Platform | Atamira Update – March 2026

Kia Kōrero
Let's Talk – March 2026

platform noun, often attributive

1: a declaration of the principles on which a group of persons stands
2: a place or opportunity for public discussion

Kia ora koutou katoa – welcome to the Platform Mental Health and Addiction NGO and community sector update for March 2026.

In this month's update, let's talk about...

What's on my desk?
Final Chance to Register - Platform Members' Leadership Day 2026
Contract Renewals 2026/27
Mental Health and Addictions NGO Outcomes Project
Mental Health and Addiction NGO Workforce Data Project
Cybersecurity
People's Select Committee on Pay Equity - Report Released
Social Investment Fund Pathway One Round Two - Now Open
Grant Round Three Now Open for the Workforce Futures Fund
ACT NOW - Reregistering under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022
Consultations
Navigate Policy Group - Policy Library Update
Access to online resources
What We're Reading

What's on my desk?

The recent severe weather highlighted by what was reported to be February 2026 strongest winds in over a decade and heavy rain will have further worsened environmental and social impacts to many communities. We acknowledge the considerable disruption to people’s lives, health, and social wellbeing, and appreciate how immense and difficult these impacts are for many.

As we heard at the Platform members’ check-in forum last Friday, the Mental Health, Addiction and Suicide Prevention Group now sits under the Public Health Agency within the Ministry of Health. Their work programme covers strategy, funding, suicide prevention, legislation, reducing substance-related harm, gambling, data and intelligence, leadership and insight, the strategic priorities for the Minister for Mental Health and cross-government priorities. There will be opportunities to engage in some of the strategic work they are leading.

We also heard from Health NZ about the inaugural meeting of the Mental Health and Addiction (MH&A) Partnership Group held in January. This is a joint national leadership group for MH&A comprising representatives from Health NZ, Platform and the PSA. Platform advocated for this to be reestablished after being in abeyance for 3 years. This will give us a regular avenue to problem solve and act on areas of shared interest with Health NZ which impact of the MH&A NGO sector.

We are making sure that the role of the MH&A NGOs and community sector is heightened and not lost in the health agencies and political milieu. Support to grow our workforce has never been more urgent than now. Resolving the proposed new contract, general contract and funding uplift certainty for the period starting 1 July 2026 to ensure sustainability remains an area of focus. Through our advocacy, we continue to highlight the fact that our sector supports approximately 42% of all people who access specialist support for their mental health and addiction needs in Aotearoa New Zealand. That is why certainty and sustainability is important as without the MH&A supports and services significant gaps will emerge.

We encourage you to participate and contribute to our advocacy efforts to elevate the voice of the mental health and addiction NGO and community sector.

Ngā mihi nui,

Memo

Your Final Chance to Register - Platform Members' Leadership Day 2026

Together We Lead: Insight, Impact, Value – A Sound Investment building on the capability of the MH&A NGO and community sector.

Register now for Platform Members’ Day 2026 on Thursday 19 March 2026, at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Wellington.

This year’s focus is on collective leadership and collaboration - transforming knowledge, capability, and experience into visible system improvements.

Why join us?

Learn to turn disruption into your advantage – lead with vision, clarity, and bold integrity.
Connect with ambitious leaders shaping the future with the resources they have.
Leave inspired to act collectively, create change, and deliver impact and value.
Learn about shared leadership and the power of collaboration.

What we’ll explore together:

We’ll explore many pressing topics from optimising resources, investment and funding to contracting, service innovation, workforce development, outcomes measurement and leadership – plus exciting enablers like Artificial Intelligence.

Minister Matt Doocey will provide the opening address, followed by a fantastic line up of speakers throughout the day including - Dr Frances Hughes, Dr Mai Chen, Garry Johnston, Phil Grady and Melissa Reynolds-Clarke. The full programme will be released shortly.

Cost: $225 per person (including GST).

Register here.

Contract Renewals 2026/27

We continue to engage with Health NZ about the new long form contract, the clauses of concern within it, the contract renewal process for 2026/27 and cost pressures being experienced by MH&A NGOs.

We highlighted our concerns about the contract renewal process to Minister Doocey at out meeting with him last Thursday. We concluded that single year provider contracts need to be reduced with a move to multi-year contracts as this would provide certainty and stability.

Health NZ will factor this into the 2026/27 contract renewal programme and engagement plan which is pending. Platform members were advised at the online member forum last Friday that a companion document which shows clauses in old contracts which will be modified in the new long form contract will be available this week. This will include a second document which will show clauses in the new long form contract which Health NZ has agreed to amend following our feedback provided last year.

