Vote Social Development - Social Services and Community Sector - Estimates 2019/20

Vote Social Development#

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Overview of the Vote#

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The Minister for Social Development is responsible for the appropriations in Vote Social Development for the 2019/20 financial year covering the following:

• A total of over $15,488 million on payments of New Zealand Superannuation.
• A total of over $4,740 million on payments for the working age benefits - Jobseeker Support, Sole Parent Support and Supported Living Payment.

• A total of nearly $765 million on improved employment and social outcomes support.

• A total of over $606 million on payments to assist people obtain a qualification including Student Allowances, Study Scholarships and Awards and Family Start/NGO awards.

• A total of nearly $458 million to support those in receipt of a benefit to heat their homes in winter - Winter Energy Payment.

• A total of over $418 million on financial assistance for childcare, care of unsupported children and extraordinary care fund.

• A total of nearly $391 million on disability assistance.

• A total of over $360 million on payments for non-recoverable hardship assistance, transitional assistance, entering or remaining in the workforce assistance and special circumstance assistance.

• A total of over $319 million on advances of benefits and other recoverable payments to assist with hardship.

• A total of nearly $136 million on community support services.

• A total of nearly $109 million on purchasing services from non-governmental organisation service providers and Crown entities.

• A total of over $78 million on the provision of debt write-downs to achieve accurate valuations of outstanding Crown debt in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice.

• A total of nearly $76 million for departmental capital expenditure.
• A total of nearly $75 million on corporate support services mainly providing services to Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children under a shared services agreement.

• A total of nearly $64 million on income support and assistance to seniors and administration of service cards.
• A total of over $54 million on payments supporting youth who are not able to live at home and payments to provide financial support to young parents.

• A total of nearly $52 million on prevention programmes to minimise errors and fraud of the benefit system and services for investigation and collection of overpayments and fraudulent payments.
• A total of over $38 million on social policy advice, and data, analytics and evidence services.
• A total of over $35 million on historic claims resolution.

• A total of nearly $19 million on management of student support.

• A total of over $11 million on supporting equitable pay for care and support workers.
• A total of nearly $7 million on establishment and operation of an independent monitoring and assurance function of the Oranga Tamariki system.

• A total of over $6 million on planning, correspondence and monitoring.

• A total of over $2 million on place-based initiatives - South Auckland Social Wellbeing Board.
• A total of over $1 million on place-based initiatives - Tairawhiti local leadership.

• A total of over $1 million on implementation and operation of the mandatory registration of social workers.
• A total of $773,000 on the mental health and employment social bond pilot.

The Minister for Social Development is also responsible for a capital injection of nearly $4 million to the Ministry of Social Development.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development is responsible for appropriations in the Vote for the 2019/20 financial year covering the following:

• A total of over $1,810 million on accommodation assistance.
• A total of over $36 million on services to support people to access accommodation.

• A total nearly $7 million on a housing support package for those in need to access or retain alternative housing solutions.
• A total of over $3 million on reimbursement to tenants of income related rent overpayments.

The Minister for Youth is responsible for an appropriation in the Vote for the 2019/20 financial year covering the following:

• A total of nearly $12 million on partnering for youth development.

The Minister of Revenue is responsible for appropriations in the Vote for the 2019/20 financial year covering the following:

• A total of over $1,475 million on payments for student loans.
• A total of nearly $19 million for management of student loans.

The Minister for Disability Issues is responsible for an appropriation in the Vote for the 2019/20 financial year covering the following:

• A total of over $6 million on promoting positive outcomes for disabled people.

The Minister for Veterans is responsible for appropriations in the Vote for the 2019/20 financial year covering the following:

• A total of over $145 million on payments of Veterans' Pension.
• A total of $680,000 for processing of Veterans' Pensions.

The Minister for Seniors is responsible for appropriations in the Vote for the 2019/20 financial year covering the following:

• A total of over $3 million on the enhancement and promotion of SuperGold Cards.
• A total of over $1 million on promoting positive outcomes for seniors.

Details of these appropriations are set out in Parts 2-4.

Details of Appropriations and Capital Injections#

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Annual Appropriations and Forecast Permanent Appropriations#

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Multi-Year Appropriations#

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Total Annual Appropriations and Forecast Permanent Appropriations and Multi-Year Appropriations#

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Capital Injection Authorisations#

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Supporting Information#

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Part 1 - Vote as a Whole#

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1.1 - New Policy Initiatives#

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1.2 - Trends in the Vote#

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Summary of Financial Activity

Note - where restructuring of the vote has occurred then, to the extent practicable, prior years information has been restated as if the restructuring had occurred before the beginning of the period covered. In this instance Total Appropriations for the Budgeted and Estimated Actual year may not equal Total Annual Appropriations and Forecast Permanent Appropriations and Multi-Year Appropriations in the Details of Appropriations and Capital Injections.

