Strategic intentions
This section outlines our strategic intentions over the next four years. This includes the outcomes we are seeking to achieve for individuals, families and communities; the government priorities and results to which we will contribute; and our strategic direction.
Outcomes we are seeking to achieve
Helping New Zealanders to help themselves to be safe, strong and independent is our purpose.
The Ministry wants the people with whom it works with to play an active role in helping themselves to succeed on their own. The Ministry, however, will be there to help as required.
To fulfil our purpose, we have a clear focus on achieving outcomes for New Zealanders. We will know we are successful when:
- more people are in sustainable work and out of welfare dependency
- more people are able to participate in and contribute positively to their communities and society
- fewer children and people are vulnerable
- more communities are strong and thriving
- fewer children and young people commit crime
- fewer people commit fraud and the system operates with fairness and integrity.
All parts of the Ministry contribute to the outcomes we are seeking to achieve.
Contributing to government priorities
Our work also contributes to the Government’s four key priorities:
- responsibly managing the Government’s finances
- building a more productive and competitive economy
- delivering better public services
- continuing to support the rebuilding of Christchurch.
Delivering Better Public Services
A focus on achieving targets that matter for New Zealanders is changing the way agencies work together and with communities to deliver better public services.
Being a lead agency for a BPS Result Area means having formal accountability for its success. The lead agency performs a co-ordinating function by pulling together the right people from across the social sector.
Being a contributing agency for a BPS Result Area means supporting the lead agency to achieve success.
It requires collaboration with other social sector partners and working together in different ways from how we have in the past.
Over the next four years, the Ministry will lead and contribute to cross-agency work to deliver better public services and achieve results that make a real difference for New Zealanders.
Reducing welfare dependence
The Ministry has had success in reducing the cost of benefit liability by applying investment approach principles to target our resources more effectively.
This has meant the Ministry is on track to achieve BPS 1 targets for reducing long-term welfare dependence. As a result the Government has recently introduced new BPS 1 targets for the Ministry which will challenge us even further.
The Ministry is trialling new approaches to achieve outcomes for different types of clients, such as those who frequently rely on the benefit and we need the support of other agencies to achieve success. Social sector agencies have recently developed short and long-term initiatives that will contribute to reducing welfare dependence. Officials have identified seven short-term cross-agency trials, targeting high-liability client groups with whom the Ministry has not engaged intensively with in the past.
Supporting vulnerable children
The Ministry is leading cross-agency efforts to achieve all three key results within this priority area:
- increase participation in early childhood education, led by the Ministry of Education
- increase infant immunisation rates and reduce the incidence of rheumatic fever, led by the Ministry of Health
- reduce the number of assaults on children.
The Ministry has an ambitious programme of work to significantly change the way services are provided to the most vulnerable people in New Zealand society.
Specifically, the Ministry is working with communities and the whole of government to fundamentally shift the way we work together to better identify, support and protect vulnerable children.
Getting better outcomes for vulnerable children will require a committed cross-agency effort. Children’s Teams are one of the tangible ways we are integrating support for children at risk. They bring together professionals from iwi/Māori health, education, welfare and social service agencies to work with children and their families.
Boosting skills and employment
The Ministry is contributing to cross-agency efforts to increase the proportion of 18-year-olds with NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent qualification.
The Ministry will support young people at risk of long-term welfare dependency to get into education, training or work-based learning. Through Youth Services we will provide individualised services to support at-risk 16- to 19-year-olds. We will apply expectations for young people and wrap support and services around them to help them succeed.
Through the Social Sector Trials, the Ministry will work with the Ministries of Education, Health and Justice and the New Zealand Police to improve outcomes for children and young people by increasing their participation in education, training and employment.
The Ministry will also support young people to make positive life choices and encourage them to contribute to and participate in society.
Reducing crime
The Ministry is contributing to cross-agency efforts to reduce the rates of total crime, violent crime and youth crime and reduce reoffending.
The Ministry will continue contributing to cross-agency efforts to reduce the rates of total crime and reoffending by jointly working with the Department of Corrections to investigate the welfare-corrections interface. This will be done by developing and implementing joint trials to test different approaches to help ex-offenders enter employment.
Successful interventions will help to reduce the rates of total crime and reoffending, as well as long-term welfare dependence.
The Ministry is working with partner agencies on the Gangs Action Plan to reduce the inter-generational impacts of gang membership. This work, called Start at Home Part 2, includes initiatives to:
- improve mental health and addictions-related outcomes (with the Ministry of Health)
- make employment and training opportunities more available to gang families
- improve social results with children of gang member prisoners (with the Department of Corrections).
Improving interaction with government
The Ministry is contributing to cross-agency efforts to ensure New Zealanders can complete their transactions with the Government easily in a digital environment.
The Ministry works closely with the Department of Internal Affairs to support its Improving Interaction with Government Blueprint, by:
- acting as a member of an interagency digital services council
- being an early adopter of RealMe
- participating in prototype activity for projects that support integrated transactions with government.
In addition to this, the Ministry has developed its Simplification programme of work to improve our online services. Further detail on Simplification can be found on page 28.
Contributing to the Canterbury rebuild
Supporting the rebuild of Canterbury will remain a high priority for the Ministry.
Through our day-to-day work the Ministry will make a direct and indirect contribution to the region’s recovery, supporting the multi-agency response and recognising the unique environment created by the earthquakes.
The Ministry is are contributing to revitalisation in the region by:
- connecting people with employment opportunities created by the rebuild and repair programme, including supporting increased labour mobility from other regions to Canterbury
- re-establishing a Ministry presence in the Christchurch central business district and suburban areas and supporting the Christchurch Integrated Government Accommodation project
- working with government and non-government organisation (NGO) agencies to support psychosocial recovery, including the Community in Mind Strategy and its Programme of Action
- facilitating youth input into helping shape the recovery and revitalisation programme
- assisting homeowners and renters who need help finding suitable accommodation while their house is repaired
- working in partnership with local government and NGOs to support people into social housing
- providing short-term emergency housing for those most in need
- helping to improve preparedness to meet public welfare needs in large-scale emergency events
- assisting our staff in Canterbury to rebuild their resilience and wellbeing, and supporting them to continue delivering efficient and effective services in the region.
