Kia Kōrero
Let's Talk – March 2025

Kia ora koutou katoa – welcome to the Platform mental health and addiction NGO and community sector update for March 2025.

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

• What's on my desk?
• Platform Members' Leadership Day 2025: Reshaping, Re-energising
• Showcasing the capabilities and strengths of mental health & addiction NGO and community providers
• Police Mental Health Change Programme
• Pay equity Explained
• Pay Equity Claims Update
• Oranga Tamariki contracting process
• Social Investment FAQs
• Consultations we are participating in
• World Health Organisation Online Launch Event
• What we’re reading

What's on my desk?

During the past month we have had changes within the Platform staff team. We farewelled Kate Bell and Abigail Freeland who many of you have got to know and work with over the past few years. We welcome Natasha Snook as our Member Engagement Co-ordinator. She will be key in continuing the engagement work and making sure we are responsive to your information requests. Recruitment is underway for a Policy Analyst.

We also welcome new members to the Platform Board. Emma Hunter, National Consumer Advisor / Te Tumu Pou Arahi Kiritaki of the Salvation Army, Addictions, Supportive Housing and Reintegration Services, John Cook, Chief Executive, Emerge Aotearoa and Darryl Bishop, Chief Executive, Ember, Korowai Takitini. You can read about our current board members here.

We acknowledge the significant efforts you are making to continue providing services to support tāngata whaiora and supporting your staff currently, as we still face ongoing changes in the health system and the uncertainties they bring.

We are making sure that the role of the mental health and addiction NGOs and community sector remains top of mind across Health NZ, Ministry of Health, the Minister for Mental Health Hon Doocey, Minister of Health Hon Brown and other stakeholders. We do not want the part we play within the mental health and addiction system being downplayed as our support to grow our workforce has never been more. The sector supports approximately 42% of all people who access specialist support for their mental health and addiction needs in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The more immediate needs for mental health and addiction NGOs and community providers are contract renewals and funding uplifts to ensure certainty from 1 July. Attending to the support worker workforce by making decisions that will resolve pay equity claims, being actively engaged in the key change processes nationally and within regions, which impact on the work being done by the sector.

In the month ahead we will continue to use the various channels to gather information on what is important, and to act in support of what you need to continue to do – which you do so well – supporting tāngata whaiora in a challenging and ever-changing environment.

Ngā mihi nui,

Memo

Platform Members' Leadership Day 2025:               Reshaping, Re-energising

Final call for registrations

Registrations remain open for the Platform Members’ Day 2025, with the theme of Reshaping, Re-energising, being held in Wellington on Thursday 27 March 2025.

Places are filling up fast.

Register now for this premier event. Details on how to register can be found here.

This event is a great way to reconnect and network with leaders on emerging system changes and opportunities in the mental health and addiction NGO and community sector. Minister Matt Doocey will give an opening address. Other speakers are Richard Wagtaff, President of the Council of Trade Unions, Alpha Green, Deputy Secretary, Policy, Data and Insights, Social Investment Agency, Jeremy Suisted, a Kiwi expert in Artificial Intelligence fundamentals (Mosaic Partners) and some members of the Cross-Party Mental Health and Addiction Wellbeing Group. Our exciting programme will be finalised and released in the coming weeks.

Who is this event for?

Chief executives and senior managers from Platform member organisations working in the mental health and addiction NGO and community sector.

A great opportunity to experience what Wellington has to offer.

Please note that Platform Members’ Day is the day after Addiction Leadership Day, hosted by NCAT, and two days after the NZ Drug Foundation summit, both of which are being hosted in Wellington.

Other key details

• Date & time: Thursday 27 March 2025, 9 am - 4 pm
• Location: Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Wellington
• Cost: $175 per person + GST

Showcasing the capabilities and strengths of mental health & addiction NGO and community providers

We mentioned in the last newsletter that we were thrilled with the response to an expression of interest we put out seeking practice examples of innovative and collaborative MH&A service delivery by NGOs & community providers. The purpose was to gather information and data that will help us champion and showcase the capabilities of the MH&A NGOs and community sector.

From the 55 responses to the expression of interest process we selected 26 practice examples. We have compiled these into two separate resources. The main report provides a high-level outline of the funding landscape, people accessing services, the type of services delivered, succinct practice examples, employed workforce and a regional perspective across all these. The second report is an addendum which is an extension of the first report. This provides a more in-depth view of each practice example included in the main report.

We are in the final design stages and sign off process. We are aiming to share the final resources during March.

Police Mental Health Change Programme

During February the MH&A NGO and Health NZ forum on Police’s mental health change programme met on two occasions. Discussions covered the threshold for laying criminal charges if a person is assessed or considered to present with mental health distress. It was noted that in some places the threshold appeared to be higher than previously. This was explored, and it was confirmed that Police have made no changes to thresholds for laying charges where an offence is committed.

The threshold for the Police mental health change programme is that “Police will always be involved where there is an offence (that they would normally attend) or an immediate risk to life or safety. Safety: There is a clear safety concern to the person or others and the concerns are of the level of serious injury or death, or where there may be safety concerns from possible violence or criminal actions, or where person is serious danger to themselves or others.”