Adjustments to the Summary of Financial Activity Table Due to Vote Restructuring

The establishment of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development from 1 October 2018 resulted in new appropriations established within Vote Social Development, including Accommodation Assistance, Services to Support People to Access Accommodation, Reimbursement of Income Related Rent Overpayments and the Housing Support Package.

The discontinuing of the Independent Advice on Government Priority Areas MCA from 1 July 2019 with the funding reprioritised to other areas within the Government Budget.

The prior year information in the Summary of Financial Activity table has been restated to reflect the current Vote structure.

1.3 - Analysis of Significant Trends#

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Output Expenses

The output expenses trend increased from 2016/17 to 2017/18 which was mainly related to the Ministry providing a full year of corporate support services to Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children, which was established from 1 April 2017 ($61.959 million). The output expenses trend increases from 2018/19 to 2019/20 mainly due to the establishment of the new Multi-Year Appropriation (MYA) Historic Claims, with funding of $27.311 million in 2019/20. In addition, there is new funding initiatives in 2019/20 for Ministry remuneration cost pressures ($8.345 million), Improving outcomes for Children in State Care through independent monitoring ($7.659 million), the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) study ($6.642 million), maintaining services by addressing inflationary and demand pressures in technology and accommodation ($6.490 million), increasing case management at the Frontline ($3.110 million) and improving financial wellbeing through the SuperGold Card ($3.040 million). The trend decreases from 2020/21 to 2021/22 mainly due to funding associated with the independent monitoring of Oranga Tamariki, ending in 2020/21 ($10.337 million) and also a decrease in funding for the GUiNZ study ($4.456 million). The trend then decreases from 2021/22 to 2022/23 mainly due to the phasing of funding within the time-limited Historic Claims MYA ($33.968 million).

Other Expenses

The fluctuating trend for Non-Departmental Other Expenses was due to changing levels of debt write-downs from 2014/15 to 2016/17. Debt write-downs are impacted by both changing levels of outstanding social benefit debt and the interest rates used to calculate the debt write-down provision. The other expenses trend increases from 2018/19 to 2019/20 mainly due to the expansion of Housing Support products to help more people access and maintain tenancies ($4.100 million).

Non-Departmental Capital Expenditure

The majority (80% to 90%) of Non-departmental Capital Expenditure is for Student Loans with about 60% of expenditure occurring in the first four months of each calendar year when course fees are paid. Expenditure decreased from $1,617 million in 2014/15 to $1,425 million in 2017/18 with the introduction of the 'Fees Free' policy for new first year students creating a large reduction in 2017/18 expenditure. Expenditure is expected to increase to $1,465 million in 2018/19 and $1,475 million in 2019/20 before continuing to rise over the following three years to $1,573 million by 2022/23. The increase in expenditure is expected to be driven by increasing amounts borrowed per loan.

The Recoverable Assistance item makes up the remainder of Non-departmental Capital Expenditure. Recoverable Assistance expenditure increased by $66 million between 2014/15 and 2016/17, in line with the provision of assistance for housing costs, to reach $185 million in 2016/17. This trend continued and expanded across many other reason types in 2017/18 and 2018/19. Expenditure is expected to reach $272 million in 2018/19 increasing to $319 million in 2019/20, with a gradual increase to $332 million by 2022/23.

Multi-Category Expenses and Capital Expenditure

The Multi-Category Expenses and Capital Expenditure (MCA) expense had a significant increase from 2017/18 to 2018/19 which was mainly related to funding for new policy initiatives in 2018/19. This included for the administration of the Families Package ($12.202 million), Stabilising and Strengthening the delivery of Family and Sexual Violence Services ($11.981 million), increased funding for Availability and Resilience of the Ministry Information Technology (IT) systems and frontline tools ($11.805 million), remuneration cost pressures for the Ministry ($9.690 million), interim frontline security measures ($9.145 million), Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey ($2 million) and Intensive Client Support Service ($1.955 million). The trend increases significantly from 2018/19 to 2019/20 mainly due to increased funding for Family and Sexual Violence Services ($29.606 million). There is also new funding for Ministry remuneration cost pressures ($16.943 million), Safety and Security for clients and staff ($11.771 million), Mana in Mahi employment programme ($10.835 million), maintaining services by addressing inflationary and demand pressures in technology and accommodation ($10.753 million), improving employment and other outcomes for disabled people and people with health conditions ($9.279 million) and increasing case management at the frontline ($7.919 million). There is a significant decrease from 2020/21 to 2021/22 which is mainly due to a reduction in funding for disabled people and people with health conditions ($6.944 million), Safety and Security for clients and staff ($5.948 million), maintaining services ($5.051 million) and time limited funding for Kickstart and KidsCan ($1.550 million).

Non-Departmental Benefits or Related Expenses

Expenditure in Vote Social Development BoRE increased by $2,260 million (12%) from $18,847 million in 2014/15 to $21,107 million in 2017/18.

