Recommendation 2: Rapid review of pricing for residential care
Recommendation 2 of the Independent Review, released in August 2024, called for a rapid review of pricing and contracting for residential care and for funding to be maintained at current levels until this work is completed.
The rapid review found that current funding arrangements for residential care were complex to administer and difficult to navigate.
In response to the recommendations, Disability Support Services (DSS) has engaged with providers to inform the development of the Community Group Home Pricing Model.
The new model will improve consistency and fairness and enable stronger fiscal sustainability. It aims to reduce the administrative burden on providers, NASCs and Enabling Good Lives sites by simplifying how funding is organised.
With this work complete, the residential pricing freeze will also be lifted from 1 July 2025.
More information
- DSS engagement with providers to develop the new pricing model is current info on provider engagement
- What the new pricing model and lifting of the funding freeze means for disabled people, family and carers.
- Information for Community Group Home providers, NASCs and EGL sites
Proactively released Cabinet papers
- The approach to develop the new pricing model in the December 2024 Cabinet paper external.
- Decisions on the implementation of the new pricing model in the March 2025 Cabinet paper: Stabilising Disability Support Services-Funded Residential Care - Ministry of Social Development