Delivering our strategic intentions

This section outlines how we will manage our functions and operations over the next four years to achieve agreed outcomes and results for New Zealanders. Our key priorities over the next four years are:

• reducing welfare dependence
• working differently to better identify, support and protect the most vulnerable children and young people in our society
• contributing to a fair, efficient social housing market
• investing more effectively in communities
• working with the social sector to maximise our collective impact to deliver better outcomes
• improving the security of staff and clients.

Reducing welfare dependence

The majority of people want to be in the workforce to better their lives and those of their families. The Ministry’s aim is to help those people on a benefit become independent. The Ministry is putting people at the centre of targeted support to help those most at risk of welfare dependency get into sustainable work.

The next four years

In February 2015 the Government announced a new target to reduce long-term dependence – reduce working-age client numbers by 25 percent, and reduce the long-term cost of benefit dependency by $13 billion by June 2018.

Achieving the refreshed target will mean trialling new support and services for clients to achieve sustainable outcomes for those who are reliant on a benefit.

The Ministry will tailor services to better meet people’s needs by taking an active, work-focused approach to get people off welfare and into sustainable work, giving them better opportunities and a brighter future for themselves and their families.

The Ministry will continue to build on its successes, such as expanding the 3K to Christchurch package to incorporate locations outside of Canterbury, by providing incentives for people to move to where work is available. The Ministry is working alongside the New Zealand Defence Force, investing more in the Limited Services Volunteer programme to support at-risk young people to build life skills, increase their motivation and improve employment prospects.

Cross-agency approach

Meeting the new expectations will be very challenging and no single intervention will get us there. The diversity of the Ministry’s clients means success within the current fiscal context will require more targeted services from across government and active participation and support from employers. A lot of change will be necessary and the Ministry alone does not have the capacity to deliver on the new target. An integrated cross-agency approach will be needed alongside innovation in our interventions.

The Ministry recognises that its clients are also clients of other key agencies such as the Ministries of Education, Health and Justice. Working together with these agencies will help the Ministry better understand their own clients and their needs.

Each agency will have to identify how they can best help achieve the target by delivering on their core work. Agencies will also need to work together to identify how best to collaborate to achieve a collective impact.

The approach to achieve the target is to develop short-term trials focused on clients with health conditions or disabilities, alongside developing a longer-term, strategic cross-agency work programme. The Ministry will work with the Ministries of Health, Education and Business, Innovation and Employment and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) on:

• establishing an employer-led trial in Christchurch, focusing on getting 300 clients with a disability or health condition into work across three Ministry sites
• accelerating the existing immigration-welfare interface work programme. This aims to identify employers and sectors with increasing preferences for hiring temporary migrants over beneficiaries. The Ministry will work with employers to develop hiring and workforce development strategies
• improving the interface between ACC and the Ministry for people assessed as vocationally independent, to support people to find work before they need benefit support
• developing a regional mental health and employment strategy to support people with mental illness and addiction to gain and maintain employment. The Ministry will specifically work alongside the Auckland and Waitemata district health boards on this initiative
• placing Ministry staff members in General Practitioner offices to work with clients and develop tailored solutions
• locating Ministry staff members in mental health providers to work with clients and develop tailored solutions
• developing a return to work programme for stroke survivors, with support delivered during and after rehabilitation. The Ministry will work in collaboration with Workbridge and Careers NZ on this initiative.

Findings from trials about what works for particular client groups and opportunities identified to improve cross-agency working will inform development of a strategic cross-agency work programme.

Smarter investing of resources to get the best results

Underpinning New Zealand’s reformed welfare system is an investment approach that ensures the Ministry invests its resources in the interventions that make the biggest difference to its clients. Actuarial tools have helped to calculate the future cost of the benefit system for different groups of people. They have also helped the Ministry understand where it should direct services and supports to achieve the best outcomes.

The Ministry will continue to work with more young people who are identified as needing greater support.

Risk modelling will help us understand better which clients need more intensive support, or those for whom employment may be a better focus than education.

Youth Service provides specialist case management and support for 16- to 19-year-olds to help them into training, education or work-based learning.