New Zealand Superannuation accounts for the majority of total BoRE expenditure, with this proportion rising from 62% in 2014/15 to 65% in 2017/18, before falling to 63% in 2018/19 as Winter Energy Payment and other Families Package spending occurred. Expenditure on New Zealand Superannuation as a proportion of total BoRE spending is expected to rise to 66% by 2022/23.

The main drivers of expected growth in total BoRE spending between 2018/19 and 2022/23 are the increasing spending on housing, hardship assistance, and inflation adjustments of main benefit payment rates in line with growth in average wages.

Accommodation Assistance

The Accommodation Assistance appropriation was transferred from Vote Social Development to Vote Social Housing from 1 July 2017. Funding for the Emergency Housing Special Needs Grants was transferred to this appropriation from Hardship Assistance within Vote Social Development from 1 July 2018. The Accommodation Assistance appropriation was transferred back to Vote Social Development from 1 October 2018. All amounts quoted in this section include Emergency Housing - Special Needs Grants from its inception in 2016/17.

Expenditure increased by $75 million (6.6%) from $1,129 million in 2014/15 to $1,204 million in 2017/18. Expenditure is expected to increase by $437 million (40%) to $1,641 million in 2018/19. This follows an increase to maximum weekly payment rates and changes to area definitions, implemented in April 2018. By 2019/20 expenditure is estimated to be $1,810 million, the growth driven equally by greater uptake of Accommodation Assistance and higher payment rates. Expenditure is expected to increase to $1,942 million by 2022/23, mainly reflecting a higher payment per person.

The number of people receiving Accommodation Supplement typically follows the trends of main benefits (Jobseeker Support, Sole Parent Support and Supported Living Payment) and New Zealand Superannuation. The number of people fell from an average of 292,200 in 2014/15 to 285,300 in 2017/18. The number is expected to increase to 295,200 in 2018/19 due to the Families Package and then increase to 313,200 by 2022/23, mainly due to an expected increase in the number of people on Accommodation Supplement who are also New Zealand Superannuitants or people who do not receive a main benefit.

Jobseeker Support and Emergency Benefit

Expenditure rose $13 million between 2014/15 and 2017/18. This is the net result of a decrease in the average number of people from 132,700 to 129,200, offset by cost of living adjustments each April.

Expenditure for this appropriation is expected to increase by $156 million (9.2%) to $1,854 million in 2018/19 and by $122 million (6.6%) to $1,975 million in 2019/20. These increases mainly reflect a 7.1% increase in the number of people to 138,400 in 2018/19 and an expected further 4.6% increase to 144,800 people in 2019/20. From April 2020 the introduction of wage indexation increases expenditure by more than CPI indexation alone, and offsets the expected reduction in the number of people, which falls to 138,600 by 2022/23 as economic conditions improve. Expenditure increases steadily from 2019/20 to $2,067 million in 2022/23.

New Zealand Superannuation

Expenditure increased by $2,107 million (18.1%) from $11,591 million in 2014/15 to $13,699 million in 2017/18. Expenditure is expected to increase by $3,906 million (27.8%), from $14,562 million in 2018/19 to $18,468 million in 2022/23. Annual inflation adjustments and adjustments for growth in average wages typically account for between 40% and 50% of total annual changes in expenditure on New Zealand Superannuation.

The number of people on New Zealand Superannuation grew by 76,000 people (11%) between 2014/15 and 2017/18. The number of people is expected to continue to grow, reaching an average of 873,000 by 2022/23.

Over the full nine year period spanning 2014/15 to 2022/23, expenditure is expected to increase by $6,877 million (59%); this reflects both the number of people being expected to increase by 208,000 (31%), as well as accumulated inflation and wage adjustments.

Sole Parent Support

The number of people on Sole Parent Support fell by 12,100 between 2014/15 and 2017/18 from an average of 71,700 to 59,600. This reduction was not fully reflected in expenditure, as the Sole Parent Support payment rate increased according to cost of living adjustments each April, and by a further $25 per week in April 2016 under the Child Material Hardship Package. Expenditure for this appropriation decreased by $70 million from $1,186 million in 2014/15 to $1,117 million in 2017/18.

Expenditure is expected to grow by $195 million (17.5%) from $1,116 million in 2018/19 to $1,311 million in 2022/23. The impact of the Incomes for People Receiving Benefits policy package being introduced in April 2020 accounts for $79 million (40%) of this growth. The average number of people is expected to increase by 1,600 from 59,100 in 2018/19 to 60,700 in 2022/23.

Supported Living Payment

Expenditure increased by $26 million (1.7%) from $1,515 million in 2014/15 to $1,541 million in 2017/18 due to inflation adjustments. Partly offsetting this was a decrease in the average number of people, which fell by 1,600 people from 97,600 in 2014/15 to 96,000 in 2017/18.