Phase two of the transition process programme is still set to start on 31 March, with two main components. One is limiting Police handover time in emergency departments to 60 minutes when Police bring someone who has been detained under Section 109 of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992. The other is tightening custody rules to ensure people in distress are not being assessed or detained unnecessarily in Police custody suites. It was noted that detailed handover plans were still being developed by Police for people detained under Section 109.

Work continues to understand what is required to support these changes.

MH&A NGO leaders, alongside Platform, will continue to monitor these proposed changes to make sure the impact is minimised on mental health and addiction NGO providers and the support they provide to people, and their engagement with Police. We will provide more updates as this programme develops further. Anna McNaughton who has been leading this work is handing over to Rebecca Webster who will take lead in her role as National Programme Manager Mental Health Police Programme of Change.

In the meantime, if you come across an issue which needs to be raised with Health NZ, please e-mail MHPolicechanges@tewhatuora.govt.nz

Pay Equity Explained

In our monthly newsletter we regularly provide updates on the status of pay equity claims. See section below.

During February Platform released a report to its members about pay equity. As you are aware there are currently three care and support worker pay equity claims and a frontline managers pay equity claim. There are 26 mental health and addiction NGO’s named in two support worker pay equity claims and two in the frontline managers claim. Pay equity is a critical issue for providers and decisions made in this area have significant impacts.

We prepared this report with assistance from experts at PwC to provide background and context to ongoing care and support worker claims. This should be a valuable resource to help current and new leaders in your organisation to better understand the ongoing pay equity work.

This report adds to the one about members on practical operational responses to facing financial constraints and future funding changes which Platform released to its members in December 2024.

If you are a member of Platform and did not receive the pay equity report, please email admin@platform.org.nz for a copy.

Pay equity claims update

During February several small steps were taken to progress the work on pay equity claim processes. You can read about these under each pay equity claim section below.

Original care and support worker pay equity claim

Health New Zealand representatives met with peak body (NZACA/NZDSN/HCHA & Platform) to share and discuss issues affecting accuracy and reliability of care and support workforce data submitted by employers during October last year. It is still intended that once the issues have been resolved the workforce data collected will be used by Health NZ to develop a whole of sector cost estimate for a pay equity settlement.

The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) investigation meeting in May is progressing. Preparation for this is being held between the lawyers who will represent the named employers, which include Pathways and Emerge at the meeting. The ERA has convened this meeting because the unions applied the pay equity wage rates for care and support workers covered by the claim to fixed.

During February the employer steering group representatives was not able to engage with the lead funder Health New Zealand. It is disappointing that the lead funder has adopted a stance not to engage with the employer steering group. We are very aware and concerned that the lower three wage rates for support workers are less than the New Zealand living wage and close to the minimum wage which goes up from $23.15 to $23.50 on 1 April 2025.  Employers are going to review their strategy and approach to unlock what seems to be a deadlock so attention can put to finding an urgent solution.

Second support worker pay equity claim

Two employee in person assessment profile validation workshops took place on 26 and 28 February. One in Auckland and the other in Wellington. About 12 support workers from across all the sectors (aged care, disability home and community and mental health and addiction) participated. Online briefing sessions for attendees were held beforehand. A big shout out to the relevant employees for supporting the release of support workers to participate. The purposes of these workshops were to gain employee insights to validate a work assessment profile that describes the skills, responsibilities, work conditions, effort required, and experience needed to perform the work, and any other relevant work features. An online workshop is scheduled to take place today, 3 March. All workshops were facilitated by an employer and union representatives. A manager survey has been prepared to assess the work profile.

The employer steering group and unions worked on what will need to be done once the validation workshops have been completed. The next steps involved agreeing components needed to assess gender based under valuation of work. This involved confirming comparators against which the work assessment profile will be considered and gathering of terms and conditions of employment from employers.

Engagement with the lead funder Health NZ remains a priority.

Third support worker pay equity claim

There are no MH&A NGO providers named in this claim. However, this claim is progressing by following the same approach and processes as claim two above.

Oranga Tamariki Contracting Process

Minister for Children, Hon Karen Chhour made an unexpected and surprise announcement during February asking Oranga Tamariki to “pause its current review and extend existing contracts for providers who do not currently have a contract, or have a contract that will end shortly, until 31 December 2025”. This announcement was good news giving certainty for many providers and for service delivery to continue to support many children, young people and families/whanau with significant needs in the community.

During May last year Platform raised with Minister Doocey the potential implications of contracting processes initiated by Oranga Tamariki impact to services if the proposed changes result in funding reductions and clawbacks.

During July last year, Te Pai Ora SSPA the lead peak body brought to the attention of the Auditor General concerns about what seemed to be a rushed, brutal one-sided contracting process impacting on many providers, and leaving many children and families/whanau bereft of essential services and supports. An independent inquiry of the Oranga Tamariki funding and contracting process led by the Office of the Auditor General is currently underway.

