Community update - 28 May 2025
In this video Chris talks about what the Budget means for Disability Support Services, and provides an update on our community consultation earlier this year.
Video transcript
Kia ora koutou. I'm Chris Bunny. I'm leading the work to stabilise Disability Support Services.
It’s been a while since my last update. There’s been a lot going on.
Not least, the Government has delivered its 2025 Budget.
This will help set the direction for DSS and confirm our resources for the year ahead.
We received $1 billion in new funding over the four-year period. That’s $250 million more per year to fund DSS services.
So, what does this mean for you?
The money will go towards the increasing costs of providing disability support services to the more than 52,000 current DSS users, as well as supporting more people to access these services.
The Budget also includes more funding for residential care. This will be used to simplify how we pay residential care providers so it’s fairer and more sustainable for the future.
About half DSS funding is spent on residential care so this work is about getting the basics right and providing more certainty about how this money is being spent.
Certainty will give NASCs more flexibility to work with disabled people and their families to identify the best options for them, either in the community or in residential care.
Ensuring people in residential care continue to get the support they need is a top priority. There’s information on our website in alternate formats if you want to find out more.
The experiences of disabled people were a significant focus of the Inquiry into Abuse in Care. We know that more needs to be done. The Budget provided DSS with additional funding to continue to work to keep people safe.
The other thing I wanted to touch on was assessment and allocation processes and flexible funding.
In my last video we were in the final days of our consultation on these topics. A huge thank you from me and the team to the over 1800 people who got involved and told us your thoughts and ideas – you were awesome!
Your feedback will help shape what the disability support system could look like into the future. A few headlines:
- You want an easier and consistent assessment
- Many of you said you could see benefit in assessing the needs of family and carers
- You support a plan-based approach to manage flexible funding, and
- You need clarity and consistency with flexible funding, but a list of approved spending was too restrictive.
The full analysis should be on our website next month.
We are expecting decisions from Government in the coming months. We will let you know more when we can.
Thank you for your support. There is still much to be done but I hope that you agree that progress is being made.
Mā te wā, bye for now.