budgeting programmes
all you need to know about Youth Service budgeting programmes
quick overview
Young people are need to work with you to managing their spending. They also have an obligation to complete a budgeting programme.
Young people who complete an approved budgeting programme and have engaged in three months of regular budgeting discussions with their provider can get a Budgeting Incentive Payment.
Budgeting programmes must be approved by MSD, be delivered by an authorised budgeting provider, and meet the Youth Service Budgeting Guidelines.
what you’re required to do
Find an approved budgeting programme
You’re responsible for referring a client to complete an approved budgeting programme delivered by an authorised budgeting provider.
You’re responsible for referring a client to complete an approved budgeting programme delivered by an authorised budgeting provider.
An authorised budgeting provider is the agency approved by the Ministry of Social Development to deliver budgeting programmes for Youth Service clients.
If you’re unable to refer your client to an Authorised Budgeting Provider
Programmes can be delivered by external Authorised Providers or by Youth Service providers delivering an Approved Programme. If your programme has not already been approved, you’ll need to submit your programme to the national_youthservice@msd.govt.nz inbox and we’ll seek approval from the National Director Youth Service on your behalf.
They should be prepared with information about their budgeting needs, income, and outgoings, before they attend the budgeting course.
We can assess the young person as having met the requirement to participate in an approved budgeting programme if they have previously completed a budgeting programme, or they’ve completed at least two unit-standards in financial literacy.
For more information about budgeting obligations, please refer to MAP in the Work and Income website. Approved budgeting programme activity
budgeting programme guidelines
Approved budgeting programmes should:
- provide for 6-12 hours of contact time
- be completed by the taiohi within 3 months start to finish
- have no more than 15 participants per instructor or course
Taiohi should:
- receive a certificate of completion
- complete a course evaluation on completion
budgeting programme content
The budgeting programme aims to provide young people with skills to help them competently manage their finances.
programmes should cover areas such as:
Budgeting
including sources of income, essential costs, preparing a week budget, shopping, and what tax is. For example:
- Watch the Sorted in Schools video on Riding Life’s Waves and discuss all the different sources of income mentioned in the video
- Read the case study about how one Youth Service provider runs an activity to help taiohi manage their money by making decisions about how to live off a ‘20 bean salary’.
- Read the case study about using Fruit Burst as wages and how this can help taiohi to discuss and justify their financial choices.
Planning for the future
for example, wants and needs, savings and debt, KiwiSaver
- Check out the Sorted resources / money personality
- Read the case study about how one Youth Service provider runs an activity to plan a trip to two to Queenstown
Keeping money safe
including banks, avoiding scams, marketing tricks, online purchases
- Check out how to identify a scam | Consumer Protection
- Read the online shopping tips for shopping safely from Netsafe
- Read the case study about how one Youth Service provider uses real “deals” from the local newspaper and online calculators to see if the deals are really as good and they seem.
What insurance is
including how to get it, and what someone might need it for
-
Check out the Sorted for Schools video on Keeping Our Options Covered
Consumer rights
For example, warranties, returning goods, disputing transactions
- Read about common consumer issues from Consumer Protection
- Find out more about extended warranties - know your rights from Consumer NZ
- Find out about consumer protection from Community Law
- Check out what options you have if you can’t pay back a loan If things go wrong - Community Law
approved programmes and resources
Below are links to approved budgeting programmes, as well as resources you might use to supplement your programme.
Sorted has free guides, tools, calculators, and blog posts that can help you with ideas and topics for budgeting conversations. Using the calculators is a great way to show the impact of saving, debt, retirement planning, and interest rates Sorted - Your independent money guide » Sorted
Sorted in Schools has free lesson and activity plans and ideas covering everything from advertising and how it captures us to investing, saving, insurance, and funding further or higher education. https://sortedinschools.org.nz/
GetWise from ASB is aimed at 5–12-year-olds, but some of the free activities and resources might be great for younger clients and also clients with young families. The resources section has ideas for activities covering needs and wants, supermarket shopping, whānau goalsetting, and reaching savings goals. https://www.asb.co.nz/banking-with-asb/financial-literacy-get-wise-resources.html
Money Smarts (Approved Budgeting Programme)
Offered by the NZ Fin-Ed Centre (Financial Education and Research Centre) Massey University they offer three routes for supporting taiohi grow their financial capability.
