We provide a wide range of services to New Zealanders - Annual Report 2019 - 2020

We work to get the best results for our clients by creating a more comprehensive view of needs and increasingly integrating the services we provide to New Zealanders, which include:

• income support and superannuation services – including benefits and pensions, other financial support (for people in or outside the benefit system), retirement income (in particular New Zealand Superannuation), accommodation-related support, student financial support (via StudyLink) and child-related benefits
• employment support and services – connecting clients to employers and job opportunities, upskilling clients through industry-based recruitment partnerships, and responding to local labour market conditions by working with local employers and industry partners through our rapid response employment teams in the regions
• support for young people to gain the skills they need to work and have an independent future
• housing support – assessing people’s eligibility for, and referring them to, emergency, transitional and public housing, and providing grants and recoverable assistance to help with housing costs
• advice on issues affecting, youth, seniors and disabled people
• designing and delivering community services in conjunction with others – this involves:
  • supporting victims, survivors and perpetrators of family violence and sexual violence
  • growing leadership within communities to address family violence
  • reducing the isolation, abuse and neglect of older people
  • building people’s financial capability and resilience
  • ensuring refugee and migrant communities can participate in local initiatives
  • supporting community providers to develop their capability.

Appendix 1 contains a comprehensive list of the services we provide to individuals, whānau, families and communities.

We also provide a range of services to the Government to enable the welfare system to work as effectively as possible, including:

• advice to Ministers on a wide range of social policy issues, such as welfare overhaul, income support, employment programmes, active labour market policies, housing-related social assistance, support for children and young people, retirement income, social policy issues relevant to seniors and disabled people, social sector policy initiatives, regional development and governance, and our international obligations
• protecting the integrity of the welfare system, by minimising errors, client debt and fraud, and managing the collection of overpayments and recoverable assistance loans.
• supporting the Crown secretariat to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, by providing requested information to the Royal Commission, and by preparing for hearings
• responding to adverse and crisis events, such as floods, droughts, the Christchurch mosque attacks of March 2019, and the eruption of Whakaari/White Island in December 2019
• assessing and resolving claims of abuse and neglect for people who were under the supervision of, or in the care, custody or guardianship of, or who had come to the notice of, the State before April 2017.

In addition, we:

• worked with Inland Revenue to deliver Working for Families tax credits to people on benefits and COVID-19 Wage Subsidy payments to employers and self-employed people who qualify
• monitored three Crown entities (the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, the New Zealand Artificial Limb Service, and the Social Workers Registration Board)
• participated in cross-government initiatives, including:
  • chairing the Chief Executives’ Group on Disability Issues
  • co-leading two workstreams under the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy
  • contributing as a member of several cross-agency groups [1]
  • developing a new independent monitor of the Oranga Tamariki system [2]
  • supporting place-based initiatives (including playing a lead role in the Tairāwhiti region)
  • accrediting social service providers that are contracted by partner agencies [3]
  • working with iwi towards improving outcomes for Māori.

We met the challenge of huge changes to our scope and scale

As an essential service we continued to operate through the COVID-19 lockdown and beyond, with staff working remotely (often at home), and we scaled up to deliver the Government’s response to COVID-19 through:

• designing and implementing financial support to individuals, employers and self-employed people, including Wage Subsidy payments, Essential Worker and Leave Support payments, Income Relief payments, an increase of $25 a week to main benefits, doubling the Winter Energy Payment, and temporarily removing stand-down periods
• providing policy advice on pandemic response measures
• taking a major role in the all-of-government cross-agency emergency management response.

The number of people we supported and the amount of money we administered increased rapidly, and we introduced new processes and streamlined existing procedures at pace to provide assistance as promptly and effectively as possible.

Footnotes

1. These include the Social Wellbeing Board, the Digital Government Leadership Group, the Government Health and Safety Lead, and the Joint Venture for Family Violence and Sexual Violence. Return to text
2. The Oranga Tamariki system includes services provided by children’s agencies (defined in the Children’s Act 2014) to core populations of interest to Oranga Tamariki. Agencies such as the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education represent an important gateway for children who are at risk of poor life outcomes. Return to text
3. Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Corrections. Return to text

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