This information which will include an online link for feedback, we will be provided to Platform members sometime this week. This will enable your NGO to do its own due diligence. We encourage you to provide feedback via the link before the end of March 2026. This will lead on to further work to be done by the joint Health NZ and Platform working group to identify further changes that can be made prior to agreement on the final new long form contract.

Once the final new long form contract is released each of you will then need to engage with your local Health NZ planning, funding and outcomes team regarding individual MH&A NGO contract arrangements.

I acknowledge this is frustratingly slow and appreciate that this is difficult as it impacts on your longer-term planning. We will provide more information as soon as it is available.

Mental Health and Addictions NGO Outcomes Project

As an outcome from our resource a Sound Investment - Shining a Spotlight on the Value and Impact of Mental Health and Addictions Services in New Zealand, we have partnered with Te Pou to explore the feasibility of sustained outcomes data collection by MH&A NGOs in our sector.

What is obvious is that there is a big information gap about what outcome data is being collected by MH&A NGOs in New Zealand. This lack of a national picture is problematic, especially when it comes to influencing the national conversation about the impact, value and worth of MH&A NGOs.

This project provides an opportunity to address this information gap and to develop a better understanding about what outcomes data is being collected by MH&A NGOs. It also aims to explore how this data could be used to help reinforce the important role that MH&A NGOs have in the provision of support to tangata whai ora and whānau.

We will be gathering your views and insight via a survey. A link to the survey will be sent out this week to all Platform members and other MH&A NGOs that form part of regional Navigate Groups.

We are interested to hear from every MH&A NGO in our sector regardless of whether your organisation currently uses outcome tools, so please take 10-15 minutes to fill in this survey.

This is your chance to make visible your organisation’s experience with outcome measurement, noting the challenges and opportunities associated with it.

It is important that we capture and represent the wide range of MH&A NGO experiences and views in the final report, noting that this information has not been captured elsewhere in New Zealand. We encourage you to complete this survey.

The results of the survey will help us to identify potential solutions that could be adopted as part of a more collective approach to outcome measurement. An initial summary of survey findings will be presented to members at our online members forum on Friday 27 March. We will also publish the survey finding on our website.

The final report will be completed by July 2026 and will be informed by the findings from an online survey of MH&A NGOs in our sector.

Further information about the project can be found here.

We encourage your NGO to participate in this project.

Mental Health and Addiction NGO Workforce Data Project

During the period June to December 2026 Platform partnered with Te Pou to explore MH&A NGO’s interest in a collective approach to workforce data with support from Health NZ. The MH&A NGO Workforce data project concluded phase 1, during which a feasibility study was carried out with the purpose of understanding the practicability and appetite for a collective approach to collecting and using NGO workforce data.

The final report for this feasibility study ‘Strengthening the collection, analysis, use & dissemination of MH&A NGO workforce data’ has been finalised. You can read the report here.

This report outlines what MH&A workforce data is currently collected and by which agencies and explores some ways collective approaches to collecting and using workforce data could be improved. We recently presented the report to Health NZ and the Ministry of Health. Overall, there is support and agreement to consolidate and improve existing data collection, analysis and dissemination to meet the needs of MH&A NGOs and the reporting requirements for Health NZ, the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders.

The next steps involve determining the scope to progress work to clarify what consolidating and improving existing data collection, analysis and dissemination might look like including a minimum data collection set and any other necessary changes. This will involve agreeing who will progress this work, when it will commence and timelines for completion.

This is a good outcome as it builds on the survey finding that MH&A NGOs thought collective approaches would increase access to insights, grow NGO influence and support sector development.

Cybersecurity

This is a friendly reminder that you need to make sure that your organisation has in place cyber security protection and that your information systems are resilient and protected from similar criminal cyber activity. MH&A NGOs and community providers hold sensitive information about tāngata whai ora and whānau for the purposes of supporting them including financial information about business operations. The impact of loss of access to this information, including information systems can affect the support you provide and has potential privacy implications.

The recent major cybersecurity events with Manage My Health and NZ Health APP MediMap are a reminder to make sure you have appropriate cyber security protections in place. The National Cyber Security Centre has produced a document outlining guidance for mitigating and responding to ransomware attacks, which can be found here.

We want to highlight the Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora Cyber Hub that provides information and advice to the wider New Zealand health sector about cyber security. There are varying resources available to use to help support NGO and community providers to keep information safe, such as Health Information Security Framework (HISF).

The security frameworks set guidelines that organisations within the health sector should follow to secure their systems and information. This guidance has been tailored to organisations according to their size and structure (referred to as segments), such as the guidance for micro to small providers (less than 25 staff).

