Ministry of Social Development - Work and Income
People
- Regional Commissioners for Social Development
- Regional Labour Market Managers
- Enterprising Communities Advisors
- Local Industry Partnership Advisors.
Roles
Regional Commissioners for Social Development (MSD)
Regional Commissioners for Social Development (Regional Commissioners) lead an engagement role at a regional and community level to ensure co-ordination and facilitation of labour market issues exists between central and local government. Regional Commissioners participate in regional labour market groups/fora to facilitate joint agency responses to local needs and priorities and ensure that skill shortages and other local labour market issues are responded to rapidly and through a co-ordinated agency approach.
Regional Labour Market Managers
Regional Labour Market Managers support Regional Commissioners in the development and implementation of community-based labour market development by overseeing and directing the operational aspect of community labour market development strategies. Regional Labour Market Managers also oversee the administration of the Enterprising Communities and Industry Partnership funding.
Employer Services (MSD)
Employer Services uses an Industry Partnership based approach to minimise skill and labour shortages, provide employers with employees that are specifically trained to their entry-level requirements and assist disadvantaged people into careers. The Industry Partnership approach provides an opportunity for industries and employers to develop and implement a co-ordinated employment training and recruitment framework.
The approach is demand led, with the needs of industries and employers providing the starting point for the design and development of the offered programmes and recruitment services.
The recruitment service generally incorporates services such as regional coordination, proactive sourcing and recruitment, bulk recruitment campaigns, workforce planning and workforce retention and development.
Funding
Local Industry Partnerships
Local Industry Partnerships are aimed at addressing local skills shortages and enable regions to respond quickly to emerging local employment opportunities. The overall approach is demand driven which ensures that the needs of local industry are met, and leads to more sustainable employment outcomes. Labour Market Development teams work directly with industry, training providers and employers to design skills training.
Negotiations and targeting of projects is carried out at the regional level with business cases submitted to and approved at the national level. Projects are delivered by a provider, generally a private training establishment, link to a specified industry and provide guaranteed jobs within that industry at the end of the training.
Migrant Employment Assistance
Migrant Employment Assistance aims to provide assistance to individual migrants and migrant communities who are experiencing difficulty in accessing the labour market to develop skills that will lead to employment and improve settlement outcomes.
The service is available to regions across the country however funding is prioritised and allocated to the regions where the need for the service is the greatest.1 Funding decisions are made by MSD national office following the submission of business cases. All Migrant Employment Assistance projects are contracted to and delivered by NGOs. Funding rounds are held annually.
Redundancy Support
Redundancy Support is led by Work and Income and involves government, unions, employers and agencies working together to support employers and help smooth employees at risk of redundancy to transition into other work. The service includes proactive engagement with employers and event-based engagement. Event-based engagement involves Work and Income working with an employer in response to a labour market change event. This service is available across all Work and Income regions and is tailored to meet the needs of the employer and employees, considering factors such as location and the size of the industry. The response may involve other agencies. Regions are able to access funding to assist with the response package.
Enterprising Communities Grants
Enterprising Communities Grants are focused on achieving labour market outcomes for disadvantaged communities and groups. Many of the funded projects provide training and sustainable employment for those disadvantaged groups to improve their access to the labour market. These projects will also often help meet locally identified skills shortages. There is a tight focus on clearly identified areas of need with an emphasis on investing in skills and services to build communities. All Enterprising Communities funding is to not-for-profit organisations that will create employment and have a plan for sustainability.
Enterprise Allowance
Enterprise Allowance helps unemployed job seekers, and others currently disadvantaged in the labour market, to become self-sufficient by way of financial payments that allow them to prepare for, or enter into self employment. The Enterprise Allowance is both a subsidy and a grant to help people to overcome financial barriers associated with moving into self employment. It is expected that the person will in time be able to fully support themselves from their business.
Information
For further information on these initiatives please contact:
Your Work and Income Regional Office.
Visit the Work and Income website – Work and Income [link to external website].
Call free phone on 0800 779 998.
Email: enterprising.communities@msd.govt.nz industrypartnerships@msd.govt.nz.
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