Part 2 – What we want to achieve | Wāhanga 2 – He aha tā matou e whai nei

Our purpose | Tō mātou kaupapa

We help New Zealanders to be safe, strong and independent

Our outcomes | Ā mātou huanga

What we want to achieve

Our three outcomes are what we aim to achieve in order to deliver to our purpose. They are long-term statements of our intention.

Outcome 1: New Zealanders participate positively in society and reach their potential

We want to improve people’s readiness for, and access to, employment. This recognises that employment is often the best pathway out of hardship. People also participate in society through volunteering or caring for whānau and families. We engage with people, families, whānau and communities to understand their aspirations and what is important to them, including their situation, culture and values. We help to connect people with opportunities to realise their goals, reach their potential and grow, and participate positively in society.

Outcome 2: New Zealanders get the support they require

We want to ensure New Zealanders can understand and access the support and services that they need, including employment, financial, disability and housing assistance.

Outcome 3: New Zealanders are resilient and live in inclusive and supportive communities

We recognise the diversity of the people, families, whānau and communities we serve, and are committed to improving their wellbeing. We are improving New Zealanders’ access to tools, skills and resources to help them to respond better to the challenges in their lives. We support communities to be inclusive, supportive and free from violence. We want people who have experienced harm, or do not feel safe, to know that help is available and to understand where they can get it. We provide disability support services that disabled people need.

Our strategic shifts | Ā mātou nekehanga ā-rautaki

The changes we are making across our organisation to help us deliver our outcomes

Te Pae Tawhiti – Our Future is MSD’s foundational strategy. It presents our long-term strategic direction as three strategic shifts we need to make across MSD to achieve our outcomes. It is supported by our Māori strategy and action plan, Te Pae Tata – Te Rautaki Māori me te Mahere Mahi, and our Pacific strategy and action plan, Pacific Prosperity – Our People, Our Solutions, Our Future. These embrace the three shifts outlined below and describe how they will be realised for Māori and Pacific peoples.

A positive experience every time – Mana manaaki

Helping people, whānau, families and communities is at the centre of what we do. We will look after the dignity of people with warmth, listening, respect, compassion, openness and fairness.

Partnering for greater impact – Kotahitanga

We are stronger when we work together with whānau, families, hapū, iwi, providers, employers, communities and other government agencies.

Supporting long-term social and economic development – Kia takatū tātou

We will prepare ourselves for the future and take a long-term approach to community, regional and economic development. To improve employment outcomes, we will support people to acquire skills for current and future job markets.

Our focus areas | Ā mātou aronga

Focus areas identify our medium-term priorities

Our six focus areas cover most of what we do. They identify our medium-term priorities and reflect our role in contributing to the Government’s priorities, including employment and emergency housing targets. Building on the work done to date with our people and partners, focus areas drive our work planning as we put our three strategies into action and bring our purpose to life.

Getting New Zealanders working

We support people to prepare for, find and stay in work. We intervene early to get people into work or training and support clients to understand their obligations to prepare for and find work. By helping families into work, we help lift children out of material hardship.

Providing the income support people need

We provide a financial safety net for those in need.

Supporting people with their housing needs

We help people with their housing costs, including paying grants for emergency housing, assess their housing needs for the Social Housing Register and refer them to providers, and support people out of emergency housing.

Partnering with others

We work with providers, community and iwi, and other government agencies to deliver efficient and effective services that improve life outcomes for our clients and communities. We work with employers and industry to find jobs for our clients. We recognise the valuable connections our partners have with their communities.

Providing services that disabled people need

We provide disability support services to eligible disabled people who need them. These services complement other services and support disabled people may already receive and help address the barriers disabled people face in accessing the same opportunities for a good life as other New Zealanders. We also support disabled people who need environmental support services to engage with daily life, and children who are referred for specialist support to reach developmental milestones.

Enabling MSD people to help New Zealanders

We provide staff with the skills and tools they need to help people. Our technology is resilient, continually evolving and supports digitally enabled services. We use data and evidence to support fiscally sustainable decision making.

