Part 3 – Helping us get there | Wāhanga 3 – Te āwhina i a matou kia whakatutuki ai i ngā mahi

Our organisational foundations | Ō mātou tūāpapa whakahaere

Improving how we operate so we can better deliver our services for New Zealanders

We are transforming the way MSD delivers services

MSD – services for the future programme is a service-led, technology enabled transformation that will deliver better outcomes for New Zealanders across work, partnering and payments.

Modernising core technology systems and processes tackles system risks, ensures more secure, reliable services for New Zealanders, and enables MSD to respond faster, including to implement the Government’s policies. We want to improve New Zealanders’ experiences of engaging with us and ensure MSD can meet future challenges.

Transformation will:

• enable us to deliver better employment outcomes and work with clients less likely to find work on their own
• deliver improved digital services that make transactional tasks easier, so clients can do more themselves and we can focus on people who need extra help
• allow seniors, students and working age clients to easily understand their entitlements and relevant obligations
• deliver a Future Service Model that enables us to integrate services for clients with greater consistency across the country (a key part of this is a tiered services approach supported by better tools)
• make it easier for our partners to work with us so they can focus on helping people
• deliver modern, stable technology so the Government can implement new policy more easily and enable data to be shared across the system as appropriate
• deliver reusable patterns for government, contributing to the Government’s digital strategy.

The system and process changes will come together in stages, ultimately transforming the experience of dealing with MSD from start to finish.

Transformation is underway and will be delivered initially through a core set of changes:

• Employment Service – a new Digital Employment Service and strengthened service model for jobseekers and employers.
• Service Experience – a modern Service Experience Platform and business capabilities that will transform the service to clients. This will enable transformed channels and tools for staff, simplified processes and improved service outcomes.
• Effective commissioning and contracting (Kotahitanga) – improved partnering approaches and the systems needed to transform how MSD commissions and contracts with third-party providers, and support partnering for outcomes.

We have engaged transformation partners comprising international and New Zealand companies to help deliver the service and technology changes.

We regularly report on the progress of the programme and benefit realisation to Ministers and Cabinet.

We will support MSD people, partners and New Zealanders with effective digital technologies

We are intent on becoming a modern, digital and responsive organisation, delivering effective and accessible services that help people towards employment and support them to live better lives.

Our technology needs to deliver an improved digital experience for our people and clients, provide better access for our partners, and enable better insights to support improved outcomes for clients and their whānau. With the current constrained financial environment, we are focused on essential technology activities to maintain our core systems, so they remain operational, secure and efficient until we transition to more modern solutions.

We will maintain our core foundations until we can modernise by:

• decluttering our environment, decommissioning systems and utilising cloud platform services where possible
• maintaining system security
• ensuring digital access to services
• ensuring ongoing integration between systems
• continuing to enable access to, and use of, data and information
• simplifying our business processes and creating common patterns that can be reused across the government system.

We will continue to ensure the services we provide are resilient and sustainable, and that we can respond to the changing requirements placed on MSD. This aligns with the all-of-government Strategy for a Digital Public Service to develop modern, connected digital public services.

We will improve delivery of disability support services

Disability Support Services (DSS) was transferred to MSD in 2024 as part of the Government’s response to the Independent Review of Disability Support Services. The independent review found that current policy settings and service design do not allow for the effective administration and delivery of disability support services. Our focus is to stabilise and strengthen DSS to ensure sustainable services.

We are improving delivery to better:

• improve consistency, fairness and transparency of disability support services
• provide certainty for the future for disabled people, and whānau, family and carers on these important services and supports.

We will strengthen our responsiveness to Māori

As an agency of the Crown, we are committed to supporting and enabling Māori, whānau, hapū, iwi and communities to realise their own potential and aspirations. Māori make up a significant proportion of the communities we serve, including 39 percent of those on a main benefit, 63 percent of those in emergency housing and 48 percent of those on the Social Housing Register.[3]

We will strengthen our accountability and responsiveness to Māori, and support the Crown’s obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi, by placing emphasis on our guiding principles of:

• Partnership – we will act reasonably, honourably and in good faith towards Māori
• Protection – we will recognise and provide for Māori perspectives and values and take positive steps to ensure Māori interests are protected
• Participation – we will enable and support Māori to actively participate in all matters that increase their wellbeing.

[3] As at 31 March 2025.

We will support our people to help New Zealanders

Our People Strategy – He Korowai Manaaki sets out the people-related actions we will carry out to deliver our key organisational strategies. The strategy provides a whole-of-MSD view on what is needed to be successful in an ever-changing environment, how we might work in new and different ways, and what we want it to be like to lead people and work at MSD. Our People Strategy has four key components:

• Capability-building – we have the capability to perform to our potential now and in the future
• Leading for performance – our leaders develop and nurture people and teams to deliver high levels of performance
• Client and whānau-centred – we design our work, roles and organisation to deliver for our clients and whānau
• Positive experience – our people have an experience at work that enables them to reach their potential and be included, safe and well.

We will continue to enhance our workforce planning capability so we can meet our future workforce needs.

We will continue to provide a positive work experience which enables our staff to be safe, well and reach their potential at MSD. We will also continue to have constructive relationships with our employees and their unions.

We will enhance capability so that all New Zealand communities receive the best possible service no matter where or how they connect with us.

Our Māori Cultural Capability Work Programme supports MSD to deliver to Te Pae Tata and includes Karangahia te Haeata – the Māori Language Policy and High-Level Strategic Framework for MSD. This supports MSD staff to learn, use and promote te reo Māori, and was developed with input from staff across MSD.

