Leaked notes from a closed-door meeting of New Zealand’s charity leaders with Oranga Tamariki bosses reveal that ministry funding for services, delivered by 400 charities, would now not be announced until after the May 30 Budget. Current funding runs out four weeks later, at the end of June.
"We are definitely frustrated at the delay in the contracting process. It prolongs the uncertainty and makes planning for July onwards very difficult," Anglican Family Care manager Mike Williams said.
There were families being supported, and staff being employed to do the work, he said.
The leaked notes say the charities provide 1300 ministry-funded "service lines", including those that aim to keep families safe through home visits and guidance.
One charity leader, who did not wish to be named, said some charities were now "a month away from turning the lights off".
This included charities with low reserves and facing a potentially fatal cocktail of imminent government funding withdrawal, increased costs and static levels of community giving.
New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services executive officer Nikki Hurst said she would be "deeply concerned for our communities" if Oranga Tamariki went ahead with the contract cuts.
"The potential cuts are enough to cause immense worry, and I am hearing from members who are preparing for the worst. Our focus is the needs of tamariki, rangatahi and whānau, but as charities we do need funding to provide the services that we do."
Two deputy chief executives from the ministry, Darrin Haimona and Rachel Leota, led the meeting with the charities, which had been preceded by a letter a few weeks earlier from Mr Haimona saying some services could face "wind down".
The letter had resulted in the charity leaders clamouring for the meeting.
Responding to a query from the Otago Daily Times, Minister for Children Karen Chhour said Oranga Tamariki’s contracting outcomes were "still being worked through". The ministry was communicating with affected service providers.
"My focus is on building an agency which places children at the centre, placing the safety and wellbeing of all children first," the minister said.
Another charity leader who attended the meeting said that everyone was on "tenterhooks as decision-making is so close to the wire" but hoped that if contracts were ended, charities would be given a year’s notice or another government agency would take over funding them.
It is not the first time charities have been warned of wind down. Nearly two years ago, in June 2022, Mr Haimona sent a letter to charities saying a four-year budget investment in Oranga Tamariki was coming to an end and it would have to make adjustments, "including reductions", to funded services. Those would help to meet the recommendations in many reports about the ministry, the letter said.
The notes of the meeting last week said Mr Haimona admitted to budget overruns and said decisions on funding charities would be based on "known need". In a statement to the ODT, Mr Haimona confirmed some services might be "no longer purchased where they are not required to meet the needs of tamariki and rangatahi" but that prevention of harm and early support was a ministry priority.
In the meeting, charities had quizzed ministry bosses about how they were researching need, and were told that regional Oranga Tamariki teams provided information.
One charity leader described the ministry’s answer as "cagey". Another said it was "sounding like they relied on anecdata".
Charities said they sent significant information about their work to Oranga Tamariki but it was not clear this information was being analysed centrally to inform funding.
The ministry’s research team, set up two years ago, has been scrapped as part of cutbacks announced earlier this month.
The meeting notes also said Oranga Tamariki was proposing three regions. The Southern region would include Wellington. It is unknown if there will be a South Island regional office.
