Making Social Services Work for Everyone: a summary of the recent Productivity Commission inquiry

Abstract

Social services are those dedicated to enhancing people’s economic and social well-being by helping them lead more stable, healthy, self-sufficient and fulfilling lives. New Zealand’s social services – specifically, those provided, funded or otherwise supported by government – were the subject of a recent New Zealand Productivity Commission inquiry (Box 1). The commission’s final report is wide-ranging, covering subjects from service commissioning to purchasing and contracting, programme evaluation, institutional design and system stewardship. The report’s recommendations on many of these topics reflect standard social policy principles and may hold few surprises for readers of Policy Quarterly.