Supporting people with health conditions and disabilities into work

Disabled people and people with health conditions tell us how important getting a job is for them. Having a job isn’t just about money. Work gives people confidence and independence. It helps them build a better future for themselves and their family, and connect with their community.

Increasing the number of disabled people in paid employment will contribute to the BPS target to reduce welfare dependence and a Disability Action Plan shared result area. The Disability Action Plan is a key component of Government’s commitment to domestic and international obligations under the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Over the next three years the Ministry will continue to implement the Health and Disability Long-term Work Programme. This work aims to better support people with a health condition or a disability to obtain and sustain work. We will continue to trial innovative responses aimed at assisting disabled people into employment, including:

• trialling the Young Supported Living Payment Opt-in, which provides intensive support to young disabled people who want employment to find a job
• working across government agencies to increase the number of disabled people working in the public sector.

Working with a wider range of clients to break the pattern of welfare dependence

Working collaboratively with other agencies enables us to reach a wider group of clients.

There are strong links between crime and welfare, and evidence suggests that it is likely that many beneficiary clients are ex-offenders. To establish the extent of this correlation, the Ministry and the Department of Corrections are partnering to fully understand the crossover of our clients. We will develop a business case process to determine the most appropriate responses to identified problems with offending and the associated barriers to finding and staying in work.

Improving our service delivery model

We need to continue to learn what works for different people and consciously invest in the interventions that will have the greatest impact. The Ministry is building its ability to engage effectively with clients, understanding their individual circumstances, their goals and abilities. We will tailor our services according to how much support they need to find and retain employment.

Specific and new skills will be required of Ministry staff and improvements needed in case management. Risk profiling and better service matching will ensure we can match clients to the right service at the right time.

The Ministry will also develop the capacity to provide more specialised case management to support clients with the most complex needs. We will seek to increase investment in longer-term and more intensive supports.

Meanwhile, the Ministry will continue to provide lower intensity services through a range of channels to clients who are more capable of supporting themselves into work through standardised services. Our online and self-service options will be improved so that people requiring less intense services can more easily interact with the Ministry, allowing frontline services to focus on people with complex needs. These improvements will be delivered through the Simplification project.

Working differently to better identify, support and protect the most vulnerable children and young people in our society

Too many children have a childhood that makes it harder to thrive, belong and achieve. Over the next four years we will lead and contribute to action across the social sector to better identify, support and protect these vulnerable children and young people.

The next four years

A key priority over the next four years for the Ministry is to work with communities and the whole of government to fundamentally shift the way we work together to better identify, support and protect New Zealand’s vulnerable children and young people.

Efforts will be focused on the highest value activities that will make a difference for vulnerable children and families.

Modernising Child, Youth and Family

The Children’s Action Plan, along with other Ministry and government initiatives, is changing the environment in which Child, Youth and Family (CYF) operates – creating both opportunities and different expectations. The Modernising CYF programme seeks to respond to this changing landscape by making improvements to CYF’s operating model. This model will use an investment approach to work with the most vulnerable children in the right way and with the right supports.

CYF will continue to provide services that focus on core statutory priorities, deliver on non-negotiable commitments and undertake planned improvement activities over the next 12 months.

Expert Advisory Panel

During 2015 there was a change in the governance arrangements for the Modernising CYF programme of work. The Minister has appointed an independent Expert Advisory Panel that has been tasked with developing the business case for designing a new operating model for CYF. The Expert Panel will be responsible for providing the following deliverables to the Minister for Social Development:

• a programme level business case by 30 July 2015
• oversight of and challenge on the development of the detailed business case, to be delivered by December 2015.

The work the Ministry has done during the initial phases of Modernising CYF has been passed to the secretariat and Expert Panel and many of the Ministry’s resources have remained with the project. The Ministry will continue to be heavily involved in the modernisation programme of work, supporting the Expert Panel in any way it can.

The Ministry will continue to proactively contribute to the CYF Modernisation programme and will work with the Expert Panel as it initiates work on the design of the business case options. This will provide the Ministry with an opportunity to continue to help share and strategise about what the future operating model could look like as well as help shape the direction.

