Friday, 31 May, 2019 - 13:51

CCS Disability Action believes disabled people’s wellbeing will suffer as a result of Budget 2019. The Government plans to reduce spending on the Ministry of Health’s Disability Support Services by $7 million dollars, the largest planned funding cut in over a decade. This comes despite repeated appeals for additional funding to address the $150 million deficit in sector funding and a last-minute save to service cuts due to Ministry of Health over-spending in 2018.

In the previous financial year, the Government estimates that it spent just under $1,352 million on Disability Support Services. In the coming financial year, they plan to spend just under $1,345 million. This is $7 million less, despite the current underfunding of Disability Support Services.

David Matthews, Chief Executive of CCS Disability Action, is dismayed that the needs of disabled New Zealanders and those that support them have not been addressed.

"The sector is underfunded as it is and there is a proven growing demand for Disability Support Services. It is likely to reduce the wellbeing of disabled people and their whÄnau. We cannot go on with the Government thinking it can keep a lid on demand for disability support services when the pot is already boiling over," he says.

The reduced funding is at odds with current rhetoric on the transformation of the disability support system.

"The Government is trying to transform and improve the disability support sector and has been fueling people’s expectations for years now with Enabling Good Lives and the System Transformation, but it is not willing to invest to deliver. This gap between expectations and reality is only likely to increase," says Mr Matthews.