- Money Smarts @ Work is a short course and suitable for the clients of Youth Service, whether they in an employment or are planning to go into employment or simply want to hone their skills in managing money.
- Financial Capability Practitioners Course (this is a microcredit worth 10 credits at level 5) – this one is aimed at the providers/practitioners/youth workers to learn the skills they need to deliver financial capability in various contexts.
- A hard copy workbook that the youth workers can use to deliver the course. If they are trained by us then we also take them through the workbook and how to effectively use the resource and contextualise it for their target audience. This resource was developed in partnership with some of the youth service providers and young people. We had recently reviewed and updated this resource.
MoneyMates from MSD is a support group based around the concept of sharing and learning together. Facilitators encourage group members to learn from others, get control over their financial lives, and build resilience. Providers should use the MoneyMates guide for facilitators. It outlines the type of approach expected and provides 10 modules of resources: https://www.msd.govt.nz/what-we-can-do/providers/building-financial-capability/moneymates.html
MoneyMinded helps people build financial skills, knowledge and confidence to help kiwis manage their money. The course comprises of four workshops on budgeting, everyday banking, saving and spending and planning for the future. Learn more here. Financial knowledge | ANZ
Has some videos on topics like what money is and the role of the Reserve Bank, and compound interest. They also have a free downloadable book in the resources for schools section about investments in simple language that covers KiwiSaver, paying off mortgages, thinking about risks, and spotting dodgy investments. Might be useful background if taioho ask about investments like cryptocurrency or using Sharesies.
Education - Reserve Bank of New Zealand - Te Pūtea Matua (rbnz.govt.nz)
Westpac has produced games to support young people to develop money management skills. They also offer free workshops to develop effective money management skills, along with providing online classes.
Stash the Cash for ages 10+ is a card game based on real scams that people do or have been tricked by.
Zombie Cash-tastrophe is a free downloadable board game for ages 12+ centred around surviving a zombie apocalypse. The PDF is in both te reo Māori and English.
Managing Your Money workshops Free fun and interactive workshops will help you feel more confident about making decisions about money. They work with a range of organisations such as schools, employers, and community groups to deliver effective money management skills for their people. They also offer online workshops.
budgeting programme approval and budgeting provider authorisation
An approved budgeting programme must meet the Youth Service Budgeting Guidelines and can only be delivered by an Authorised Budgeting Provider.
Your first option should be to refer a client to an Authorised Budgeting Provider in every instance. However, there will be times where they are unavailable.
to have your budgeting programme approved:
- Pull together any resources and activities you plan to be part of your programme
- Contact the national_youthservice@msd.govt.nz inbox. You should share information about how you’ll run your programme and what it will cover
- We’ll check that your proposed programme meets the Youth Service Budgeting Guidelines, and that:
- Learning is structured, with clear and specific aims and learning objectives
- It includes a range of experiences, activities, or tasks to help young people achieve the identified learning objectives
- It uses contexts and examples that are relevant to circumstances and life experiences of the audience
- It's accurate, contains up to date information, and is free of branded promotional materials
- It has a principal focus on budgeting and/or financial education?
to have your budgeting provider authorised:
- Pull together any information about your chosen budgeting provider
- We need to know who they are, if they deliver an existing Approved Budgeting Programme and if not, the content and format of their programme.
- Contact the national_youthservice@msd.govt.nz inbox.
- We’ll check that your proposed budgeting programme provider:
- Delivers an approved budgeting programme, or a programme that meets the guidelines and approval criteria above
- Has the right skills, experience, and background to delivery Youth Service budgeting programmes
We’ll seek approval on your behalf from the National Director Youth Service and will let you know the outcome.