other operational guidelines
guidelines relation to the holiday period, disability, and business continuity
services over the christmas and new year holiday period
You are not required to deliver your full service on a non-working day as specified in your Contract.
However, you must ensure staff are available for any days not specified as an official public holiday during the period 24 December and 15 January each year to provide assistance:
- to taiohi applying for Youth Payment or Young Parent Payment, and
- for urgent applications for hardship for taiohi receiving Youth Payment or Young Parent Payment.
Your hours of operation must be business as usual for those days not specified as a public holiday.
You must ensure you have advised taiohi of your operating times during this period, including your expectations taiohi to continue meeting their activity obligations.
young people with disabilities or medical conditions
Some taiohi referred to your service may have a disability or medical condition which may or may not have been diagnosed.
When taiohi advise you of a diagnosed disability you must ensure the taiohi is referred to activity obligations that are appropriate for their needs. Where taiohi require assistance to address barriers related to their disability, you should consult and/or seek advice from appropriate agencies.
In some cases, taiohi may have an undiagnosed disability or health condition, or you may be unable to identify the cause of disengagement but suspect a disability or health condition may be a factor. If you are unsure, it may be appropriate to refer them to their regular registered medical practitioner for follow up.
The local registered medical practitioner of the taiohi should be your first point of contact, however where a taiohi may not have a registered medical practitioner, you should make contact with your local Child and Adolescent Mental Health service or local member of the New Zealand Federation of Disability Information Centres.
For more information about the New Zealand Federation of Disability Information Centres please visit the following link.
Home | NZ Federation of Disability Information Centres
Please note that taiohi who have a disability or medical condition, may be exempt from meeting their activity obligations.
If you identify that a taiohi has a permanent or severe disability that is likely to impact on their capacity to work for more than 2 years, they may be eligible to receive a Supported Living Payment. Please contact YSSU to discuss the matter further.
For more information about the Supported Living Payment, please refer to MAP on the Work and Income website.
business continuity
Your service is required to have a Business continuity plan that is current and understood by all staff members.
When an event occurs that causes a delay or default in the delivery of services to taiohi you must first assess the impact on your people, facilities and systems.
As soon as practical, you should then contact your RCM and YSSU.
You will need to explain the situation, your capacity to deliver services, and the expected timeframe to implement your business continuity plan. This should include:
- resource gaps and plans to cover these
- any support you require to cover the period of emergency management
- agreement on who is best placed to contact your taiohi and method of communication (email, text message, etc), and
- agreement on how your taiohi are to be managed through the delay or emergency (for example, will you will continue to manage your taiohi, or will you send taiohi to the local Work and Income service centre).
The RCM will coordinate any Ministry support for you. If it is a major event, we can apply the Civil Defence response.
Learn more about Civil Defence events
civil defence processing standards | Youth Service providers