The raft of recent disability support changes, explained

From housing targets and transport cuts to barring family carers from claiming Crown employment status, there’s been a number of changes to disability support recently – many of them controversial. The Spinoff talks you through all the shifts.

Help: why does it feel like everything is happening all at once?

Because until now, nothing much has happened in the disability issues portfolio. Its minister, Louise Upston – concerned with other matters in her various portfolios, such as booking Robbie Williams concerts – told the social services and community select committee last June that she didn’t plan on introducing any new disability legislation this term. She had recently withdrawn the controversial Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill, introduced by the previous government, and was now focused on “practical terms”.

Those “practical terms” are education, employment, health, housing and justice, and were expanded upon in the release of the Ministry of Disabled People’s strategy report last December. The New Zealand Disability Strategy laid out the government’s goals in these areas over the next four years, and followed an independent review into disability support services.

OK, so what’s changed?

Around the same time the ministry released its strategy, the supreme court lost a case considered a landmark for family carers. After the employment court found two parents who were full-time carers to their adult disabled children to be Ministry of Health employees, an appeal by the attorney-general saw the case advanced to the supreme court. The country’s highest court held that the parents were state employees.

Five months down the line, on May 21, parliament passed the first reading of the Disability Support Services Bill to the House. The bill makes clear that the findings of the supreme and employment courts were a one-off – should the bill pass, it would prevent carers from claiming to be Crown employees.

Wait, it’s a law directly responding to a court case?

Well, that’s what it literally says in the pages of the bill. It “responds to the Supreme Court judgment regarding paid family care in Fleming v Attorney-General” by clarifying “employment relationships and containing measures to manage Crown fiscal and litigation risks”. It does this by barring any claims of employment status or discrimination by family carers, to ensure “funding decisions remain with the Crown”, which “does not have unlimited funding and must make choices”.

In other words, the supreme court set a costly precedent, and it was in the Crown’s interest to lessen the financial impact.

Huh. That reminds me of something else I was reading about…

You don’t say…

…

… Anyway, public submissions are currently open on the bill but close at midday today. The social services and community select committee is expected to report back to the House in a shortened timeframe of four months.

So, what will –

Uh, I’m not finished.

The Disability Support Services Bill comes against a backdrop of other changes being made to the way disability services operate. In February, the government rolled out a standardised Needs Assessment and Service Coordination (NASC) process, which determines which supports a disabled person requires and provides a gateway to services.

The changes were brought about following a 2024-2025 community survey of NASC by the Ministry of Social Development. The survey found that services needed more flexibility to accommodate for the range of experiences had by families, noting “a one-size-fits-all approach for family and carers does not work”. A separate 2025 survey by Carers NZ found that 29.1% of people who used the service felt “let down, angry or scared”.

Following that came the reversal of restrictions to the flexible funding purchasing rules in April, rules that had only been introduced in March 2024. The latest changes allow more, well, flexibility for disabled people and their carers in purchasing the likes of equipment, therapies and overseas travel, but within a fixed budget and with some purchases needing prior approval.

In May, the Lottery Grants Board cut the Individuals with Disabilities fund, which helped disabled people and their families access support workers and other services. The Department of Internal Affairs told The D*List that a new committee structure was being worked on to allow individuals to apply for disability support funding again.

Also in May came Budget 2026, which featured no new spending for disability services. It did, however, reveal a $1.5m cut to the Ministry of Disabled People over four years, which will be achieved by “optimising aspects of the operating model”, including by using more artificial intelligence.

And in May, The Post reported on the outcome of Kāinga Ora’s decision last year to cut its accessible housing targets by 15%. In this financial year, Kāinga Ora plans to build only 97 fully accessible homes, compared to 562 in the previous year. CCS Disability Action’s northern region general manager Bettina Syme told The Post the changes removed “the only measurable accountability mechanism for accessible social housing in New Zealand”.

Sheesh. Are there any more changes on the way?

From July, the Total Mobility scheme, which subsidises taxi fares for disabled people for whom public transport is inaccessible, will be cut from 75% to 65%, requiring users to pay a higher share. The Ministry of Transport is also working with local authorities to lower fare caps by 10% – in the Bay of Plenty, the region’s maximum fare cap will drop from $50 to $45.

Earlier this month, Daniel Vandenberg, chair of Enabling Good Lives Taranaki, told the Taranaki Daily Post that members of his community were saddened they hadn’t been involved in discussions on the cuts. There are 2,183 Total Mobility users in Taranaki alone, and Vandenberg said even a few dollars difference would dictate whether disabled locals could afford groceries. “We feel like second or third-class citizens, really,” Vandenberg said.

Consultations seeking feedback on further changes to the subsidy closed in March. Proposals on the table include limiting the number of trips that can be taken through the scheme and “incentivising more wheelchair-accessible trips”.

What does the minister say to her critics?

Upston has been very clear that she believes changes made to disability services in the last year have been in the interest of fairness. She’s actually the second disability issues minister this term, having taken the reins from former minister Penny Simmonds, who lost her role in early 2024. Announcing Simmond’s resignation from the portfolio, prime minister Christopher Luxon had highlighted “major financial issues with programmes run by the Ministry of Disabled People” and the need for a senior minister to “consider these issues”.

Well, what does the disability community think?

To say the response has been strong would be putting it lightly. One advocate told RNZ the Disability Support Services Bill was the “worst piece of legislation” they’d ever seen, while a family carer called it the “most disgusting” in comments to Stuff.

Some changes, like the removal of flexible funding restrictions, have been welcomed. But CCS Disability Action has warned that they still don’t do enough to address inequities for Māori and Pasifika, nor is an appropriate amount of funding being provided.

What does the disability community actually need?

Mostly, more funding, more empathetic ears and more trained professionals and service providers. The Health Quality and Safety Commission’s recently released report A Window on Disability found that at every stage of life, disabled people face more barriers to healthcare access than able-bodied New Zealanders. They also face longer wait times to access treatment and assessment, and have significant unmet needs in mental health care, primary health care and dental care. Health outcomes for disabled children are satisfactory, but disparities emerge as they age. The outcomes are worse for those with more than one disability and those in the Māori and Pacific communities.

The report calls for more disability expertise to be embedded in the health system, and higher employment of disabled people in the health workforce. It also highlights the need for self-determination and involvement of the disability community and their families in decisions about their care, and meaningful access to support and information services.