The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has confirmed it will disestablish 24 roles from its community operations team and centralise its operations in the major centres.
The team supports hundreds of community, iwi and hapū groups who rely on advisors to navigate Lottery Grants, central and local government funding, and philanthropic funds.
In September, DIA proposed to disestablish around 28 roles from the current workforce of 116. This included reducing frontline Community Advisor numbers from 70 to 40. All 70 roles were proposed to be disestablished, with 40 new roles established.
Community operations general manager Aiolupotea Sina Aiono said staff were today advised of the final decisions following feedback received during the consultation process.
"As a result, additional roles have been included in the new structure in response to staff feedback about the scale and breadth of their work. The final structure results in a net reduction of 24 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions," Aiono confirmed.
“The revised frontline roles are designed to better enable staff to engage with communities and support them to understand and access DIA funding streams.
The changes include consolidating 16 local service centres around the country into three regional hubs in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Aiono said "supporting communities is a core part of DIA's role" and that frontline staff would continue to work with communities across New Zealand, based within their assigned regional zones.
"We thank our staff for their high level of engagement throughout the consultation process and for their ongoing commitment to delivering public services to communities across New Zealand.
"We recognise that organisational change can affect people in different ways, and we are committed to supporting our staff throughout the transition period," said Aiono.
The new structure will take effect from November 30, 2026.
At the time of the proposal, the Public Service Association (PSA) said rural Māori community groups would "bear the brunt of this", and urged the Department to reconsider.
"This means whole regions will be left without a single local advisor. Community groups in places like Northland, Tairāwhiti and the West Coast will now have to deal with someone based hours away in a different city after decades of valuable face-to-face support," said PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.
"It will mean longer waits for funding decisions and less support exactly when communities need it most.
"Māori communities in remote areas will bear the brunt of this. These are exactly the communities that rely most on a trusted local advisor who understands their context - not a self-service digital portal."
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