MSD Strategic Intentions 2025-2029 Cover image

Appendix – Services we provide | Āpitihanga – Ā mātou ratonga

Our services include:

Employment services and support

  • Connecting clients to employers and job opportunities
  • Upskilling clients through industry-based recruitment partnerships
  • Responding to local labour market conditions by working with local employers and industry partners through our regional employment teams
  • Supporting young people to gain the skills they need to work and have an independent future
  • Offering employment programmes that help people obtain and stay in employment
  • Operating Jobs and Skills hubs that connect with local industry to support large infrastructure projects.

Income support, superannuation, student loans and allowances

  • Benefits and hardship assistance
  • New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pensions
  • Housing-related financial support
  • Student financial support via StudyLink
  • Child-related benefits
  • Paying Working for Families Tax Credits to clients on behalf of Inland Revenue
  • Other financial support.

Housing support services

  • Assessing people’s eligibility for social housing and managing the Social Housing Register
  • Reviewing social housing tenancies of eligible tenants paying market rent
  • Calculating and reviewing Income-Related Rent
  • Referring people to transitional housing, social housing and private accommodation
  • Determining eligibility for the Emergency Housing Grant and supporting people in emergency housing to find sustainable housing
  • Providing recoverable assistance to help people obtain and retain their housing.

Contracting and funding community services

  • Prevention and crisis response in relation to family violence by supporting victims, survivors and perpetrators of family violence and sexual violence
  • Reducing the isolation, abuse and neglect of older people
  • Building people’s financial capability and resilience
  • Supporting rural and isolated communities to access government and community services
  • Supporting refugee and migrant communities to participate in local initiatives
  • Supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to engage in the community
  • Supporting youth development
  • Delivering Pacifica Proud family violence prevention and education services.

Disability support services

  • Residential-based support services. This includes funding for:
    • residential support for disabled people living in a group home, or in an aged residential care facility
    • facility-based respite (short-term relief support)
  • Community-based support services. This includes funding for:
    • supports that assist people to live in their community such as household management and personal care
    • some of the costs of care and support for a disabled person while their carer takes a break
  • Funding for children who are referred for specialist support to reach developmental milestones
  • Funding for specialist support for disabled people and their whānau to find positive ways to communicate and strategies to reduce harmful behaviour
  • Free or subsidised equipment and modifications for disabled people to help them with everyday activities
  • Connecting disabled people with supports through Needs Assessment and Service Coordination organisations and Enabling Good Lives sites
  • Support for people detained in secure hospital level care under the Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003 and other relevant legislation.

Welfare system support

We provide a range of services to the Government to support the welfare system, including:

  • Advice to Ministers on a wide range of social policy issues, employment programmes, income support, active labour market policies, housing-related social assistance, support for children and young people, retirement income, child poverty, 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
  • Assessing and resolving claims of abuse and neglect for people who were harmed while in the care or oversight of Child, Youth and Family or its predecessors
  • Responding to adverse events such as floods, droughts and earthquakes, and providing a supporting role across the emergency response system as set out in the Civil Defence Plan
  • Monitoring a small number of Crown entities and providing advice to the responsible Minister.

Welfare services and other social service functions

We work with others to deliver effective welfare services and other social service functions, including:

  • Leading relationship agreements and accords with iwi on behalf of the Crown:
    • Te Hiku o te Ika Iwi – Crown Social Development and Wellbeing Accord
    • He Tapuae – Ngāi Tūhoe Service Management Plan
    • Koiora Accord (Waikato-Tainui)
    • Te Atiawa and Ngāti Toa – Tākai Here
  • Contributing to cross-government initiatives, including:
    • working with hapū and iwi towards improving outcomes for Māori
    • supporting the Child and Youth Strategy
    • sponsoring We Enable Us, an all-of-government disabled employee network in the public sector
    • strengthening oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including independent monitoring
    • supporting place-based initiatives
    • contributing as a member of several cross-agency groups, including the Digital Government Leadership Group, the Government Health and Safety Lead and Te Aorerekura (the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence)
    • supporting community-led responses to the harms and drivers of organised crime, through the Resilience to Organised Crime in Communities (ROCC) Community Resilience and Whānau Support Fund
  • Accrediting social service providers contracted by partner agencies, managing Core Worker Exemptions and Social Worker Registration non-compliance.