Hon Nicola Willis
Minister for Social Investment

Social service providers now have a new opportunity to change lives, with the opening of the Social Investment Fund this week, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says.

The agency has also identified priority groups for the first round of the fund as children with highly challenging parental or schooling situations, specifically:

• Children with parents who are, or have recently been, in jail
• Children of parents who experienced the care system, and
• Children who have been stood down or suspended from school before age 13

“Data and evidence – which underpins the social investment approach – shows children who fall into those groups are most likely to experience poor outcomes and require costly government support throughout their lives.

“It also shows us that intervening earlier in their lives helps not just them, but also the country as they make better contributions as citizens, saving the taxpayer in the process.

“The Social Investment Fund is designed to improve outcomes for families, individuals and communities by investing in what actually works, and to give organisations that know those communities best the freedom to get on and do what they do best.

“The Fund enables the Government to invest earlier, smarter, and with a much more transparent measurement of the impact those interventions have for the people they’re designed to help.”

The Fund has $190 million over four years in Budget 2025 for those carefully targeted investments.

Notes:

• More information on criteria, specifics of applying and reporting requirements can be found here.
• Social Investment Fund FAQs can be found here.
• Three projects were identified at Budget 2025 to demonstrate social investment in practice. They are: Autism NZ, Ka Puta Ka Ora Emerge Aotearoa and He Piringa Whare’s Te Tihi o Ruahine.

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