Community-based support services

Partnering with community

Disabled people’s international catch cry “Nothing about us without us” responds to the exclusion they have historically faced when others have designed, funded and provided disability services.

The Ministry is committed to working with disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori me o rātou whānau to improve services and policy advice. These relationships are underpinned by: Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the UNCRPD and the EGL principles.

Over the last year, the Ministry prioritised:

• setting up and supporting a range of new advisory and engagement arrangements to support key work programmes
• building and implementing the systems and processes required to enable and continuously improve effective partnering arrangements.

Formal arrangements include the:

• Transformation Management Board: to provide governance for the transformation work programme
• Strategic Advisory Group: to give strategic advice on major work programmes and policies
• Insights Alliance: to oversee the monitoring and evaluation of EGL system transformation
• Project groups: to support service design and policy advice (these include the Kōmiti Pasifika, My Home, My Choice and the Tairāwhiti Disability Locally Led Recovery Planning Rōpū). 

 For the 2024 financial year, the Ministry also has relationships with established disability and tāngata whaikaha Māori groups, including: Te Ao Mārama Aotearoa, the National EGL leadership group, Te Rōpū Kaitiaki, Kāpō Māori Aotearoa, the Disabled People’s Organisation Coalition, I.Lead, Te Rōpū Waiora, the Carers Alliance, Te Whānau Turi o Aotearoa, Te Whānau Ora Interface group, Faiva Ora, I.Lead, Mana Pasefika, Parent/Family Network, DeafBlind Association, Access Matters Aotearoa, Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Care Action Network, Be.Lab, the Older Disabled Persons Group, the National Disabled Students Association and the New Zealand Disability Employers’ Network.

An important part of these relationships is building the capacity and capability of disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori to make decisions for themselves, to make use of available resources, and to influence how decision-makers can improve the lives of disabled people, their whānau and communities.

The Ministry allocated one-off funding to five providers to help disabled people develop leadership skills, resources and capability, so as to have greater choice and control over the services and supports available to them.

Working with the disability community has helped: 

• establish and strengthen strategic arrangements to inform approaches to steward societal change and improve the system of supports  
• raise awareness of disabled people’s needs and preferences, and how everyone can contribute to making New Zealand a more inclusive place to live  
• influence the priorities and activities of other government agencies, including through the refresh of the NZSL Strategy and the Disability Action Plan and other work programmes. 

The effectiveness and impact of these relationships over time is to be monitored through the Monitoring, Evaluation, Analysis and Learning Framework.

Types of support funded

Disability supports and funding methods

Generally, disabled people and their whānau who are eligible for Whaikaha-funded support access their support through NASC organisations.

Disabled people receive funded support from Whaikaha through:

• Choice in Community Living (CiCL)
• Carer Support
• Personal Budgets
• Standard Contracted Arrangements
• Specialist Supports
• Individualised Funding.

Choice in Community Living

CiCL offers disabled people more control over where they live, who they live with and how they are supported. It is an alternative to residential services and is for people with high support needs.

CiCL is currently available in the Auckland, Waikato, Hutt Valley, Otago and Southland regions, testing a more person-directed support option which could inform the transformation programme.

CiCL is a type of hosted support based on a person's plan. Funding is managed by the disabled person and their family or whānau in partnership with the person’s chosen CiCL provider. The flexible Purchasing Guidelines are used to support a disabled person in how they use their funding.

Carer Support

The disabled person is allocated Carer Support by a NASC. The disabled person or their whānau organises and pays for support needs to be delivered to the disabled person. They then claim the subsidy amount from Whaikaha.

Personal budgets

Personal budgets are available in the Christchurch, Waikato and Mana Whaikaha EGL locations.

A personal budget is allocated to support people to achieve the outcomes outlined in the plan they have developed with their Kaitūhono/Connector. Funds can be deposited directly into a specific bank account for this purpose, with some oversight by the EGL team. The disabled person may choose to have a host agency to help manage their personal budget.

Standard contracted arrangements

These supports are commissioned and funded by Whaikaha and include:

• Facility-Based Supports, including residential support for people
  to live in a group home, alone where required, or in an aged residential care facility – especially where people have higher medical needs requiring hospital level care. There is also Facility-Based Respite, which is short-term relief support provided in a residential setting for eligible people.
• Home and Community Supports include a range of supports, assisting people to live in their community. This includes supported living, household management and personal care.
• Community Day Services include Whaikaha funding day supports to enable disabled people to participate in their community through things such as social activities and daily living skills. MSD is the primary funder of Community Day Services.
• Disability Information and Advisory Services provide independent information and advice to people and their whānau.
• NASC organisations support people through allocating funding and advising on or co-ordinating supports for eligible people.

Specialist supports

• Child Development Services provide specialised services to
  support tamariki to reach milestones.
• Equipment and Modification Services provide free or subsidised equipment and modifications to disabled people.
• Behaviour Support Services provide people with access to specialists to set and support goals to assist them.

Individualised Funding

Individualised Funding is a mechanism to purchase Household Management, Personal Care and Respite.

It is accessed through a NASC and allocated to a disabled person so they can organise their own support – in some cases including engaging care and support workers.

Individualised Funding was initially developed to increase flexibility and provide disabled people and their whānau with more choice and control over their support.

Enhanced Individualised Funding (EIF) was developed as a broader approach to flexibly support a disabled person’s needs. Flexible Purchasing Guidelines were developed to support disabled people in how they use their funding with EIF.

Changes to the Purchasing Guidelines were implemented in March 2024 to return to pre-COVID-19 funding parameters.

Family violence and sexual violence

Disabled people are significantly more at risk than non-disabled people of experiencing all forms of abuse and neglect.[1]

Budget 23 provided $6.11 million to address family violence against disabled people and implement Action 28 of the Te Aorerekura Action Plan:[2] “Implement Safeguarding Responses for Disabled and Vulnerable Adults”.

The Ministry added an additional $2.1 million funding over four years from 2023 to target professional practice in needs assessment services.

This work programme seeks to increase access to mainstream family violence services and sexual violence services, as well as specialist supports that meet the specific needs of disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori when they experience, or are at risk of experiencing, violence and abuse.

As lead agency responsible for operational delivery of Action 28, the Ministry commissioned the Disability Abuse Prevention and Response (DAPAR) prototype. DAPAR is delivered by Visible, a team of social work specialists and disabled people with specialist experience in family violence who work directly with the disabled person experiencing, or at high risk of experiencing, abuse. Using an EGL approach, the team builds a multi-agency response that can include Police, health, disability providers and NASCs to support the disabled person to achieve a safer life.

DAPAR also provides capability training to support disability and family violence agencies to be responsive to disabled people.

The Ministry is involved in multi-agency work to develop a new five-year action plan to prevent and respond to family violence and sexual violence.

[1] www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379721001914?via%3Dihub- Family Violence clearing house

[2] Te Puna Aonui and the Ministry are joint fund holders of this allocation.