Ministry of Social Development – 2018 Annual Report released

The 2017/2018 Annual Report for the Ministry of Social Development has been released.

It features work we do to support New Zealanders to be safe, strong and independent, as well as the work we do with partners to achieve a bigger and better difference for New Zealanders.

In the financial year from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018, we oversaw the expenditure of over $25 billion of public money to provide New Zealanders with student support, housing assistance and services, benefits and financial assistance, New Zealand Superannuation and social services. New Zealand Superannuation accounts for over half of this expenditure, and benefits and non-housing-related financial assistance less than a quarter.

Our Annual Report has a strong focus on people and the communities we serve. This reflects that first and foremost people are the focus of everything we do. We have revised our purpose statement to ‘Manaaki tangata, manaaki whānau’ to reflect the importance we place on the care of people and families.

Our clients include youth, whānau and families, working-age people, students, people with disabilities, seniors and communities.

Some key facts from our 2017/2018 Annual Report. During the last financial year:

• We helped and supported more than one million New Zealanders.
• Uptake of our online services grew – 55% of all benefits applications were lodged online instead of in person (up 22% on the previous year).
• Use of our MyMSD app continued to grow, with around 36,000 transactions a day. 75% of clients used MyMSD to get help and information, book appointments and update their details (up 15% from the previous year).
• 277,410 working-age clients received benefit support.
• 77,466 people went into employment and were able to cancel their benefit payment.
• 27,500 students were helped into jobs, generating around $95.7 million of income for them to pay for their tertiary education.
• 6,644 households were housed from the Social Housing Register.
• 95% of participants reported improved personal, social and decision-making skills as a result of completing a youth development opportunity.
• 100% of community groups said It’s Not Ok campaign helped them in their work to address or prevent family violence.
• The number of businesses supporting SuperGold card holders increased by more than 7% to 9,213. The number of SuperGold card holders increased 3% to 733,088 people.