Govt tops up disability funding, but no clarity over future of carer changes
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
The Government is putting Whaikaha - the Ministry of Disabled People under the microscope after its handling of changes to funding relied on by parents and carers of disabled people.
Future funding and criteria changes will need to be signed off by Cabinet, the Government will review how funding is managed by the ministry, and extra funding will be provided to get the ministry to the end of the financial year.
However, questions remain around the changes to carer funding.
Families say they were left shell-shocked as they learned via social media about the changes, which saw all purchases - including respite items, travel related costs for carers, as well as any purchases that may be made to give carers a break - axed temporarily with no restart date given.
Disability Minister Penny Simmonds then walked part of the changes back, saying, “the ministry is restoring some but not all restrictions on what this funding can be spent on – for example equipment or services for disabled people rather than overseas travel or haircuts for their carers”.
Suzy Brown, a mother and full-time carer of two disabled teens aged 16 and 19, said the fact decisions would now have to go through Cabinet was a “good thing”.
“A lot of parliamentary members actually don’t support the changes. If [funding changes] had to be checked out by all of them, this probably wouldn’t have happened.”
However, the lack of access to immediate funding was hitting families hard, she said.
“A lot of my funding I use is for support workers, that is what we need to function as a family. It’s caused a lot of stress and anxiety.”
Samantha Galloway has autism and cares for her two sons, aged 12 and 9, who are also neurodivergent.
She said Willis’ recent update was “ambiguous”, and confusion remained for disabled people in New Zealand.
“We have no peace of mind … our trust has been broken and apologies remain insincere.”
On Tuesday, Finance Ministry Nicola Willis said Cabinet agreed to give the ministry extra funding to get it to the end of the financial year.
Asked what was happening to the carer changes and if the funding boost would reverse that, Willis said those decisions made by the ministry were separate.
“It remains our intention to provide a significant uplift in funding to that ministry at the budget.
“This is a interim step, because there is concern that by the end of the financial year, they could potentially run out of funds and obviously, that would be illegal. We're stepping into give them confidence that we won't let that happen.”
The Post has asked Whaikaha what this will mean for the carer funding changes.
Cabinet will also need to sign off on any changes it makes now to criteria and funding, and any changes need to be “properly consulted”.
Families were not consulted before the carer funding changes were announced.
“We've also requested that the minister (Penny Simmonds) returns to Cabinet with the terms of reference for a review of how we are going to manage this area in the future,” WIllis said.
“Because I have been advised that for several years, this is an agency who have outspent their appropriation before the end of the year, and interim measures have had to be taken.
“And obviously, that's not ideal. It's not sustainable, and we need to look at how we can correct that.”
Asked if she trusted the ministry, due to any changes needing to now go through Cabinet, Willis said: “We think it's important that we the ministry make significant decisions that have a significant impact on people with disabilities, that cabinet has an opportunity to consider those decisions and provide our input.”
In a statement, the ministry’s Hayley Evans acknowledged the announcement “should have been clearer”.
“We are working through feedback and questions we have received from our community.
“We will continue to update the FAQ page on our website so that disabled people know what the changes mean for them,” she said.