NZFFBS Initiatives
The Federation is a respected authority in the financial and
consumer sectors in Aotearoa-New Zealand and is constantly in demand
to share the collective knowledge and experience of its budget
advisers. The Federation has also established itself as a proactive,
approachable, and knowledgeable organisation that is open and
willing to collaborate with appropriate groups.
The list of groups the Federation has collaborated with, the
government and industry policies and practices it has influenced,
and the depth and breath of projects it has worked on is extensive.
This section provides a very brief overview of some of the work the
Federation has, and currently is, involved with in Aotearoa-New
Zealand. If you are interested in further detail on any of these
initiatives, or would like to approach the Federation for advice or
collaboration, then please contact the national office.
Federation Projects
Please click on the project of interest to view more detail.
Capacity Strengthening, 2004 - 2007
The Capacity Strengthening Project was conceptualised as a result of trends and facts emerging from annual statistical analysis of budget services’ operations, from the 2003 findings in the social audit of the Federation, and from feedback by District Representatives and management committee workshops.
This feedback indicated a continuing decline in numbers of volunteer budget advisers over the preceding 10 years; the reliance on voluntary efforts raised quality concerns and conflicts in auditing and advocacy; and significant service viability issues around recruitment, training and funding were identified. To address these trends in budgeting and to increase support to community budget organisations the Capacity Strengthening pilot project was proposed. The pilot project was backed financially in collaboration between the Federation, Child, Youth and Family and the Tindall Foundation and a three year trial began in 2004.
The pilot project outcomes have now been measured over the 36 month period from February 2004 to January 2007. The results achieved combined with feedback from key informants clearly identifies that the Capacity Strengthening Pilot Project has proven to be successful in addressing and reversing the declining trends in budgeting by providing our membership with hands-on support to help improve their services and ultimately their communities.
The work achieved by the part-time Field Officers during the pilot project has been nothing short of extraordinary and they must be commended for their hard-working, passionate and diligent efforts sometimes in demanding circumstances.
In many ways the results have exceeded our expectations. That said, there are still areas in which further achievements can be realised and our efforts to date consolidated. The Federation’s overall three year performance of the pilot project and the fundamental development work accomplished places us in good stead to further build on these foundations by expanding and rolling out the Field Officers into all regions throughout New Zealand.
The full three-year Capacity Strengthening Pilot Project report can be read here:
Capacity Strengthening Pilot Project Report.pdf
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Client Voices Pilot Project, 2006 - 2008
The purpose of the Client Voices project was for the NZFFBS to become an authoritative voice able to effect positive change for consumers in the financial market. A virtual network of budget services exchanging information through improved electronic collection mechanisms would be the catalyst to allow this to happen.
The Client Voices pilot project, however, had slightly different objectives. Although the overall goal above is exactly where the project participants were heading the pilot project had four objectives it needed to meet to prove that the Client Voices project would be both viable and sustainable in the long term. Further, twelve project goals were established that fell under one of the four objectives.
Objectives and Goals
The first objective, governance and process development, took a total of six months to complete and included the following goals: member consultation, workframe development, participatory workshop, form development and the governance process. The second objective also took six months to complete and had just one goal, which was the development of the Client Voices database software. The third objective, training, testing and rollout, had five goals needing completion: writing the service contracts, fundraising, training, testing and rollout; all up, this objective would take 12 months to complete. The fourth and final objective had one goal, which was monitoring, reporting and reviewing the project. Four weeks were originally allowed for this last objective but circumstances beyond our control meant that the project timeline slipped considerably toward the end of the project and this date was extended.
The full two-year Client Voices Pilot Project report can be read here:
Client Voices Project Report.pdf
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Financial Planning For Change, 2005
The following is an excerpt from the Work and Income East Coast Regional News - October 2005 issue
Applicants for Unemployment and Domestic Purposes Benefits are being offered access to a free, voluntary and confidential financial planning and budgeting service. The service forms part of a pilot funded by the Ministry of Social Development in partnership with the New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services (NZFFBS).
The service is being piloted in Napier South, Napier City, Mangere and Dunedin Service Centres. In Napier clients are referred to a Financial Planning 4 Change Co-ordinator who is contracted through the Napier Family Centre Budgeting Service (a member of NZFFBS).
Financial Planning 4 Change offers three services. Clients can opt for a one-off consultation to help with immediate budgeting or money management concerns, an ongoing service to address debt and financial planning for the future or an education course consisting of 10 hours over a five week period. Napier South DPB Case Manager Shelley Smallman says working closely with Financial Planning 4 Change Coordinator Renee Manaena has been the key to the success of the programme. “Where possible, clients are personally introduced to Renee. The personal introduction helps – Renee is excellent. She’s really open, non-judgmental and puts people at ease.”
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The Federation National Committee decided to commission a social audit starting with discussions in November 2000. The reasons were:
1. We had for some time been discussing ways of measuring our effectiveness with clients as a quality control measure.
2. We had been discussing ways of confirming our value and effectiveness to funders.
3. The Tindall Foundation had suggested the ‘social audit’ model to us as they were wanting to assess the effectiveness of the funding they were putting into the NZFFBS and Penny-Wise Trust; this therefore seemed a possible source of funding for it.
