the social, justice and economic sectors and with iwi and non-government agencies (both private sector and not-for-profit), to:
- contribute to cross-sectoral strategies
- lead strategies for particular projects or communities
- develop and provide to Ministers policy advice on issues that affect the whole social sector
- deliver services in partnership with other organisations
- provide research and evaluation to back up our social policy advice.
We respond flexibly and rapidly to changes in our environment
Throughout this year we made it easier for people to access the services we offer so they can get what they are entitled to. This meant enhancing MyMSD, improving our physical service centres (including continuing to provide in-centre computer kiosks), and responding to events that affected people adversely such as the Whakaari/White Island eruption and regional floods and droughts.
From March 2020 we supported the Government’s response package to COVID-19, by:
- providing policy advice on a welfare response to the impact of the pandemic
- designing, setting up and activating at pace processes and programmes to deliver immediate support to New Zealanders, including the Wage Subsidy, leave support payments, and the COVID-19 Income Relief Payment
- accelerating employment services to help people get back into the workforce as quickly as possible (over 74,000 people left the benefit system to go to work in 2019/20 – this was 6 percent up on last year despite COVID-19).
We also progressed the Government’s programme to overhaul the welfare system, and we sped up implementation of overhaul initiatives that had particular value as a COVID-19 response – these included increasing benefits, doubling the Winter Energy Payment, and temporarily removing benefit stand-down periods.
This year we further demonstrated our flexible approach by teaming up with other agencies on the all-of-government response to COVID-19
The Government activated the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) on 12 March 2020. We supported the all-of-government effort by seconding staff to the NCMC to support the welfare functions during Alert Levels 4, 3 and 2 [1].
We provided strategic input on and oversight of welfare issues, acted as liaison between the agencies in the Welfare Pillar of the NCMC National Action Plan, implemented outreach initiatives to vulnerable groups, and assisted with reporting and advice to Ministers.
We also supported the insights- and evidence-based approach to the COVID-19 response by co-ordinating data and analysis from across government, including on the social impacts of lockdown, and providing regular data to COVID-19 Ministers to support their discussions. This work eventually fed into the COVID-19 Weekly Monitoring Report (which we continue to support) and options for mitigating social impacts.
Since 10 April 2020 everyone who comes into New Zealand has been required to spend 14 days in a managed isolation or quarantine facility. This is managed through the Regional Isolation and Quarantine Co-ordination Cell (RIQCC) in Auckland and Isolation Quarantine Repatriation in Wellington. An MSD team has been physically located at the RIQCC since April, when a welfare hub was established to help individuals and families returning to New Zealand to access the assistance required to resettle. Our team is focused on helping to:
- connect people to stable housing solutions in the private rental market
- meet travel expenses, where appropriate, through existing support mechanisms
- triage people for income support and other needs
- find employment.
Footnotes
- The COVID-19 response Alert Levels were introduced by the Government on 21 March 2020. New Zealand was immediately set at Level 2, and the active Alert Level was subsequently:
- heightened to Level 3 at 11.59pm on 23 March
- heightened to Level 4 at 11.59pm on 25 March (this was the start of the nationwide lockdown period)
- lowered to Level 3 at 11.59pm on 27 April (beginning the easing of lockdown restrictions)
- lowered to Level 2 at 11.59pm on 13 May (after which most businesses were able to resume operations)
- lowered to Level 1 at 11.59pm on 8 June (essentially removing all lockdown restrictions except border controls). Level 1 remained in place until 12 August 2020, when restrictions were reintroduced following new cases originating from community transmission.