Expenditure for this appropriation is expected to increase by $120 million (7.8%) from $1,556 million in 2018/19 to $1,676 million in 2022/23. The impact of the Incomes for People Receiving Benefits policy package being introduced in April 2020 accounts for $80 million (67%) of this growth. Partly offsetting this is an expected decrease in the average number of people by 2,900 from 95,100 in 2018/19 to 92,200 in 2022/23. This decrease is mainly due to an increase in the number of people transferring from Supported Living Payment to New Zealand Superannuation.

Part 2 - Details of Departmental Appropriations#

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2.1 - Departmental Output Expenses#

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Administering Support for the Mental Health and Employment Social Bond Pilot (M63)

Scope of Appropriation and Expenses

Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve efficient and effective administrative support to the Mental Health and Employment Social Bond pilot.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Administration of Service Cards (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

Comparators for Restructured Appropriation

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve financial assistance to low income New Zealanders and older people by the accurate and timely assessment and issuing of discount service cards.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

The following information is provided for context only

The Ministry is reviewing the way quality is viewed across the service delivery function. The current focus for assessing quality is largely on transactional activity and is retrospective. The Ministry is moving towards a much more real time, client focused way of assessing service quality. This includes developing an end to end view of a client's engagement with the Ministry and a way to observe this. As changes are made, current quality measures will be reviewed with an aim to develop measures that reflect the quality of client experience more fully than the current accuracy and timeliness measures.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $2.241 million to $5.731 million in 2019/20 mainly due to an increase of $2.821 million for the establishment of a new SuperGold card appropriation and other future enhancements. This increase is partially offset by a one-off transfer of $580,000 to meet changes in cost drivers in 2018/19 resulting in a decrease in funding in 2019/20.

Claims Resolution (M63)

Scope of Appropriation and Expenses

Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to provide a redress process to people who believe they were harmed while in the care, custody, guardianship or oversight of the State, as well as responding to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the redress and rehabilitation processes and the historic child welfare system.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Corporate Support Services (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve quality and efficient corporate support services.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - A suite of service level agreements (which include a wide range of performance measures) exist between the Ministry and Oranga Tamariki. These are monitored through monthly reporting with results co-agreed between parties; the annual result is derived from these.

The following information is provided for context only

The Ministry provides a range of purchased and transitional services to Oranga Tamariki, the Social Investment Agency, the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development and Office of the Children's Commission. Services provided vary by agency and can include services such as Information Technology; Finance; Human Resources; Legal; Property and Facilities; Information Privacy and Security; and Health, Safety and Security.

The majority of services are provided to Oranga Tamariki. Over the next 12 months the Ministry expects there to be significant changes in the provision of shared services as a result of:

• the joint decisions of the Ministry and Oranga Tamariki Chief Executives' on the recommendations of the Shared Services Review, and
• the agreed disengagement of IT services as a result of Oranga Tamariki's Digital Workplace programme.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $2 million to $74.970 million in 2019/20 as a result of a one-off decrease in shared services fees charged in 2018/19 for Digital Workplace costs.

Data, Analytics and Evidence Services (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to improve the design and delivery of policy and services through more effective use of data and analytics. This includes public reporting of research, evaluation and performance information and data.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - The Quality Framework principles are: well commissioned, methodologically sound, client focussed, builds knowledge and capability, and ethical.

Note 2 - Will be measured every quarter using pulse-check survey results.

The following information is provided for context only

Note 1 - This is limited to key publications funded by this appropriation and found within the Statistics, Research and Evaluation Reports pages located within the Publications & Resources content on the Ministry's external website. This consists of:

• official government statistics which the Ministry is obligated to publish both to the Minister and on the Ministry's external website
• research reports about research the Ministry's Research and Evaluation team have conducted, and
• evaluation reports which evaluate the effectiveness of the Ministry's services.

Note 2 - There are three main reasons why the number of key publication documents produced in 2017/18 reduced from the previous year: responsibility for reporting some of these reports was passed to Oranga Tamariki, some reports are no longer funded within this appropriation or have been merged into other existing reports, and some reports are no longer produced on a quarterly basis therefore significantly reducing the number of publications. We expect this number to increase in future years.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $5.206 million to $23.599 million in 2019/20. This is mainly due to:

• an increase of $3.739 million to Support Evidence-Based Policy on Child Wellbeing by continuing the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) Study
• an increase of $3.098 million due to the transfer of $1.549 million from 2018/19 to 2019/20 for research and evaluation work
• an increase of $580,000 due to the transfer of $290,000 from 2018/19 to 2019/20 relating to the Family Violence research programme
• an increase of $570,000 to meet the Ministry's staff remuneration and other non-discretionary cost pressures
• an increase of $460,000 to support disabled people and people with health conditions, including those with mental health needs, to find and stay in meaningful and sustainable employment
• an increase of $350,000 to fund evaluation of Sexual Violence services, and
• an increase of $165,000 for evaluation of Kickstart and Kidscan and Mana in Mahi initiatives.