Our impacts | Ā mātou pāpātanga

How we will know we are making progress towards our outcomes

Our outcomes framework shows how we will deliver to our outcomes, focus areas and strategic shifts. The weave/raranga emphasises that changes to how we are delivering our services (through our three strategic shifts) will have an impact on what we want to achieve (our outcomes and focus areas).

Our 11 impact statements collectively represent how we will assess progress on delivering to our outcomes, focus areas and strategic shifts. They unpack our focus areas into more specific medium-term goals.

Figure 1: MSD’s outcomes framework (weave/raranga)

[Click image to open a larger image]

Outcome 1: New Zealanders participate positively in society and reach their potential:

• Focus area: Getting New Zealanders working
• Strategic shift: A positive experience every time. Mana manaaki
• Impact statement: Improve client understanding of obligations and available employment support
• Strategic shift: Partnering for greater impact. Kotahitanga
• Impact statement: Improve exits into work
• Strategic shift: Supporting long-term social and economic development. Kia takatū tātou
• Impact statement: Improve employment outcomes
• Impact statement: Improve people's trust and confidence in the welfare system
• Impact statement: Improve equity of outcomes.

Outcome 2: New Zealanders get the support they require:

• Focus area: Providing the income support people need
• Strategic shift: A positive experience every time. Mana manaaki
• Impact statement: Improve delivery of income support
• Strategic shift: Supporting long-term social and economic development. Kia takatū tātou
• Impact statement: Improve people's trust and confidence in the welfare system
• Impact statement: Improve equity of outcomes.
• Focus area: Supporting people with their housing needs
• Strategic shift: Partnering for greater impact. Kotahitanga
• Impact statement: Improve support to people, whānau and families in hardship to secure and sustain housing
• Strategic shift: Supporting long-term social and economic development. Kia takatū tātou
• Impact statement: Improve people’s trust and confidence in the welfare system
• Impact statement: Improve equity of outcomes.

Outcome 3: New Zealanders are resilient and live in inclusive and supportive communities:

• Focus area: Partnering with others
• Strategic shift: A positive experience every time. Mana manaaki
• Impact statement: Improve how we connect and partner
• Strategic shift: Partnering for greater impact. Kotahitanga
• Impact statement: Improve the safety and strength of people, whānau, families and communities
• Strategic shift: Supporting long-term social and economic development. Kia takatū tātou
• Impact statement: Improve our contribution to employers and regional development
• Impact statement: Improve people's trust and confidence in the welfare system
• Impact statement: Improve equity of outcomes.
• Focus area: Providing services that disabled people need
• Strategic shift: Partnering for greater impact. Kotahitanga
• Impact statement: Improve delivery of disability support services
• Strategic shift: Supporting long-term social and economic development. Kia takatū tātou
• Impact statement: Improve people's trust and confidence in the welfare system
• Impact statement: Improve equity of outcomes.

The focus area enabling MSD people to help New Zealanders supports all three outcomes.

Our performance framework | Tā mātou anga tutukinga mahi

How we monitor our progress

Our performance framework shows how we measure and report on our performance against our outcomes. We report on progress using Government targets, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Estimates performance measures.

Government targets

There are nine targets for public service agencies to achieve by 2030. MSD's targets are:

• 50,000 fewer people on the Jobseeker Support benefit [Blue text]
• 75 percent fewer households in emergency housing (jointly with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development). [Purple text]

These targets are most directly reflected in three of our impact statements and associated KPIs as shown below in blue and purple.

Key Performance Indicators

A suite of 18 KPIs map to our 11 impact statements and help us to monitor progress.

Figure 2: MSD’s impact statements and associated KPIs

A qualitative approach for the disability support services KPI has been proposed as the most appropriate form of measurement while we work on policy options and proposals for ministerial consideration on how disability support services can be strengthened. There will be further work done to develop future measurement options in this area.

The results of our KPIs will be provided in our annual reports and published on our website.

Estimates performance measures

We also report on our Estimates performance measures as set out in the Vote Social Development and Vote Disability Support Services Estimates of Appropriations. These track our delivery of the initiatives and services we are funded to provide. Some Estimates performance measures are also KPIs.