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The South Island whānau ora commissioning agency has told its host agencies they must pay whānau ora navigators the living wage.
Chief executive Helen Leahy says Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu will also include enough in their funding to cover Accident Compensation and other levies.
Navigators help connect whānau with appropriate services, reconnect them with their own whānau supports; and advocate on their behalf.
She says it’s important those who are working with vulnerable and stressed whānau are not themselves being put under unnecessary financial strain.
"We’re needing to do what we can to lift salaries, to increase opportunities for all our whānau and a living wage for navigators is just one aspect of an economic platform and the whānau ora commissioning agency in the south and the whānau ora commissioning agency in the north are united on, that we have to confront all levels to make sure that no whānau are left behind," Ms Leahy says.
Helen Leahy says Te Pūtahitanga now has 100 navigators in 38 host agencies, with numbers increasing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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