Children’s Action Plan

The Children’s Action Plan is a multi-agency plan that works to identify, support and protect vulnerable children and their families/whānau who do not meet the threshold required for CYF intervention. Chief executives from the Ministries of Health, Education, Social Development and Justice, and the Police are responsible for implementing a plan to improve results for vulnerable children. The Children’s Action Plan is driving fundamental changes around how government agencies, NGOs and iwi work together to identify, support and protect vulnerable children.

Children’s teams

A key element of the Children’s Action Plan is the implementation of Children’s Teams across New Zealand. Children’s Teams are made up of skilled frontline practitioners and professionals from the health, education, justice and social sectors. They ensure the right level and type of service are provided to the most vulnerable children by having one assessment, one plan and one lead professional for each child.

There are currently four Children’s Teams established in Rotorua, Whangarei, Horowhenua/Ōtaki and Marlborough. The remaining six sites to go live are at different stages of development in Hamilton, Tairawhiti, Eastern Bay of Plenty, Christchurch, Whanganui and Clendon/Manurewa/Papakura.

Three important programmes of work to support Children’s Teams are:

• the Vulnerable Kids Information System (ViKI)
• the Vulnerable Children’s Hub (The Hub)
• an Approved Information Sharing Agreement (AISA).

ViKI will manage the secure input, access, management and reporting of data for Children’s Teams.

The Hub will be a point of contact for raising concerns about vulnerable children.

An AISA will enable government and NGOs to improve the way we work together around sharing information.

We will be trialling The Hub, ViKI and an AISA in Hamilton to support the Children’s Team to go to scale in a large urban centre. What we learn from Hamilton will inform the rollout of further Children’s Teams.

Improving child protection and safety

The Children’s Action Plan also includes implementation of the children’s workforce requirements under the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 (the Act). The Children’s Action Plan Directorate has a key role co-ordinating and implementing the Act to improve the safety and competency of the children’s workforce, through new safety checking, core competencies and child protection policies for people who work with children.

New safety checking regulations require State-funded organisations who work with children to have all their paid children’s workforce safety checked. The regulations will be phased, starting from 1 July 2015 and will extend to existing and non-core children’s workers in later years.

Two sets of best practice guidelines for safety checking and child protection policies have also been published for organisations not covered by the Act. New core competencies for all people working with children are being developed. These core competencies will promote the common skills, language and understandings necessary to work effectively with children.

Contributing to a fair, efficient social housing market

Suitable housing plays an important role in people’s ability to do well in life, raise healthy families and succeed in education and work. We are delivering new housing functions to help people with the greatest need access social housing and assist those who are able to move towards housing independence.

The next four years

The Social Housing Reform Programme aims to create a fairer, more effective and more efficient social housing sector to improve outcomes for some of New Zealand’s most vulnerable people. Key social housing functions the Ministry is responsible for include:

• carrying out social housing needs assessment
• managing the social housing register
• purchasing social housing places
• carrying out tenancy reviews
• managing associated debt and fraud investigations.

Managing these functions gives us the opportunity to engage with new or existing clients to consider their needs as part of the wider picture of social support we can offer them.

The Ministry’s goal is to help people move to housing independence when they can and to free up homes for those who need it most.

Developing a new purchasing role

Over the next four years the Ministry aims to enhance its role as the purchaser of social housing tenancies and increase diversity in the social housing market.

We will do this by trialling different contracting approaches and supporting the Transactions Unit set up within the Treasury to manage transactions of Housing New Zealand properties. The Ministry ran a Registration of Interest process seeking an additional 300 social housing places in Auckland, in order to start testing new contracting arrangements. In June 2015, the Ministry followed up with a Request for Proposals that aims to secure long-term contracts for the additional places.

The social housing purchasing trial in Auckland tested a process that allows Housing New Zealand and community housing providers to have the same access to the waiting list within the trial areas so that if an applicant receives offers from more than one provider, the applicant can choose which provider to use. The trial was intended to test the objectives to make better use of property, better manage price and value for money, and collect information about provider and applicant behaviour. We can now evaluate and learn from this trial to improve future processes.

Releasing information to support providers

Information is one of the levers we have available to influence change in the social housing market and improve outcomes for the public.

