NZCCSS Vulnerability Report Highlights Pressure on Community Services

Social Service Providers Aotearoa shares the concerns of the NZ Council of Christian Social Services (NZCCSS) that the community-based social services sector is under pressure.

“The Council’s Vulnerability Report highlights the complex problems many families are facing. Increasingly, those families are turning to community agencies for help.” says SSPA National Manager Brenda Pilott.

“Our members’ experience is much the same as reported by the NZCOSS. Our members are facing high demand, often in excess of what has been contracted. They are dealing with complex problems requiring co-ordination across agencies and a high level of skills.

“We have heard from members who have had to create waiting lists for their services, or to turn people away. That goes very much against the grain for community agencies, which are committed to supporting families in their communities, but the funding they have received only goes so far.”

Brenda Pilott commended the NZ Council of Christian Social Services for highlighting the problems facing the social services sector and supports their call for funding that genuinely meets the level of demand being experienced by community agencies

ENDS

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