26843 (2026). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Social Development and Employment

26843 (2026). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: What rules or directives, if any, were sent to the Minister’s departments, agencies, crown entities and any other bodies that the Minister is responsible for, if any, regarding making bids for Budget 2026?

Hon Louise Upston: In line with this Government’s fiscal sustainability priorities, I was required to identify any reprioritisation opportunities to fully or partially fund a spending initiative. Reprioritised funding in Budget 2026 includes: • $7m reprioritised from the 2025/26 year, to continue funding the Food Secure Communities programme (alongside baseline funding of $8m) • $5.45m reprioritised from Vote Social Development, to offset some of the costs to support the delivery and implementation of recommendations made in the Dame Karen Poutasi review to improve the system of safety nets for preventing harm in the children's system (in Votes Education, Oranga Tamariki, and Health) • net savings of $387.5m over four years, from increasing the minimum Income-related Rent contribution for social housing tenants and the client contribution for households in transitional and emergency housing from 25 to 30 percent of income – which offsets the cost to increase the maximum rates for the Accommodation Supplement in all areas by between $10 and $30 per week from 1 April 2027 (expenditure of $374.5m over four years). No Crown Entities were invited to submit a Budget Bid as part of Budget 2026, and no directives were sent to the entities.