New Zealanders get the support they require
Housing
Measuring our performance
On page 17, we describe our outcomes framework and impact statements.
The following impact statement describes the outcome we are aiming to achieve in housing:
- Improve support to people, whānau and families in hardship or insecure housing.
The following KPIs measure progress towards that impact statement:
- Housing support resolution
- Time taken to be placed on the Public Housing Register.
We also have two overarching impact statements, which we deliver to across all our work. These are:
- Improve equity of outcomes, particularly for Māori
- Improve people’s trust and confidence in the welfare system.
The following KPIs measure progress towards those impact statements:
- Ethnicity cohort data across our KPIs (Māori and Pacific peoples initially)
- Client trust: Net trust score
- Client experience: Overall service score.
See pages 72 to 79 for more information on how we are performing against our KPIs.
Government Target: Fewer people in emergency housing
In April 2024, the Government announced nine targets for agencies across the public service to achieve. MSD is the co-lead agency, alongside the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for Target 8: ’Fewer people in emergency housing’. This target includes households receiving Emergency Housing Special Needs Grants from MSD and households in Contracted Emergency Housing, which is administered by HUD. This section outlines MSD’s work towards achieving this target.
- Target (by 2030): 75% fewer households
- Baseline (December 2023): 3,100
- As at 30 June 2024: 2,133 (Forecast for June 2024, excluding Contracted Emergency Housing: 2,870)
- Progress from baseline: -967 (currently moving in the direction to meet the target)
We supported a significant number of households out of emergency housing
The number of households in emergency housing has decreased month on month throughout the year, returning to pre-COVID-19 levels.
Additional investment from Budget 2024 recognised the success of emergency housing support services in helping people to exit emergency housing into sustainable accommodation. We have secured $83.5 million over two years to maintain these services, including Intensive Case Management, Navigators, Housing Brokers and Rental Readiness.
On 30 April 2024, we implemented a priority one fast track on the Public Housing Register for families with children who have been in emergency housing for 12 weeks or longer. The fast track will mean this cohort is prioritised for public housing and their application is made visible for any vacant property that meets their housing requirements. During May and June 2024, 333 families moved from emergency housing into public housing via this fast track.
MSD also implemented the Emergency Housing Supplier Standards to help ensure that basic quality standards are met for our clients (for example, responding to requests for repairs or maintenance within a reasonable timeframe). MSD refers clients first to emergency housing suppliers who have opted into the standards. As at 30 June 2024, 97 percent of occupied suppliers have opted into the standards.
Case study – Housing
MSD Nelson Housing Broker Sarah Moon works every day with New Zealanders who face real challenges in finding housing.
She works to get them into somewhere they can call home. It can be really hard making all the pieces fit, but recently she was delighted to be able to place sole parent Evan and his young family into a stable home in Nelson.
Evan says he’s thrilled to find a rental property after having lived in a caravan on the children’s grandparents’ property, then emergency housing, followed by transitional housing.
It’s been a tough road for this family. In early May, Sarah arranged for Evan and his children to view a property being offered by a private landlord in Nelson. “The children treated the house like it was their home from the first minute,” says Sarah. “It was such a natural fit for them, and Evan and the children just clicked with the landlord and his family.”
Sarah and Evan’s MSD case manager, Liam, were able to arrange a Bond Grant, Rent in Advance and Tenancy Cost Cover – some of the housing supports MSD offers – to help him secure the property.
“My children come first in my life,” says Evan. “Seeing my babies run around our own house with smiles on their faces is the biggest reward there is and I want to thank everyone who made that possible.”
Picture above shows Evan with MSD Housing Broker Sarah, who helped secure a stable home for Evan and his children.
Income support
Measuring our performance
On page 17, we describe our outcomes framework and impact statements.
The following impact statements describe the outcome we are aiming to achieve in income support:
- Improve awareness of and access to support
- Improve effectiveness of support.
The following KPIs measure progress towards those impact statements:
- End-to-end time to receive a financial benefit
- Accurate benefit entitlement assessments
- Average overpayment debt.
We also have two overarching impact statements, which we deliver to across all our work. These are:
- Improve equity of outcomes, particularly for Māori
- Improve people’s trust and confidence in the welfare system.
The following KPIs measure progress towards those impact statements:
- Ethnicity cohort data across our KPIs (Māori and Pacific peoples initially)
- Client trust: Net trust score
- Client experience: Overall service score.
See pages 72 to 79 for more information on how we are performing against our KPIs.