In April 2015, the Ministry published its first Social Housing IRRS Purchasing Intentions. This provided information about: demand for social housing, how social housing places are purchased, what tools are available to support people to independence, and how tenants are matched with places and providers.

The Ministry will work to develop the information base further to improve future iterations of the Purchasing Intentions. We will do this by surveying social housing providers about the information they need, and developing a demand forecast.

Releasing this type of information will support current and potential housing providers to make investment decisions and improve the diversity of the market.

Review of needs assessment model

Over the next four years the Ministry will review the social housing needs assessment model (the Social Allocation System). Our aim is to gain a broader picture of housing need, including the likely duration of people’s housing need, and the support and services they may require to transition to independence.

Alleviating pressure on the social housing register

Starting in June 2015 we will begin implementing a package of new initiatives to better assist people most in need of housing, and support more people into independence from social housing when appropriate.

These initiatives will:

• start to use benefit system levers to work with social housing applicants to achieve work and housing outcomes
• introduce additional tools to support people into independence
• extend the rollout of tenancy reviews.

Providing advice

To increase overall system efficiency, the Ministry will provide advice on:

• improving the functioning of the social housing market

• addressing disincentives for clients to transition out of social housing

• ways to further improve the overall match between tenants, providers and social housing places

• funding for emergency housing.

Reducing rates of rheumatic fever

Reducing household crowding is one of the main strategies for achieving the Better Public Services target to reduce rates of rheumatic fever. Social housing supports this by fast tracking access to social housing for families with children at risk of rheumatic fever.

Between the December quarter 2013 and December quarter 2014, 223 families have been fast tracked on the social housing register, and 150 have been housed in social housing. The majority of the families are in Auckland.

Investing more effectively in communities

The Ministry is changing the way it achieves positive results for vulnerable children, young people and adults by targeting funding to where it makes the biggest difference.

The next four years

The Ministry purchases around $331 million of social services for vulnerable children, young people and adults. It is important to ensure we purchase social services that are aligned with government priorities, and are targeted according to need.

To ensure funding makes a difference in communities, we are improving the quality of services and the way we work with providers. More sharply focused investment in Ministry-funded providers will mean government funding is used more efficiently and effectively in the sector.

A Community Investment Strategy

The Ministry will use a Community Investment Strategy (CI Strategy) to inform the choice of social services that it purchases for New Zealand’s most vulnerable communities. It will determine how the Ministry engages and develops partnerships with the community sector.

The CI Strategy will ensure the Ministry can provide the sector with a clear direction for future funding decisions that are consistent and transparent. It will be underpinned by a results measurement framework that will help the Ministry to benchmark the performance of the services it purchases.

Over the next four years the CI Strategy will:

• include results-based measures in all provider contracts
• remove duplication of services where it is found to exist unnecessarily
• align funding with the three government priorities identified in the CI Strategy, at the levels of service intensity indicated by the CI Strategy (prevention, early intervention and intensive support or statutory service).

Moving to results-based contracts

The Ministry will help providers funded by Community Investment move to results-based reporting as part of their contracts. We are conducting trials to establish how we can best incorporate a results-based focus in our contracts with social service providers. This will allow us to collect the information that will inform future purchasing decisions in line with the CI Strategy.

Working with others

The Ministry will continue to build partnerships to help communities identify issues and enhance their capability to find local solutions that positively impact individuals and families. This means being flexible so we can work more effectively together.

An example is our continued support for the development of the Make It Happen Te Hiku initiative in the Far North.

This work helps align the social development initiatives of the Te Hiku Social Development Accord with the work of other iwi, government agencies, philanthropic organisations, local businesses and local government.

The Ministry will also continue to work with the private sector, communities and NGO partners to find solutions that work. Two of these partnerships are:

• our partnership with Fonterra, Sanitarium and local school communities, which has enabled the successful expansion of the KickStart Breakfast programme
• our four-way Community Finance partnership with the Bank of New Zealand, Good Shepherd New Zealand and the Salvation Army. This partnership provides affordable no-interest and low-interest loans to people on lower incomes. The first year of the pilot is being evaluated and learnings will be applied to the ongoing design of the initiative.

