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Whaikaha Ministry of Disabled People View our
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Future key performance indicators

There are many areas in which we would like to measure towards the vision of a non-disabling New Zealand, but there is a lack of data and processes to do this robustly and consistently.

Our intention is to design and test relevant evaluative approaches with disabled people, tāngata whaikaha Māori and whānau to check they are understandable, implementable and meaningful. We will also work with other agencies and the disabled community to develop data and processes that are consistent and robust.

We will use data sources and measures of progress that meet the following criteria:

  • Data is available.
  • Data is updated in the years 2024–2029.
  • Measures are specific.
  • Measures relate to improvements in the lives of disabled people.

Our approach to measuring progress must begin with population-level indicators that track improvements for all disabled people in New Zealand. The set of performance measures relate to our work and will show the effectiveness of our work. The following table outlines possible key performance indicators that can be used for a future strategy approach.

Table 3: Population-level measures

Measure

Baseline

Source

Desired trend

Rationale

Subjective wellbeing

Percentage of disabled people who rated their family wellbeing as 7 or above on a 0–10 scale.

 

 

Percentage of disabled young people (aged 12–18) who rated their family wellbeing as 7 or above on a 0–10 scale.

73.3%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

55%

 

NZ Health Survey

 

 

 

 

 

 

Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey (21/22)

 

up

Measure progress against our purpose of improving outcomes for disabled people and their families. The NZ Health Survey chosen over GSS due to greater sample size and frequency.

 

A similar measure is also available for young people aged 12–18 from the Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey (YHWS). As this is a CYWS indicator it will be retained in the updated survey.

Economic wellbeing

Employment rate:

For all disabled people (aged 15–64)

For tāngata whaikaha Māori (aged 15–64).

 

39.8%

 

27.2%

 

Household Labour Force Survey (June 2024 quarter)

 

up

Having stable and fulfilling employment is strongly linked to wellbeing measures such as life satisfaction. As this is about current participation, we might expect to see it change more quickly, and as a direct result our work, than other population-level measures.

Percentage of disabled children and young people (aged 0–17 years) living in households experiencing material hardship.

22%

Child poverty statistics (2023)

Down

This is a key child poverty measure. Material hardship has been chosen over the income-based measures as these don’t take into account additional cost that disabled households face that may have an impact on people’s lives.

Identity, choice and control

Percentage of disabled people* (aged 15–64) who gave a rating of 7 or above on a 0–10 scale for sense of control over their lives.

54.1%

General Social Survey (2023)

 

Up

This is a key measure that speaks to how much control disabled people have over their own lives. In a non-disabling New Zealand, disabled people should feel like they have the same level of control as non-disabled people, but currently there is a significant gap (75.9 percent for non-disabled people of same age group).

Society

Percentage of people aged 15 and over who said they felt comfortable or very comfortable about a new neighbour who had a disability or long-term health condition.

84.6%

 

General Social Survey (2023)

 

Up

There are several acceptances of diversity measures in GSS – the percentage of people who are comfortable or very comfortable about a new neighbour who had a disability or long-term health condition was the lowest, with the exception of a new neighbour with a mental health condition. This measure allows us to track longer-term progress on how accepting New Zealand is towards disability.