The number of people receiving a main benefit is increasing
The number of people receiving a main benefit has continued to increase throughout the year. This was largely driven by an increase in the number of people receiving Jobseeker Support, due to worsening economic conditions.
As at 30 June 2024, approximately 380,900 people were receiving a main benefit. This number has increased by 8.3 percent (around 29,100 people) since June 2023. Main benefit numbers are forecast to continue rising until the start of 2025.
Responding to the challenge of supporting people back into work continues to be our priority.
We are processing benefit applications on time
MSD continues to meet our benefit entitlement application processing timeframes, as measured by the proportion of benefit entitlement assessments completed within five working days of all information being received.
Our end-to-end timeliness KPI measures the average working days taken to pay working-age, main benefit clients from the first date of contact to the first day of payment. This includes both the time taken for clients to provide all the relevant information for an application to be processed, which is largely outside of MSD’s control, and the time taken by MSD to process the application.
The end-to-end time taken has increased across all clients and continues to be adversely affected by the time clients take to provide their information.
Through the delivery of MSD’s Te Pae Tawhiti Transformation Programme over the coming years, we will enable more clients to self-serve. This will free up frontline staff to focus on more complex cases or people who need more support to get into work.
Our ability to assess benefit entitlements accurately has decreased, but we are focused on lifting performance and getting it right
Our accuracy in assessing student and senior entitlements remains high – and these cohorts make up the majority of the people we provide income support to each year.
Our accuracy in assessing working-age benefit entitlements has continued to decrease. While our accuracy in assessing main benefit entitlements is higher than supplementary benefits, both have decreased this year. There are a few reasons for this: case complexity, staff having to navigate multiple frontline systems and the need to strengthen our internal capability and quality supports.
Making improvements to the way we work to help us improve our accuracy is a priority. In the short term, we have redeployed staff to focus on quality assurance, capability development and technical skills. We have also introduced new or improved training resources for Temporary Additional Support, Accommodation Supplement and Obligations Management. We are particularly focused on supplementary benefits as these are more complicated to assess.
In the longer term, Te Pae Tawhiti Transformation Programme will support frontline staff to more accurately process benefit entitlements by reducing the number of systems they need to navigate to understand a client’s eligibility and process an application.
Overpayment debt is increasing
The average amount of overpayment debt per client has been slowly increasing. This means debt is being created faster than clients can pay it off. Weakening economic conditions and the rising cost of living have also impacted clients’ ability to repay debt.
MSD is working to ensure that less debt is generated by making it easier for clients to declare income through online channels and helping clients understand their obligations to inform MSD of any changes in their circumstances. This includes improving data-sharing arrangements with other government agencies to ensure we are informed when client information changes.
We have enacted government policy changes
We introduced the Child Support Pass-on on 1 July 2023. As at April 2024, around 34,100 sole parent families were receiving $22.90 extra (on average) a week.
Parents on a sole parent rate of a main benefit now receive child support payments directly from Inland Revenue and these payments are treated as income for benefit purposes by MSD. This ensures that sole parents receiving a benefit are treated consistently with other people receiving benefits and income.
In February 2024, legislation was passed to index main benefits to inflation from 1 April 2024. This replaced the requirement to index main benefits by net average wage growth. Indexing benefits to inflation protects the purchasing power of people who receive benefits and ensures that main benefits keep pace with the cost of living.
On 1 April 2024, main benefits were increased according to the 4.66 percent rise in inflation for the year ending December 2023. Following this, a couple on Jobseeker Support with children receive an extra $56.48 a fortnight and Sole Parent Support recipients receive an extra $44.02 a fortnight.
Case study – Income support
A bright and independent future is ahead for Billie-Jean and Erika, two nursing students at the Western Institute of Technology in Taranaki.
MSD’s Training Incentive Allowance has enabled the wāhine to pursue their goals with a Bachelor of Nursing programme by providing financial support during their studies. This means that they can focus on full-time study and buy essential items such as uniforms, laptops and medical kits, as well as pay for travel and childcare costs.
Erika started off on a Supported Living Payment, a payment for disabled people and people with health conditions, due to full-body arthritis. “I love looking after people and I know it’s worth it,” she says. “I was afraid I wouldn’t get a job due to my arthritis but people of all capabilities are able to do this job.”
Billie-Jean is a solo mum with a passion to help others. She is keen to continue her study and inspire others to pursue their goals in healthcare. “I want to continue being an advocate for Māori and caring for people in my community.”
Picture above shows Erika and Billie-Jean outside the Western Institute of Technology in Taranaki where they are working towards their Bachelor of Nursing.