Working with the social sector to maximise our collective impact to deliver better outcomes

New Zealanders are increasingly expecting government agencies to work together in different ways to make services more accessible and make a bigger difference. The Ministry has an important role in leading and supporting more effective cross-sector governance and management arrangements to enable greater collective impact.

The next four years

The Ministry cannot resolve complex social issues by working alone. We are continuing to join up with other sector agencies, providers and communities to work collaboratively to ensure New Zealanders receive the best possible outcomes.

Active leadership through arrangements such as the Social Sector Board (SSB) ensures that, as a sector, the people who need our support are clearly understood, allowing appropriate services to be wrapped around them.

Continuing to develop and implement new collaborative models

Integrated models can improve our focus on the public and results and improve people’s engagement and access to services.

Even when services are best delivered separately, there needs to be clarity about what each agency is aiming for, and what support each agency needs to deliver. The Social Sector Integration project will look at how social sector agencies can best integrate with each other, and with communities, to achieve outcomes.

The Ministry has specific social sector projects currently running such as the Children’s Teams, Social Sector Trials, Whānau Ora, Youth Offending Teams and Strengthening Families. Some models are still in the implementation stage, but over the next four years more data will become available to inform future decisions and transition to business-as-usual if appropriate.

Combined information systems

The Ministry aims to develop the functionality to link data across agencies, to provide better and earlier identification of those in need, identify those receiving services from multiple agencies, and reduce the compliance burden and costs for families.

Combining the Ministry’s data with that of other agencies to produce insights from analytics is costly and complex. We will continue to work through these challenges over the next four years.

Making sector investment decisions

A challenge for the sector is to develop an approach to social investment to get a greater sense of priority and focus across all of our agencies. The social sector is working to implement a social investment framework.

This work will encompass a clear understanding of the data analytics required to support decision-making. Once the appropriate systems and analytics capabilities are in place, the sector can explore medium-term cross-sector investment decisions based on evidence and attribution.

Productivity Commission Inquiry ‘More effective social services’

The Commission released a draft report on 28 April 2015 that examines the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches to commissioning and purchasing social services. The report highlights lessons learnt from recent initiatives and new approaches, as well as how to improve coordination within and between government agencies, service providers and clients.

The Commission supports a number of initiatives that the Ministry is implementing, such as expanding the investment approach and improving cross-agency co-ordination.

The report has the following implications for the Ministry over the next four years. The report:

• stresses the need to improve the quality of data collection and make better use of data. The Ministry’s Youth Service is an example of this. We use data to develop predictive models so we can identify a cohort of young people who are Not in Employment, Education or Training and are at risk of spending a long time on a benefit. This means we can target effectively, invest early, reduce our future liability and improve outcomes for this high-risk group
• presents seven service models for delivering social services, from in-house provision (when an agency defines the services outputs) to voucher systems (when clients choose services and providers).

The Ministry is already experimenting with several of the seven conceptual models. To address this further, the Ministry is developing a managed market model for social housing services and exploring client-directed budgets as part of Enabling Good Lives to give people choice in disability services.

The final report is expected in August. Decisions made as a result from this report may have an influence on the delivery of the Ministry’s strategic direction.

Working with iwi and the community for unique perspectives

As a sector we want to do better for all New Zealanders.

In the medium term, the Ministry wants to tap into the unique perspectives that iwi and communities have to determine what is most important for their community to improve social outcomes.

The Ministry is also committed to working differently with its community partners. In the past, our conversations with providers have too often been about narrow contractual outputs, rather than the broader social goals we are aiming for. The Ministry will continue to look for innovative ways to involve communities in decision-making about what works best in their area.

Helping seniors maintain independence and participate in society

The Ministry is working with NGOs and government agencies to improve outcomes for older people in New Zealand so they can remain healthy, independent, respected and connected.

The Ministry is leading a cross-government work programme to develop options for more joined-up or integrated services to meet the changing needs of New Zealand’s ageing population. A key objective of this work is to improve the timeliness of older people’s access to relevant services. In particular, there is a focus on older New Zealanders who have high and complex needs and are considered at risk of economic and social isolation.

