E whakamāmā ake nei mātou te tomonga ki te pūtea tautoko We are making income support easier to access

For MSD this means:

• ensuring people get their full and correct entitlement on time
• maintaining a network of service centres across the country where people can go to get face-to-face help from a case manager
• providing digital channels, including online access and enhancements to the MyMSD app, and phone-based services, so that people who prefer to use such channels or who are distant from a service centre, can find out what they are entitled to, apply for it, and get and supply information
• ensuring that our systems allow as many transactions as possible to be done automatically, to give our people more time to provide individual case management
• giving people a positive experience so that they are confident about interacting with us when they need our help
• working with clients who have incurred a debt to manage that debt and to repay it in a way that does not cause further hardship
• responding quickly to needs that arise from adverse events such as weather events or natural disasters.

The multiple information systems and points of contact currently limit how effective and easy we can make this for our clients. We are exploring options for improving our current systems and processes to meet the requirements the Government has set in its welfare overhaul work programme, and to meet the expectations of all New Zealanders.

Our Client Net Trust Score has remained high at +39.8, compared with +43.2 in 2019/20. This year the Client Net Trust Score was based on contact centre interactions only: a system change in 2019/20 meant we were unable to survey service centre clients in 2020/21 28 . Historically, results for conversations with contact centre staff have been scored lower than for conversations with service centre staff. Lower scores for phone-based interactions compared to face-to-face interactions is common in many other private and public sector organisations. This year’s score is higher than that for contact centre interactions in 2019/20 of +37.9.

Heartbeat surveys this year were conducted only among clients who had contacted call centres 29 . We sent out over 785,000 surveys this year at an average of 65,000 a month, with a good response rate of 7.7 percent.  While about 76 percent of clients responded that their interaction with our staff was a very positive experience, comments in survey responses indicate that clients still struggle to understand the benefit system and our self-service tools do not meet all of their needs.

More people are using the My MSD app to manage their benefits – 88.1 percent of clients on benefit at 30 June 2021 were using MyMSD, compared with 85.5 percent a year before. The proportion of benefit and supplementary assistance applications lodged online went down slightly, from 53.8 percent to just under 52 percent (almost 410,000 out of 790,000).

Use of our online eligibility guide Check what you might get 30 was also much higher, with over a million visits to the guide were recorded in the year.

Some comments from clients highlight that we still have opportunities to improve, with some clients experiencing multiple different contact points from application for benefit to receiving payment, and inconsistent information capture across MyMSD. These improvements will require fundamental changes to the welfare system in line with the welfare overhaul work programme.

The overall amount of debt owed to MSD has been increasing, but at a relatively stable rate over the last few years. By 30 June 2021 the total of debt balances owed was $1.995 billion (2020: $1.833 billion). There are more than 570,000 people with debts, which average $3,498.

Around 7 percent of the total debt balance is fraud related. In recent years we have shifted our focus from debt establishment and prosecution to prevention and early intervention. This is in line with our increased focus on fraud prevention, which was endorsed by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group.

This approach has seen overpayment, investigation and prosecution numbers fall as we focus our investigation and enforcement response on the most serious fraud and address lower-level integrity issues through engagement, education and compliance.

COVID-19 has made it harder for some people to repay debt. We are working with other government agencies to improve the management of debt: this includes looking at how broader policy settings could support reducing debt. Agencies are also exploring how they can work more collaboratively. For example, we are piloting a joint approach with Inland Revenue to supporting common debtors by making it easier for them to keep their repayments going, increasing the accuracy of entitlements, and granting relief that reduces financial hardship.

Our integrity programme helped us to recover almost $725 million in COVID-19 Wage Subsidy payments

Between March 2020 and March 2021, we paid out more than $14 billion to employers and self-employed people to help keep people in work during periods of elevated alert levels. These payments were made in a high-trust environment, after Cabinet had agreed that information could be verified after the payments had been made.

With the support of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment Hikia Whakatutuki (MBIE), Inland Revenue Te Tari Taake (IRD) and the Treasury Te Tai Ōhanga, we developed an integrity check programme for the Wage Subsidy to provide assurance around application integrity within the context of a high-trust model. In developing the integrity check programme, we took account of lessons learned from previous subsidies enacted following the Christchurch and Kaikōura earthquakes.

The approach included pre- and post- payment checks of employer details, a co-ordinated complaints process, a thorough investigations process, and a repayment process.

The publication of employers’ names ensured transparency about who had been granted assistance and meant employees or other interested parties could raise concerns 31 .

Many businesses have voluntarily refunded subsidies when their eligibility changed, or because revenue was better than expected. As at 25 June 2021, repayments worth $778.5 million had been identified of which $724.8 million (more than 93 percent) had been repaid.

In its May 2021 report Management of the Wage Subsidy scheme 32 , the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake has acknowledged the extraordinary circumstances facing the Government when it created and implemented the Wage Subsidies and other COVID-19 payments. The report noted that many of the steps taken by public organisations to protect the integrity of the Wage Subsidy were consistent with good practice guidance for emergency situations. We have taken the recommendations of the report into account in our approach to managing later iterations of the Wage Subsidy.