Ministry of Social Development reviewing Work and Income, StudyLink customer service roles

Thursday, 31 August 2017

The Ministry of Social Development, which is reviewing some of its customer service roles, has about 5500 frontline staff in more than 170 locations.

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is reviewing some of its 5500 frontline roles at Work and Income, StudyLink and other agencies.

Ministry deputy chief executive service delivery Ruth Bound said they were in the early stages of reviewing job descriptions for some customer service roles so they would 'continue to reflect what our employees do as we change the way we work with our clients'.

She said the review was not about reducing employee numbers. It was expected it would be completed by May.

'Our initial focus is on roles that involve face-to-face or over-the-phone client case management or client service.

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'These are roles that interact with over one million New Zealanders annually from students to older people.

'It is to define and describe the roles we have, what they do, what we expect from them and what we pay people for doing them.'

Bound said workers, managers and the Public Service Association (PSA) would be consulted as they developed new job descriptions and expectations.

PSA organiser Kathy Higgins said the union was 'aware of the situation' and would be 'working with the ministry to support our members through this process'.

MSD has about 5500 frontline staff in more than 170 locations.

Those using MSD services were increasingly turning to digital interactions, with more than 300,000 people signed up for a MyMSD online account.

Almost 40 per cent of benefit applications were now started online.

In April, the MSD made headlines when it was forced to shut down an information sharing portal, where non-governmental service providers submitted client data, because a technical issue allowed one provider to see another provider's folder.

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley was infuriated by the breach.

Last month the Inland Revenue Department announced it was cutting about 2000 jobs and briefed staff on changes to hundreds of roles. The changes were set to take effect next year.