The above is offset by:

• a one-off transfer of $1.277 million funding from 2017/18 to 2018/19 for the initiative Delivering Information to the Frontline
• a one-off transfer of $1.120 million from 2017/18 to 2018/19 for the Families Commission research programme
• a one-off transfer of $750,000 from 2017/18 to 2018/19 for retention of underspends, and
• a one-off transfer of $450,000 from 2017/18 to 2018/19 for Family Violence evaluation.

Enhancement and Promotion of SuperGold Cards (M61)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

Comparators for Restructured Appropriation

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to recognise the valued contribution of older New Zealanders by providing easy access to discounted products and services, and information about the use of the cards.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - The 2018/19 target was set for only half a year, with the appropriation taking effect from 1 December 2018. The 2019/20 reflects a full year target.

The following information is provided for context only

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $3.018 million to $3.180 million in 2019/20. This is due to an increase of $3.058 million to improve Superannuitants financial wellbeing through better access to SuperGold Card discounts and concessions. This increase is partially offset by a one-off transfer of $40,000 to meet changes in cost drivers in 2018/19 resulting in a decrease in funding in 2019/20.

Establishment of Independent Monitor of the Oranga Tamariki System (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve the establishment of a strengthened independent monitoring and assurance function to support objective assessment of the quality and extent of compliance with, and delivery of, the Oranga Tamariki Act and related regulations and standards.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

The following information is provided for context only

The establishment of this function includes:

• creating a statutory framework
• establishing an assessment and monitoring framework
• designing and implementing an operating model
• establishing corporate services support
• establishing Memorandums of Understanding and information sharing arrangements
• working with Te Puni Kokiri and Te Arawhiti, in line with the Maori Crown relations Engagement Framework and guidelines to ensure appropriate Maori and iwi engagement during the establishment of the monitoring function, and to support improvement of the Ministry's Te Ao Maori capability, and
• the Ministry and relevant agencies, including Oranga Tamariki, the Ombudsman, the OCC and the SSC working together to effectively progress the establishment of the monitoring function.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $4.460 million to $5.660 million in 2019/20. This is due to an increase of $5.660 million to improve outcomes of State Care for children and young people through independent monitoring. This increase is offset by one-off funding of $1.200 million in 2018/19 to strengthen independent Oversight of the Oranga Tamariki System and Children's issues.

Historic Claims (M63)

Scope of Appropriation and Expenses

Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to provide a redress process to people who believe they were harmed while in the care, custody, guardianship or oversight of the State, as well as responding to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the redress and rehabilitation processes and the historic child welfare system.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - The Ministry estimates a total of 1,864 assessments will be completed and approved over the three years of the appropriation, to 30 June 2022. The Ministry will update the budget standard each financial year. This measure counts each assessment, so that if a claimant has both a claims assessment and a detailed assessment, this will be counted as two assessments to represent the volume and workflow.

Note 2 - The average length of waiting time for a claimant from the end to end process is reported as being close to four years, and the Ministry expects to reduce this average to taking no more than 3.5 years by the end of the financial year 2021/22. There are dependencies that relate to increased volume of claims, staff availability, and where the claimant choses to delay the process. When this measure is calculated the Ministry will exclude those claims that are on-hold because of the claimants' choice not to proceed at that time.

Note 3 - Feedback will be sought at different points through the claims process following direct engagement with the claimant. The Ministry is committed to continuous improvement for claimants, and this feedback is a critical component to achieving this. Feedback will be online and so dependent on connectivity. The Ministry will exclude claimants who the Ministry know are unable to access online services (including prisoners because their internet access is restricted). The Ministry will also exclude those for whom the Ministry have no direct contact (eg, represented claimants) as the Ministry is measuring the quality of our interaction.

The following information is provided for context only

Note 1 - This is financial year data where previously the Ministry reported calendar year, so numbers may appear different than those previously reported.

Note 2 - The number of claims closed includes where payment was made, or no payment was made, or the claim did not progress.

Note 3 - A one-off fast track process was implemented on 708 existing claims between 2015 to early 2017 resulting in a higher number of claims being resolved, and a reduction in backlog.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This is a newly established appropriation in 2019/20.

Income Support and Assistance to Seniors (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve the accurate and timely assessment and payment of entitlements to older people.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

 

The following information is provided for context only

Note 1 - This includes the regional services to Seniors, International Services and Residential Subsidy Services.

The Ministry is reviewing the way quality is viewed across the service delivery function. The current focus for assessing quality is largely on transactional activity and is retrospective. The Ministry is moving towards a much more real time, client focused way of assessing service quality. This includes developing an end to end view of a client's engagement with the Ministry and a way to observe this. As changes are made, current quality measures will be reviewed with an aim to develop measures that reflect the quality of client experience more fully than the current accuracy and timeliness measures.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

The appropriation has increased by $8.658 million to $57.997 million in 2019/20. This is mainly due to:

• an increase of $4.122 million to meet the Ministry's staff remuneration and other non-discretionary cost pressures
• an increase of $1.941 million to increase Case Management at the Frontline
• an increase of $1.927 million to modernise and simplify Superannuation and Veteran's Pension
• an increase of $426,000 to enhance Safety and Security for clients and staff
• an increase of $287,000 to align funding to the timing of investment to improve the availability of the Ministry's digital channels, and
• an increase of $95,000 to align funding to the timing of modernising frontline tools.

