{"id":9590,"date":"2026-02-03T15:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T02:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=9590"},"modified":"2026-02-03T13:14:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T00:14:39","slug":"driver-licence-support-programme-changing-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=9590","title":{"rendered":"Driver Licence Support Programme Changing Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Helping New Zealand job seekers get their driver licence is one of the best ways to help them get a job and Government-funded driver training is well and truly exceeding its licence targets, Minister of Social Development and Employment Louise Upston says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAround 70 per cent of jobs require a person to have a driver licence, reinforcing the importance of the Government\u2019s investment in driver licence training,\u201d Louise Upston says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the last year, MSD\u2019s Driver Licence Support programme has secured 21,063 enrolments, ahead of the 19,000 placement target.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Louise Upston<\/em>\u00a0is the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Minister for Disability Issues, Minister for Social Development and Employment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe know getting a driver\u2019s licence can change a life, as it has in the case of a young Auckland woman on Jobseeker Support. The case manager suggested she consider applying for a job in traffic management, but that relied on her having a driver licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe woman started driving lessons with the support of the programme and soon after was able to sit and pass her restricted licence, then starting a job as a traffic controller with Fulton Hogan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe driver licence was the key to her getting the job and starting an independent life. In other examples, people have been able to get jobs with shift work because of having a driver licence or take a rurally-based job on a farm because they can now drive there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know that a challenging employment environment has made things difficult for job seekers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hear many successful stories of how a driver licence has been a turning point in contributing to a change in circumstances \u2013 getting a job, being able to care for and support family, and driving legally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProgrammes like Driver Licence Support ultimately make for safer and stronger families and communities,\u201d Louise Upston says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Helping New Zealand job seekers get their driver licence is one of the best ways to help them get a job and Government-funded driver training is well and truly exceeding its licence targets, Minister of Social Development and Employment Louise Upston says. \u201cAround 70 per cent of jobs require a person to have a driver<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[415,113,414],"coauthors":[361],"class_list":{"0":"post-9590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-jobseekers","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-youth"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sterrin-wheel-scaled.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9594,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9590\/revisions\/9594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9590"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=9590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}