Other advice or guidance can be obtained from the National Cyber Security Centre https://www.ncsc.govt.nz/resources.

People's Select Committee on Pay Equity - Report Released

On Tuesday 24 February The People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity (PSCPE) released their report: Inquiry into the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 which sought to independently investigate the 2025 changes to equal pay legislation. The Committee of 10 former Members of Parliament received 1,390 substantive written and oral submissions, including from Platform, on the process and impacts of the pay equity legislation enacted by the Coalition Government in May 2025.

The report states that the legislative changes were planned and enacted through a “flagrant and significant abuse of power,” breaching multiple domestic and international legal standards, retrospectively cancelling existing rights, and wasting millions of dollars in sunk costs on 33 extinguished claims. The inquiry found that no credible evidence justified dismantling the previous pay equity framework and no actual budget savings were achieved. The report references concerns raised by Platform in our submission, which was presented to the PSCPE by Platform Chairperson Sally Pitts-Brown in October 2025.

You can read the full report and a timeline of key moments in Aotearoa’s pay equity system on the PSCPE website here. You can view Platform’s oral submission here.

Social Investment Fund Pathway One Round Two - NOW OPEN

The Social Investment Fund Pathway One Round: New Investment Round Two opened on Monday 9 February and closes Monday 10 March 2026.

In addition to the three cohort for Round One a new fourth one has been added for Round Two: Mothers who experience harm from substance use, and their children, from pregnancy up to the age of five.

You can access information about Round Two here.

Grant Round Three Now Open for the Workforce Futures Fund

Applications for the Workforce Futures Fund | Tahua Rāngaimahi Anamata are open from 23 February to 31 March 2026.

The Fund supports innovative, practical projects that strengthen Aotearoa’s care and support workforces. Organisations working in aged support, cleaning, disability support, home and community health services, mental health and addiction support, social services, urban pest management and youth work are encouraged to learn more.

The Fund supports innovation in workforce development and demonstrates the value of strategic investment through enabling greater use of technology, collaboration across workforces, and projects that amplify workforce capacity and capability. These priorities continue to guide Round Three.

With $15 million available, and $5 million already invested across 11 projects, the Fund continues to support initiatives that strengthen Aotearoa’s care and support workforces. You read more on the funded projects here.

You can read about a case study of the first completed project from Round One, a multilingual de‑escalation training initiative for commercial cleaners that is already lifting confidence and safety across the sector and sharing practical learnings for the wider workforce. Read the case study here.

If you’re thinking of applying, please get in touch with Anika Speedy the EO early so they can help determine whether your project is a good fit and support you to shape a strong proposal. Contact admin@workforcefuturesfund.nz to make a time.

ACT NOW - Reregistering under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022

If your organisation is an incorporated society still registered under the Incorporated Societies 1908 Act, you will need to reregister under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 before 5 April 2026 to remain on the register. If your organisation does not reregister, it may cease to exist and lose access to bank accounts, ownership to assets, other entity names, amongst other consequences. To learn more about how to reregister read here.

Consultations

We are currently working on these consultations:

Ministry of Social Development – Draft Carers' Strategy Action Plan Consultation (closes 12 March 2026)

During February we participated and contributed submissions on:

Parliament – Emergency Management Bill (No 2) contributed to the submission penned by the Constellation Community

Navigate Policy Group Update - Policy Library Update

We’re pleased to announce that another three policies have been reviewed and uploaded to the Policy Library on our website:

Asset Management
O Tatou Motika
Safe Restraint Practice

We will continue to keep members updated on the developments to the Policy Library, which can be found here.

Access to online resources

Navigator Trust New Zealand recently shared new resources which could help support the work of your organisations. You can check out the new resources below:

Cyber Security Issues for Organisations - Own Your Online: Focussed on simplifying cyber security, Own Your Online resource aims to raise understanding of cyber security issues in Aotearoa New Zealand. This is critically important in light of the recently reported cyber security attached and breaches of some health providers online systems.
Using a conflict of interest register: This resource prepared by Charity Services describes how charities can identify and keep track of conflicts of interest. There are significant implications when conflict of interest practice fall short of best practice as shown in the investigation of the Teaching Council processes for managing conflict of interest reported here.
Applying CPI to your budget: This resource is designed to help your organisation apply the Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment to appropriate expense items in your budget. This has important tolls you can use when planning for your 2026/27 budgets.

You can also find more resources that support NGO and community providers to thrive here:

What we're reading

Global Leadership Exchange – Read the latest update here

Te Hiringa Mahara Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission: Read the latest update here