This is offset by a one-off transfer of $175,000 from 2017/18 to 2018/19 for retention of underspends.

Independent Monitoring and Assurance of the Oranga Tamariki System (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve a strengthened independent monitoring and assurance function to provide oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - The operation of this function includes monitoring of compliance with Regulations 69 and 85 of the Oranga Tamariki (National Care Standards and Related Matters) Regulations. This refers to information that is disclosed on abuse or neglect of children or young persons in care or custody, and how Oranga Tamariki or Approved Organisations (as defined in the National Care Standards Regulations) are responding.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This is a newly established appropriation for 2019/20 to improve outcomes of State Care for Children and Young people through Independent Monitoring.

Investigation of Overpayments and Fraudulent Payments and Collection of Overpayments (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve a welfare system that operates with fairness and integrity by ensuring that the right people receive the right entitlements and assistance, and identifies and resolves overpayments.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - The performance standard refers to the number of people that are subject to an investigation by specialist fraud staff. For example, one investigation can involve multiple people.

Note 2 - The Ministry works with clients to arrange a rate of repayment that they can sustain based on their income levels.

The following information is provided for context only

The Ministry's debt management strategy focuses on prevention and early intervention:

• Minimising the creation of excessive levels of individual debt, which create barriers to clients achieving independence.
• Avoiding further hardship for current and future clients while optimising the recovery of amounts owed.

Alongside this the Ministry is focusing on strengthening systems and processes to help identify fraud early and respond quickly to the risk of clients accumulating excessive levels of debt.

Note 1 - The Ministry currently works with six other government agencies and most of the process is automated.

Note 2 - Non-current debtors are people who are no longer in receipt of a main benefit but still have an open debt with the Ministry that they need to repay.

Note 3 - The overall decline in prosecutions in recent years reflects two things: an increased focus on prevention and early intervention supported by the removal of specific prosecution targets for fraud investigators, and the decline of income-related fraud detected through the information sharing programme with Inland Revenue (while initially this programme resulted in a significant number of prosecutions, over time numbers have decreased).

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $2.587 million to $51.592 million in 2019/20. This is mainly due to:

• an increase of $2.978 million to meet Ministry's staff remuneration and other non-discretionary cost pressures
• an increase of $274,000 to enhance safety and security for Clients and Staff with continued Security Guard presence, and
• an increase of $127,000 to align funding to the timing of modernising frontline tools.

The above is offset by:

• a one-off increase of $590,000 to meet changes in cost drivers in 2018/19 resulting in a decrease in funding in 2019/20, and
• a transfer of $251,000 from 2017/18 to 2018/19 for retention of underspends.

Management of Student Loans (M57)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve reduced financial barriers to tertiary study by providing accurate and timely assessment and payment of student loans.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - This refers to the assessment which advised the student of a finalised outcome on the application (whether it was approved or declined).

Note 2 - The initial entitlement assessment is the first assessment to occur on the application - it does not include any subsequent action required e.g. where a student has provided incorrect or incomplete information and is required to correct this. Timeliness is counted from the date the application is received to the date the application is first assessed.

The following information is provided for context only

The Ministry is reviewing the way quality is viewed across the service delivery function. The current focus for assessing quality is largely on transactional activity and is retrospective. The Ministry is moving towards a much more real time, client focused way of assessing service quality. This includes developing an end to end view of a client's engagement with the Ministry and a way to observe this. As changes are made, current quality measures will be reviewed with an aim to develop measures that reflect the quality of client experience more fully than the current accuracy and timeliness measures.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $1.354 million to $18.757 million in 2019/20. This is mainly due to:

• an increase of $1.179 million to meet the Ministry's staff remuneration and other non-discretionary cost pressures
• an increase of $1 million due to a decrease in 2018/19 to meet changes in cost drivers, and
• an increase of $157,000 to align funding to the timing of investment to improve the availability of the Ministry's digital channels and modernising frontline tools.

The above is offset by a reduction of $982,000 to fund education initiatives by using headroom and underspends in Vote Tertiary Education.

Management of Student Support (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve reduced financial barriers to tertiary study by providing accurate and timely assessment and payment of non-recoverable financial support for students.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - This refers to the assessment which advised the student of a finalised outcome of the application (whether it was approved or declined).

Note 2 - The initial entitlement assessment is the first assessment to occur on the application - it does not include any subsequent action required eg, where a student has provided incorrect or incomplete information and is required to correct this. Timeliness is counted from the date the application is received to the date the application is first assessed.

