Environmental support services

Purchasing Rules

During the financial year, changes were made to the Purchasing Rules for flexible funding supports and changes to prioritisation and access to Equipment and Modifications Services.

These changes were made due to a significant and ongoing increase in the demand for our support services. To ensure those with the highest needs are prioritised, the Ministry had to make some difficult decisions. The incredibly difficult decision to reduce some aspects of flexibility was made alongside the very urgent need to ensure the Ministry could continue to fund critical Equipment and Modification Services. 

The revised Purchase Rules continue to be a framework within which disabled people and whānau can make decisions about what is right for them. They are not intended to be a list of things that are ‘in’ or ‘out’.

Table 1: Number of people accessing Equipment Modification Services (EMS) by age band

The ‘people’ number is the distinct NHI count. This is less than the sum of rows as some people move across the age bands within the financial year.

Supporting tāngata whaikaha Māori and disabled people - cost pressures

The Government allocated $1.1 billion over the forecast period to ensure the Ministry can continue to deliver critical DSS for disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori.

This initiative provides additional funding each year on top of maintaining the Government’s more than $2.2 billion per annum investment in DSS.

The new funding goes towards meeting cost pressures on the system, including price increases due to inflation and increases in service volumes due to demand.

At the same time, an independent review of the disability support system is being undertaken to ensure its long-term financial sustainability.

The Ministry received $80 million in year funding in Budget 2024 to address the risk of breaching appropriation.