Social Investment FAQs

As you know the Government has set up a Social Investment Agency. Andrew Coster is the inaugural Secretary for Social Investment and Chief Executive of this agency. Social investment or social return on investment terms which appear to be used interchangeably. Government expectations are high around incorporating this in future contracting and funding.

Last November I shared with Platform members a webinar recording headed “Dollars + Sense: Measuring Social Impact + Social Return on Investment”. During the webinar there was a discussion about the need for technical assistance in support of NGOs carrying out their own SROI assessments. Also, there was some debate and discussion about the costs of technical assistance and whether there was any merit in this.

This FAQ aims to give you a quick look at what’s happening in the social investment world today and why community organisations might want to keep an eye on it.

I continue to work with colleagues from Emerge on service information for a webinar about 101 social investment or SROI ‘101’ for Platform members.

This is a key area of interest for many MH&A NGO leaders ahead of the next round of expressions of interest for the government’s mental health and addiction community sector innovation fund likely to be in the middle of this year.

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

·       CommunityNet Aotearoa

·       NZ Navigator

·       Digital Stuff We Love

Consultations we are participating in

We are participating in the following consultations which are currently open:

·       Inland Revenue: Taxation and the not-for-profit sector. The consultation considers whether certain tax concessions available to the Charities or not-for-profit sector continue to be effective. It also explores whether tax obligations can be simplified, and compliance costs minimised. You can access the consultation document here. Consultation closes on Monday 31 March 2025. Steven Moe from Parry Field Lawyers and Craig Fisher, Independent Consultant & Charities Expert released a briefing paper and held a webinar on Monday 24 February which you can view here. Webinar: Parry Field Lawyers are hosting on Monday 10 March from 12noon to 1pm; “Focusing on understanding the paper”: Register here

·       Toitū te Waiora Community, Health, Education, and Social Services, Workforce Development Council: Review of the New Zealand Certificate in Public Health and Health Promotion (Level 5). You can read about this review here. We encourage you to familiarize yourself and respond accordingly.

During February we participated and contributed to these consultation processes which have now closed:

·       Toitū te Waiora Community, Health, Education and Social Services, Workforce Development Council: Proposed new Health Coach Training Mico-credential (Level 4) (24 credits). This is a key consultation as some MH&A NGOs and community providers employ Health Coaches. We worked with our colleagues in Te Pou on this consultation. Submissions closed Friday 14 February 2025.

·       Ministry of Education: The Government ran a targeted consultation on two models of work-based learning. One model was called Option ‘B’ in 2024’s Redesign of the Vocational Education and Training System consultation. Following feedback from that consultation, a new work-based learning model was developed. This consultation was about choosing between the new model and the Option B model previously consulted on. These models are now called ‘Collaborative’ and ‘Independent’ respectively. Platform submitted in the initial consultation. We participated in a targeted consultation online meeting hosted by the Minister for Vocational Education to discuss the proposed models for work-based learning. Submissions closed Friday 21 February 2025.

Online Launch Event

Tuesday, 25 March 2025 (13:00 to 14:30 CET)

Register now for the virtual launch event here:  https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1ML12R9hT-ehZvH3J3DuvA

You are invited to the Virtual Global Launch of the WHO Guidance on Mental Health Policy and Strategic Action Plans, taking place on Tuesday, 25 March 2025, from 13:00 to 14:30 CET.

Join Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, government policy makers and experts for this landmark event presenting the latest WHO guidance, designed to transform mental health policy and systems globally.

This updated guidance marks a critical step in supporting countries to develop their mental health policies and strategic action plans that meet today’s challenges. Incorporating lessons learned over the past 20 years, it offers practical guidance and tools to strengthen governance, enhance service delivery, and build a skilled mental health workforce.

Recognizing that mental health is shaped by social and structural factors such as poverty, housing, education, and employment. The guidance outlines actionable approaches to address these determinants, eliminate barriers like stigma and discrimination, and improve access to holistic, rights-based care. It champions the participation of people with lived experience at all levels of mental health reform, acknowledging their vital role in shaping systems that are inclusive, empowering, and responsive to their needs. The guidance also emphasizes collaboration across sectors to deliver holistic support, with a new emphasis on integrating physical, psychological, social, and economic interventions, alongside efforts to prevent mental health conditions and promote well-being for all.

The 90-minute virtual event will include:

• An introduction to the guidance and its key components.
• Reflections from Ministers of Health and other stakeholders.
• Discussions on advancing effective, equitable, and sustainable mental health reform.

Register now to join us: https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1ML12R9hT-ehZvH3J3DuvA

Live captioning will be available, along with automated translation captions in multiple languages. To access these features, please ensure you have the latest version of Zoom installed (at least version 6.3.6).

What we're reading

Get in touch with the Platform team!

The Platform team is always available to interact with members on mental health and addiction NGO and community sector matters should you have any queries, concerns, or ideas. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of being a Platform member and joining our collective voice, please don't hesitate to get in touch. 

Memo Musa (Chief Executive): Memo@platform.org.nz
Natasha Snook (Membership Engagement Coordinator): Natasha@platform.org.nz