The Salvation Army is a large NGO in the New Zealand context and is, as the Productivity Commission has already identified, quite unique in the social services landscape in at least two respects. Firstly, the Army has a long history of involvement in the delivery of social and other material support to New Zealanders in need, unlike most other major NGO’s involved in the broadly defined social services sectori Secondly, the Army is far less reliant on Government contracts in the provision of its social services
The Salvation Army does not entirely agree with the current direction of the planning and funding of social services – some of which are identified in the Commission’s draft report. This dissent is not due to commercial interests but to a serious concern that the overall framing of the underlying problem is quite deficient. The current changes in train and the reforms suggested in the Commission’s draft paper may completely transform the social services landscape in New Zealand and if they do then clearly The Salvation Army will need to radically reshape its own operations.