The following information is provided for context only

The Ministry is reviewing the way quality is viewed across the service delivery function. The current focus for assessing quality is largely on transactional activity and is retrospective. The Ministry is moving towards a much more real time, client focused way of assessing service quality. This includes developing an end to end view of a client's engagement with the Ministry and a way to observe this. As changes are made, current quality measures will be reviewed with an aim to develop measures that reflect the quality of client experience more fully than the current accuracy and timeliness measures.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $2.075 million to $18.868 million in 2019/20. This is mainly due to:

• an increase of $1.180 million to meet the Ministry's staff remuneration and other non-discretionary cost pressures
• an increase of $1.050 million due to a decrease in 2018/19 to meet changes in cost drivers, and
• an increase of $169,000 to align funding to the timing of investment to improve the availability of the Ministry's digital channels and modernising frontline tools.

The above is offset by a one-off transfer of $324,000 from 2017/18 to 2018/19 for retention of underspends.

Place-Based Initiatives - South Auckland Social Wellbeing Board (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve the successful implementation and functioning of place-based initiatives to improve outcomes for at-risk children, young people and their families.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - This refers to the plan for the operation and delivery of initiatives agreed by the Board in 2018/19.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $1.075 million to $2.150 million in 2019/20 mainly to provide operational support to the South Auckland Social Wellbeing Board.

Place-based Initiatives - Tairawhiti Local Leadership (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve a new way of working together in Tairawhiti in order to achieve an improvement in the outcomes of at-risk children, young people and their families.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - Performance will be demonstrated through the use of evidence provided through representative case studies.

The following information is provided for context only

Manaaki Tairawhiti provides local leadership that transforms the lives of whanau through the delivery of responsive social services. Through the dual approaches Service Delivery and System Improvement, Manaaki Tairawhiti both delivers direct services and builds the effectiveness of local agencies to respond to the needs of whanau. Manaaki Tairawhiti decisions are informed by local data and evidence that is gathered at the initiative's operational hub.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Planning, Correspondence and Monitoring (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve effective and efficient ministerial, advisory and administrative services to support Ministers to discharge their portfolio responsibilities.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - The quality standard is that a draft provided for the Minister's signature is factually accurate, meets any legislative requirements and contains no avoidable errors. Agreed timeframes are:

• Ministerial correspondence replies completed within 20 working days of receipt by the Ministry, unless otherwise agreed.
• Parliamentary questions responses provided to the Minister's Office so that answers can meet the timeframe set in Parliamentary Standing Orders.
• Ministerial Official Information Act request replies completed five days prior to the statutory time limit, unless otherwise agreed.

The following information is provided for context only

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Policy Advice (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve high quality policy advice to support decision-making.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - The Standard will be identified based on the revised Ministerial Satisfaction Survey and updated in the Supplementary Estimates. All agencies are required to use the refined Ministerial Satisfaction Survey from 2019/20 to assess ministerial satisfaction with the policy service. The survey is currently under review and the refined survey and guidance will be released before 30 June 2019.

Note 2 - The Standard will be identified based on the refreshed Policy Quality Framework and updated in the Supplementary Estimates. All agencies are required to use the refreshed Policy Quality Framework from 2019/20 to assess the quality of their policy advice papers. The Policy Quality Framework is currently being refreshed. The refreshed Framework will be released before 30 June 2019.

The following information is provided for context only

Note 1 - The Ministers who receive services are the Minister for Social Development, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, the Minister for Youth, the Minister for Seniors, the Minister for Disability Issues and the Associate Minister of Housing and Urban Development. Some advice is also provided to the Children and Employment portfolios.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has decreased by $1.401 million to $14.635 million in 2019/20. This is mainly due to:

• one-off funding of $2.351 million in 2018/19 to support the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's work, to provide advice on an overhaul of the Welfare System

• an increase of $660,000 in 2018/19 to meet changes in cost drivers resulting in a decrease in funding in 2019/20, and
• a transfer $347,000 from 2017/18 to 2018/19 for retention of underspends.

The above is offset by an increase of $2.004 million to meet the Ministry's staff remuneration and other non-discretionary cost pressures.

Processing of Veterans' Pensions (M75)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve the accurate and timely assessment and payment of Veterans' Pensions and related allowances.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - Six working days for Veterans' Pension entitlement assessments for payment in New Zealand, and 20 working days for Veterans' Pension entitlement assessments for payment overseas.

The following information is provided for context only

The Ministry is reviewing the way quality is viewed across the service delivery function. The current focus for assessing quality is largely on transactional activity and is retrospective. The Ministry is moving towards a much more real time, client focused way of assessing service quality. This includes developing an end to end view of a client's engagement with the Ministry and a way to observe this. As changes are made, current quality measures will be reviewed with an aim to develop measures that reflect the quality of client experience more fully than the current accuracy and timeliness measures.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Promoting Positive Outcomes for Disabled People (M23)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve the increased participation and contribution of disabled people by providing advice and support to the Minister for Disability Issues and external agencies, and by coordinating and monitoring against the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the Disability Action Plan.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - The satisfaction rating is based on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is considered poor quality and 10 excellent quality.

