The Child and Youth Strategy (the Strategy) 2024-27

How we will know if we're making a difference

The Strategy is supported by a measurement framework to monitor and report on progress

The Strategy measurement framework includes a set of key indicators which we will use to measure progress. The indicators are aligned to the Government and Portfolio Targets that are relevant to children and young people and in some cases can provide a more direct measure of the progress we are making towards the enduring outcomes. The indicators include the Child Poverty Related Indicators (CPRIs), which in particular enable us to monitor the impacts of policies that aim to address the drivers of poverty and socio-economic disadvantage, and seven additional Strategy Indicators to further monitor progress on the Strategy priorities and outcomes.

Many of the indicators look at the key factors and conditions that contribute to achieving positive outcomes for children across the Strategy's six enduring outcomes. By monitoring the full set of indicators together, we can determine if we are making progress towards the Strategy's priorities and the outcomes.

We'll know we're making progress when we see:

Reduced child hardship and long-term disadvantage. To monitor this, we've established five Child Poverty Related Indicators (CPRIs) and a Material Hardship Portfolio Target measure.

  • Fewer children in material hardship (aligned to an existing Portfolio Target) – Percentage and number of children and young people aged 0-17 in households scoring 6 or more on the DEP-17 material deprivation index
  • More children in affordable housing (CPRI) (aligned to Government Target 8) – Percentage of children and young people aged 0-17 living in low-income households spending more than 30% of the household's disposable income on housing
  • Fewer children in families on benefit (CPRI) (aligned to Government Target 5) – Number of children and young people aged 0-17 in households receiving main benefit
  • Fewer avoidable hospitalisations (CPRI) (aligned to Government Target 1) – Rate of potentially avoidable hospitalisations for children and young people aged 0-17
  • Increased school attendance (CPRI) (aligned to Government Target 6) – Percentage of students aged 6-16 who are present more than 90% of the term
  • Improved educational achievement (CPRI) (aligned to Government Target 7) – Percentage of school leavers with at least NCEA Level 2 as their highest level of attainment

Better outcomes for all New Zealand children and young people. To further monitor progress on the priorities and the outcomes, we've established seven additional Strategy Indicators.

  • Increased access to maternity care – Percentage of people enrolled with a primary maternity care provider in the first trimester of pregnancy
  • Improved immunisation (aligned to existing Portfolio Target) – Percentage of children who are fully immunised at 24 months of age
  • Reduced food insecurity – Percentage of children aged 0-14 living in households where food runs out sometimes or often
  • Better coping with parenting – Percentage of children 0-14 with parents reporting they are coping well with demands of raising a child
  • Prevention of child abuse – Number of children and young people aged 0-17 with at least one substantiated finding of abuse in the past 12 months
  • Better mental health – Percentage of children aged 2 to 14 who experienced emotional and/or behaviour problems. Percentage of children and young people aged 15-24 who experienced high or very high rates of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks
  • Reduced child and youth offending (aligned to Government Target 3) – Rate of offending per 10,000 children and young people aged 10-17

We will report back on progress through the Annual Report

The Strategy Annual Report will use these indicators to report on progress for all children and young people and (where possible) for identified populations, including Māori children, disabled children, and children experiencing socio-economic disadvantage. The Annual Report will help us measure progress being made towards achievement of the Government Targets, the Strategy priority areas, and the six high-level Strategy outcomes.

Agencies will continue to monitor a wider set of indicators and use these to track progress and report publicly and/or to Ministers, as appropriate. More information on this wider set of indicators is available here.