PSA concerned Whanau Ora will undermine quality of social service delivery

The Public Service Association supports drawing together social service delivery as recommended in the report on the government’s Whanau Ora policy but is concerned about the cost of creating a new trust to administer the policy and the lack of support for the workers who will implement the policy.

Prime Minister John Key has announced today that he has appointed Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia as Minister Responsible for Whanau Ora.

Her appointment coincides with the release of a report by a taskforce looking at the way social services are delivered to Maori. The report recommends establishing a new Whanau Ora trust that will draw money currently from government agencies that will include but not be limited to those providing housing, health, education, justice and social welfare. The trust will report to Mrs Turia as Minister Responsible for Whanau Ora.

Mrs Turia has indicated that about one billion dollars will be allocated to Whanau Ora over three to four years.

The Prime Minister John Key says the May 20 Budget will include money for Whanau Ora, the policy will cover all families in need and the government will formally respond to the taskforce report in the next month or so.

“We support the taskforce call for a more seamless delivery of social services to families in need by drawing together the work of the various government agencies providing social services,” says PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott.

“There have been moves towards this type of social service delivery and it’s proving to be more effective.”

“There may be benefits in having Whanau Ora administered by a separate trust but we question the cost to the taxpayer of establishing a new administrative organisation.”

“Creating a new ‘back office’ organisation flies in the face of the government’s claim that it is moving resources in the public sector to the front-line.”

“We wonder why the government wouldn’t use an existing agency like the Ministry of Social Development to administer Whanau Ora when it has experience in this type of funding.”

The taskforce report says the private providers that will be funded under Whanau Ora will need to demonstrate a high level of expertise in whanau interventions to succeed.

“Yet the report has just one sentence, the last sentence, covering the issue of ensuring the private providers are capable of making Whanau Ora a success,” says Brenda Pilott.

“One line on workforce development and provider capacity is woefully inadequate and highlights a major risk of the Whanau Ora policy.”

“We’re concerned that contracting private providers to provide social services will be used as way of cutting costs by reducing workers’ pay and conditions.”

“Poor pay and conditions leads to poor service delivery and Whanau Ora will not succeed if the government allows this to happen,” says Brenda Pilott.

ENDS

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