Note 2 - Stakeholders are surveyed annually. More information on some of our stakeholders:

• DPOs are representative organisations of disabled people which are governed by disabled people. The Ministry work with seven DPOs.
• Around 80 non-governmental organisations are surveyed.

The following information is provided for context only

Key activities for 2019/20:

• Quarterly monitoring against the new Disability Action Plan (2019-2022).
• Tabling of the NZ report on performance against the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations; officials will need to travel to Geneva for a face-to-face examination on the report at the United Nations.
• Production of The Office for Disability Issues Annual Report on behalf of the Minister for Disability Issues, which will be tabled in Parliament in December 2019.
• Further development of performance measures for the New Zealand Disability Strategy in preparation for the development of a monitoring dashboard.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has increased by $680,000 to $6.059 million in 2019/20. This is mainly due to:

• an increase of $1.620 million to improve the wellbeing of disabled people through strategic support and advocacy, and
• an increase of $350,000 due to a decrease in 2018/19 to meet changes in cost drivers.

The above is offset by one-off funding of $1.200 million in 2018/19 for Enabling Good Lives Waikato.

Promoting Positive Outcomes for Seniors (M61)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve positive outcomes for seniors through supporting their inclusion in a society where older people can age positively, are highly valued and recognised as an integral part of families and communities, and by supporting greater advocacy of their issues by Ministers.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Note 1 - Each six months the Minister for Seniors and the Ministry's Office for Seniors discuss the quality of service provided to the Minister in the previous half-year and agree a service quality rating. These conversations are used to drive performance improvements in the following six months. These ratings are averaged across the financial year to produce the annual result. The scale is from 1-10, where 1 is considered poor quality and 10 excellent quality.

Note 2 - Stakeholders are selected and surveyed annually from the following groups: seniors, sector organisations, and central and local government. The survey uses a five point scale from 'very dissatisfied' to 'very satisfied'.

The following information is provided for context only

The Office for Seniors has developed a new strategy for our ageing population (Better Later Life - He Oranga Kaumatua 2019 to 2034) to replace the Positive Ageing Strategy 2001. The new strategy provides a road map for government agencies and others to focus their priorities to contribute to making a better future for New Zealanders as they age. Public consultation on the draft of the strategy closed on 3 June 2019. Submissions are being analysed and the strategy is expected to be finalised in the first half of the financial year.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Services to Support People to Access Accommodation (M96)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

Comparators for Restructured Appropriation

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve accurate and efficient operation of the Public Housing Register so that more people who are eligible for public housing have their housing needs met, and those who are capable of housing independence move closer towards that.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

The following information is provided for context only

Note 1 - The Public Housing Register is comprised of the Housing Register and the Transfer Register.

Note 2 - The Housing Register is prioritised by need and consists of applicants who have been assessed as being eligible for public housing.

Note 3 - The Transfer Register is prioritised by need and consists of applicants who are already in public housing, but have requested and are eligible for a transfer to another public housing property.

Note 4 - Not full year data - begins at 1 October 2015.

The Ministry is reviewing the way quality is viewed across the service delivery function. The current focus for assessing quality is largely on transactional activity and is retrospective. The Ministry is moving towards a much more real time, client focused way of assessing service quality. This includes developing an end to end view of a client's engagement with the Ministry and a way to observe this. As changes are made, current quality measures will be reviewed with an aim to develop measures that reflect the quality of client experience more fully than the current accuracy and timeliness measures.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Current and Past Policy Initiatives

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation increased by $9.799 million to $36.382 million for 2019/20. This is mainly due to:

• an increase of $5.897 million as a result of the establishment of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development which commenced operations on 1 October 2018. The increase reflects a full year of funding in 2019/20 compared to nine months of funding in 2018/19
• an increase of $2.463 million to meet the Ministry's staff remuneration and other non-discretionary cost pressures
• an increase of $1.169 million to improve Clients' Income and Wellbeing by Restoring Employment-Focussed Services, and
• an increase of $1 million for expanded help for people to access and maintain social housing tenancies.

The above is offset by a one-off transfer of $730,000 to meet changes in cost drivers in 2018/19 resulting in a decrease in funding in 2019/20.

2.3 - Departmental Capital Expenditure and Capital Injections#

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Ministry of Social Development - Capital Expenditure PLA (M63)

Scope of Appropriation

Capital Expenditure

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve the replacement or upgrade of assets in support of the delivery of the Ministry's services.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Ministry of Social Development in the Ministry of Social Development Annual Report.

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

This appropriation has decreased by $78.018 million to $75.585 million for 2019/20, reflecting the Ministry's revised capital programme of work. The capital expenditure level is impacted by two significant projects:

• Future State Physical Security Environment.
• Infrastructure Availability and Resilience Project.

Capital Injections and Movements in Departmental Net Assets

Ministry of Social Development