The Ministry will continue to promote the challenges and opportunities presented by an ageing workforce. This includes highlighting the Business of Ageing research on the economic contribution of older New Zealanders. This research shows that older people are making a significant and growing contribution to the economy as workers, volunteers, carers, taxpayers and consumers.

Raising awareness of elder abuse and neglect and what people can do in response continues to be a priority for the Ministry. Initiatives include:

• increasing awareness of enduring powers of attorney through an information campaign
• building an evidence base on the incidence of abuse and neglect.

The Ministry is tackling social isolation by expanding the SuperGold Card programme, encouraging neighbours and communities to connect with each other, and developing options to address social isolation through improved service delivery. In the SuperGold Card programme, the Ministry is focused on expanding discounts for big one-off costs for older people relating to teeth, eyes, ears, and lawyers for wills and enduring powers of attorney.

The Ministry is working with Carers New Zealand and the New Zealand Carers Alliance to prepare information and resources for older carers and carers of older people. This forms part of the New Zealand Carers’ Strategy Action Plan for 2014 to 2018.

Addressing youth offending

Young people who commit offences should be held to account, but they also need the right support and interventions to address offending behaviour and turn their lives around.

The Ministry will continue to work with the Ministry of Justice, Police and other agencies to implement the Youth Crime Action Plan – a 10-year strategy to prevent offending and reoffending behaviour in children and young people.

The Plan takes a practical approach to supporting youth justice services, frontline workers, service providers and volunteers. It builds on existing initiatives such as the 2010 Fresh Start Reforms.

We will also continue to hold youth justice family group conferences so children and young people take responsibility for their offending and their family and victims can be involved in addressing their offending behaviour.

Together we will also address difficulties facing young offenders and their families, such as unemployment, limited ability for parents and families to provide appropriate support, and inter-generational problems.

Improving the safety and security of staff and clients

Security of staff and clients is paramount to us. Staff have a right to be and feel safe at work and ensuring this is one of our top priorities.

The next four years

The extreme events at Ashburton on 1 September 2014 highlighted the difficult work circumstances our staff face every day. Staff have a right to feel safe and supported at home, in clients’ homes, on their way to and from work, and at work. Clients should feel that a Ministry site is a safe place to visit and talk about their needs.

Immediately following the Ashburton events an Independent Security Review was commissioned. Progressing the recommendations of that review and other enhancements identified is one of the Ministry’s priority areas for the next four years.

Security response programme

The Ministry established the Security Response Programme to respond to recommendations from the Independent Review of the Ministry’s physical security environment. The primary aim of the Programme is to consider and implement changes based on the recommendations from the Review, and from the WorkSafe investigation and coroner’s inquest.

One of the primary objectives for the Ministry is to ensure all Ministry staff treat safety and security seriously, and have the knowledge and understanding needed to be effective in their roles.

The Ministry wants to ensure staff have the skills to deal with clients in a way that reduces the frequency of incidents, and can act appropriately when an incident does occur. The Ministry is working on a clear strategy and definition for its approach to safety and security. We want to be readily able to communicate to staff and other stakeholders what the strategy and approach are, and ultimately how decisions support the strategy. This will enable the Ministry to reduce its risk exposure, without compromising the effectiveness of services.

Given the breadth and scale of the Ministry’s front-facing operations, the Programme’s work will impact on all of the Ministry’s work and service delivery functions in some way.

Managing change and consulting staff, clients and stakeholders will be an important aspect of Programme management.

Implications for service delivery

In addition to this, the requirements of the Health and Safety Reform Bill (currently scheduled to come into force in late 2015) and the WorkSafe prosecution and coronial inquest may have implications for the way the Ministry configure and deliver services and the types of interactions it has with clients.

The Ministry is committed to making whatever changes are necessary to meet its safety responsibilities. We will ensure safety of our staff is at the forefront of our thinking as we continue developing more effective and efficient ways of interacting with our clients in the future.

Privacy and security of information

Ensuring personal information is secure and shared safely is important to the Ministry. We are currently developing an Information Management Strategic Framework that will guide how the Ministry uses its information.

The Framework will address the way the Ministry meets its obligations in relation to:

• the privacy of information we hold
• the Government’s Protective Security Requirements.