MSD is a diverse organisation with staff who reflect the populations we serve.

MSD is committed to promoting a workplace that is fair, equitable and diverse. Our policies are designed to ensure all our employees receive fair and equitable pay, employment conditions and opportunities. MSD has a Diversity and Inclusion work programme which helps to maintain a positive, safe and supportive work environment for our people.

Leaders have a key role in supporting capability by embedding our Capability and Development framework, Te ara piki.

We will look after the health, safety, security and wellbeing of our people, clients and others we work with

We are committed to providing the resources, training and physical working environments that support the health, safety, security and wellbeing of our people and those we work with.

We will continue to support both the physical and mental health and wellbeing of our people by:

• continuing to develop our understanding and management of psychosocial risks
• building the capability of managers
• better equipping our people with skills to look after themselves and their colleagues
• enhancing our training approach to ensure it remains relevant
• working with providers and suppliers to manage overlapping health, safety, security and wellbeing duties.

We have now completed deployment of the zoning model for our public-facing sites to enhance the safety and security of our service centres.[4] Using the zoning model means there are tailored zones in our service centres to balance safety with ease of access and delivering a positive experience. We will embed improvements to our health, safety and security reporting system to ensure it remains fit for purpose and supports MSD to continue to meet its legislative responsibilities.

[4] With the exception of a small number of sites where a new building is required (note these sites have interim security controls in place).

We will manage risk in a challenging environment

We operate in an environment of increased visibility and scrutiny, including of our business transformation. Our focus on integrity and risk will help support the business to build and maintain stakeholder confidence and achieve our objectives. We will work with our people to ensure:

• risks are identified early, and the right people know and are responsible for them
• our controls are robust and built-in
• integrity expectations and guidance are clear.

We will support strong decision making through governance

Our governance arrangements support strong stewardship, enabling delivery of our strategy and ensuring we are focused on our purpose.

Our primary governance body is the Leadership Team, comprising our Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executives. The Leadership Team is responsible for setting our strategic direction, driving organisational performance, overseeing organisational risk and assurance and leading a positive culture.

The Leadership Team is supported by three other committees which are led by members of the Leadership Team and include senior leaders from across the organisation.

Our Chief Executive is supported by three independent advisory groups consisting of external members. The Risk and Audit Committee provides advice to the Chief Executive on risk assurance and auditing requirements for MSD. The Māori Reference Group and Pacific Reference Group provide a strategic reference point and advice on matters impacting and relating to the wellbeing of Māori and Pacific peoples, whānau, families and communities.

Figure 3: MSD’s governance framework

Our Chief Executive is supported by our Leadership Team.

Our Leadership Team is supported by the:

• Organisational Health Committee
• Transformation and Investment Committee
• MSD – Services for the Future Programme Committee.

Our Chief Executive is also supported by three independent advisory groups:

• Risk and Audit Committee
• Māori Reference Group
• Pacific Reference Group.

We will use data, analytics and information to make the right decisions for New Zealanders

Using data, analytics and insights helps deliver our outcomes by enabling effective decision making, focusing resources on effective investments, and understanding and evaluating performance. High-quality insights will direct investment to where it will make the greatest difference for New Zealanders. Our insights will be easily accessible for those who need it, including partners where appropriate, and specific to the unique needs of people and whānau.

Through data-driven decision making, MSD will apply and embed an investment approach, enabling us to understand the long-term outcomes for different groups of clients, and identify those policies and services that will support us to intervene early.

We will focus on building our clients’ trust in the security and integrity of the information we hold – treating information as taonga. We will continue embedding MSD’s Privacy, Human Rights and Ethics (PHRaE) framework into our data collection, information management, system design, and privacy and security processes. This will ensure we are open, transparent and responsible stewards of client information.

We will enable smarter investment and asset management

We will make sure our assets, including offices and information technology applications, are suitable by managing them well and regularly monitoring their performance. Our asset portfolio is large, so reliable and up-to-date information will ensure our planning and oversight in this area is done well. We will prioritise the assets that enable us to deliver to our strategic direction, while working within our existing baseline.

We will continue to strengthen our commercial operations

We have continued to strengthen our commercial operations group to better support our organisation as it transforms.

We have implemented a modern financial system which provides a repository for all commercial contracts. This reduces administrative tasks and improves data and financial decision making. We have also lifted the capability of our procurement and commercial management teams to better support key procurement activity and management of suppliers.

We are now leveraging our commercial capability to support the demands of transformation through:

• technology improvements that enable procurement and contract management capability for social commissioning outcomes
• evolving and maturing our supplier relationship management framework to deliver enterprise capability
• making it easier to transact with us through e-invoicing and expanding to zero touch processes and engagement with suppliers.

We will introduce more sustainable practices which will reduce our carbon emissions

We are continuing to reduce our emissions in areas such as electricity, gas and vehicle use as part of delivering to our emissions reduction targets in the Carbon Neutral Government Programme.

We will continue to deliver to our strategies

In addition to our key organisational strategies Te Pae Tawhiti – Our Future, Te Pae Tata, our Māori strategy, and Pacific Prosperity, our Pacific strategy, we own and deliver to a number of other strategies such as our People Strategy. These address a range of specific services, programmes and cohorts, as well as how we deliver our services and build internal capability. We also support strategies led by other government departments. Most of MSD’s strategies are published on our website.