Louise Upston: Social Development Minister confirms beneficiaries who miss compulsory phone calls will face sanctions

Jobseekers who miss a case manager phone appointment - without good reason - could face sanctions.

Social Development Minister Louise Upston has announced a new phone case management service for young job seekers, due to expand to 4,000 people.

She says being a beneficiary has work obligations, including taking the phone call.

"And if they don't do that and they don't have a sufficient reason for doing so, they could have their benefit reduced or suspended or in the worst case scenario - cancelled."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ministry of Social Development is introducing mandatory monthly phone
calls with case managers for four thousand people on the
Job Seeker Support Benefit. The Ministry is bringing in a
new phone based case management service for eighteen to twenty
four year olds and case managers will be getting in
touch with their clients at least once a month. So
any job seeker who skips their phone call without a

(00:22):
good reason could face sanctions. Louise Upston is the Social
Development and Employment Minister and as with US now Kilder Minister.
So how's this going to work?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, it's going to mean that approximately four thousand young
New Zealanders on the Job Seeker Benefit will have regular
phone contact with a case manager. It's expecting that it'll
be about once a month and it means staying in
touch with the job seeker will improve their chances of
getting into work.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Why haven't we had phone based case management before now?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Well, it was done for a period of time during COVID.
But what I want to see is a welfare system
that's much more active, so for those who are on
the job Seeker Benefit, getting more contact with the frontline
team at MSD and making sure that the job seekers
know the steps that they can take to help their

(01:19):
chances of getting into work right.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
So it basically means more engagement between case managers and
people who are on a benefit. But how does it
actually help people get after the benefit and into work.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, sometimes it'll be a matter of talking about what
steps ave been taking. For example, if they're being applying
for positions but not getting job interviews, being able to
understand why not. It might be that their CV needs
some improving, so they can get assistance to do that.
It might be, for example, one of the objections is

(01:52):
they haven't got their driver's license, so that job seeker
can be connected to a training provider that can help
get their driver's license, so getting rid of a barrier
that they're facing in their job search.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
And to be totally clear, previously, except for that period
during COVID, the way that these people on a benefit
would have interacted with their case manager is it in
a face to face meeting, yes.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Or not at all, So there will be some Previously,
there would be some job seekers who, other than applying
for the benefit and getting it granted, don't have any
contact with the MSD for twelve months, which is the
time they then apply again to carry on with their benefit.
That's not good enough. We need to make sure there
is far more contact between MSD frontline workers and job

(02:41):
seekers so that people don't get stuck on welfare. We
want to take practical steps to help them into work.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
I know it was a pretty different labor market to
say the least, but is there anything from the COVID
experience that can inform you when it comes to the
number of people this might actually help off benefits this
time round.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, we've got targets. We've got a target to reduce
the number of people on the job Seeker Benefit by
fifty thousand, which is an ambitious target. So it will
mean each service center in each region will have targets,
and it means focusing on particularly young people. And this
phone based case management is just another of the steps

(03:23):
that we believe will help people back into work.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Do you know how many people after this is introduced
will still be without a case manager?

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yes? Well, at the moment, only about a third of
people on jobs Seeker Benefit have case management, so we'll
be lifting it up to fifty seven thousand, and so
we're focusing it on those that we think need that
more focused support. There will be some people that come
onto the job Seeker Benefit and they're able to able

(03:56):
to reconnect to work quite quickly. But there's other measures
that we've taken that mean job seekers contact with work
and income increases. And so it's a very deliberate process
for us to ensure job seekers have more contact with MSD.
Case management is just one of those activities.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
And of course one of the consequences if these people
don't engage with their case manager via phone calls is
that they can potentially face sanctions. So what happens if
someone skips their phone call? How does that process work?

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, so it's what we call a work obligation. So
if they're on the job Seeker Benefit, they'll have a
number of work obligations. For someone who's in the phone
case management, it's been taking the phone call. And if
they don't do that and they don't have a sufficient
reason for doing so, they could have their benefit reduced

(04:54):
or suspended or in the worst case scenario, canceled.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
How many phone calls are they allowed to skip before
they start facing sanctions.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Well, you know, there wouldn't be too many reasons that
you can't take a.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Phone call you a GenZ minister, the famous famously don't
like answering the phone.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Got a few, got a few in the household. But
you know the reality is this will be a work obligation.
You know, we want people to be able to be
supported back into jobs. We don't want them being stuck
on welfare. So this is a very practical step and
the expectation is for someone on the jobs you could
benefit that they're taking the necessary steps themselves. So yes,

(05:37):
it's a work obligation and they will potentially face a
consequence if they're not there to take the call.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Really appreciate your time. Thank you very much, minister. There
is Louise Upston, who's of course the Social Development and
Employment Ministers. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen
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