4. Child, Youth and Family were discussing moving towards measuring ‘outcomes’ instead of outputs and social auditing seemed to be in line with that thinking. It therefore seemed that it would position us and the services well for future funding in their eyes. It also suggested another possible funding source.
The Executive Officer was asked to investigate funding sources and to find someone to carry out the audit. Social Audit New Zealand was approached in February 2001 for assistance in preparing social accounts and a social audit on the organisation. Social Audit New Zealand’s (SANZ) proposal was accepted and steps were initiated by the Federation and the 21 participating budgeting services to ensure they were ready to undertake social accounting and auditing, and that it would achieve the desired aim of answering the overarching question of “How do we know that the budgeting services we offer are effective?”
The Executive Summary can be located here:
Social Audit - Executive Summary - 2002.pdf
And the full 66 page Social Audit can be found here:
Social Audit 2002.pdf
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Policy Intervention
Please click on the year of interest to view more detail.
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
Research
Escaping the Debt Trap: Experiences of New Zealand families
accessing budgeting services
Problem debt (unmanageable debt leading to financial strain) is
an issue for New Zealand families and can have far-reaching
consequences. It can result in difficulties meeting food, housing
and transport costs as well as impacting on the overall well-being
of families and on relationships within a family. Problem debt is
linked to poverty, which is known to limit children’s daily lives
and their opportunities and expose them to risks of illness, social
and emotional damage and poor educational attainment (Fletcher and
Dwyer, 2008). The Families Commission is interested in understanding
the impact of problem debt on New Zealand families. The aim of this
research was to improve knowledge of issues facing families who have
problem debt. The information gathered will enable the Commission to
advocate more effectively on behalf of families vulnerable to
problem debt.
Families
Commission (2009). Escaping the Debt Trap: Experiences of New
Zealand families accessing budgeting services. Wellington, NZ:
Families Commission
When Debt Becomes a Problem: A literature study
This literature study gathers information on
household debt problems from the national and international
literature. Its aim was to review the literature so as to provide
definitions of key terms, estimate (for the first time) the size and
scale of debt problems in New Zealand, discuss possible reasons why
some people fall into debt problems, assess the likely impact this
has on individuals and families, outline possible avenues for
tackling debt problems, and suggest where there are information
gaps. It has been written to provide a foundation for considering
future government and non-government policies relating to the issue
of over-indebtedness.
Since at least the early 1970s there has been a credit
revolution. New technology facilitating the widespread use of credit
cards, and the financial deregulation policies of many countries in
the 1980s and 1990s, have provided consumers with far greater ease
and access to credit. The increasing availability of credit has been
matched by a consequent increase in levels of borrowing. From a
social and economic perspective this raises questions about the
impacts (both positive and negative) this has had on individuals and
families, particularly for those with lower incomes.
Valins, O. (2004). When Debt Becomes a Problem: A literature study.
Wellington, NZ: MSD
Policy Issues Arising from the Research on Budgeting Assistance
The research undertaken for the Social Policy Agency by the
University of Otago Consulting Group sheds useful light on the
outcomes of budget advice for people managing on low incomes. The
results of this research are very positive and argue well for the
provision of this kind of assistance to help people on low incomes.
They also raise a number of issues which contribute to the ongoing
policy discussion around the place of budget advisory services in
the Government's provision of welfare support services. The purpose
of this brief comment is to discuss three of these issues. First,
there are policy related questions around the actual changes made by
those receiving budget advice to bring their affairs into balance.
Secondly, there are issues about sources of income and the
relativity between benefit and wage levels. A third policy question
is the effectiveness of individualised assistance through programmes
like budget advice in alleviating social problems.
Strang, J. (2006). Policy Issues Arising from the Research on
Budgeting Assistance. Wellington, NZ: MSD
Budgeting Assistance and Low Income Families: Changes in Income and Expenditure
The New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting
Services Incorporated (NZFFBS) and its affiliates are important
providers of social services in New Zealand. Their work helps a
large number of clients, most of whom are social welfare
beneficiaries. This paper examines the impact of budgeting advice on
low-income families’ patterns of income, expenditure and
indebtedness, and the extent to which budget advice has helped
clients to live within a balanced budget. It is based on a study of
358 clients of the NZFFBS undertaken by the University of Otago
Consulting Group in 1994.
The results show that: (1) after receiving
budget advice the average weekly income of both beneficiary and wage
earner clients rose; (2) expenditure changes after budget advice
showed a decrease in all categories; (3) on average, clients moved
from a weekly deficit to a weekly surplus after budget advice; and
(4) a substantial proportion of the change in clients’
surpluses/deficits could be attributed to increased income rather
than decreased expenditure. The paper concludes that for the
majority of clients, budget advice has improved their financial
situations by moving them from a situation of weekly deficit to
break-even or surplus by giving them an increased understanding of
their weekly income and expenditure.
Wilson, A.G., Houghton, R.M., Piper R.K. (1995). Budgeting
Assistance and Low Income Families: Changes in income and
expenditure. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, (5), 97-109.
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