Guidance for the sector on changes to the purchase rules

This information: 

• provides an explanation of what is generally within the scope of flexible funding, and what is generally not 

• explains how supports for commitments made before 18 March can be considered 

• provides some definitions of terms used in the Purchase Rules, and 

• gives some explanation of how the Purchase Rules could be applied in certain situations or to particular things. 

While this document does discuss the application of the Purchase Rules to some items or costs, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list. It continues to be guidance on applying the Purchase Rules, rather than a set of additional rules. 

In this section 

• What is in scope, generally? 

• How does scope differ between different service lines 

• What is excluded, generally? 

There are some differences in scope, to reflect the different purposes of various flexible funding supports. 

Across all flexible funding it is possible to pay for: 

• Contributions to the cost of support being provided. This includes, but is not limited to: 
• Wages and other costs of employing someone to provide support. 
• Invoices for the costs of service providers who have provided support, 
• Costs of activities that support the disabled person while a break is taken 
• Expenses that are a necessary part of supporting the disabled person. This includes, but is not limited to: 
• supplies and products (for example rubber gloves, PPE) that may be required by a person delivering support to carry out the task, 
• fuel and mileage costs of transport where a support person drives the disabled person somewhere locally, 
• local transport costs (after the Total Mobility Scheme has been accessed) that do not require the use of support workers, where this is a more cost-effective way of supporting the disabled person to participate in activities. Examples include driving services, ride share services etc. 
• the cost of entries to events or activities, travel on public transport, or other similar costs that a person might incur in the course of being available to and supporting the disabled person. 
• Self-care services such as massages, pedicures and other appearance or therapeutic care that are for the direct benefit of the disabled person. This may form part of personal care (toe and fingernail cutting, barbering or hair washing as a mainstream option), or may support some disabled people to manage physical activity through sports massage etc. Please note that: 
• costs continue to need to be related to the individual’s specific experience of disability (rule two), 
• costs need to be reasonable, and this needs to be a cost-effective alternative to other options (rule three), and 
• there are some limits to this where another agency has responsibility for therapeutic care (rule four).

Items that support the disabled person to carry out tasks more independently (except where those items are part of what is provided for or managed under EMS) are generally available through IF HM and PC, EIF, CiCL, and EGL Personal Budgets. 

Items that support the disabled person to self-regulate, limited to: Tablet devices, noise cancelling headphones, sensory items (such as fidget spinners etc.) and weighted blankets, are able to be funded from Carer Support, Individualised Funding Respite, EIF and EGL Personal Budgets, where this creates a break for family carers. 

These items – and only these items – can be purchased through Carer Support and IF Respite. 

Tablet devices and noise cancelling headphones can be purchased no more than once in an allocation period (usually 12 months). 

Where an item is sought, the existing purchase rules must continue to be applied, including: 

• Rule Two – it must support the disabled person to overcome a specific disability related challenge they experience 
• Rule Three – it must be a reasonable and cost-effective way of doing so, and 
• Rule Four – it must not be something that another government agency has funding responsibility for, or is managed and prioritised through Equipment and Modification Services (EMS) (including if the other agency or EMS waitlists or declines to provide the item in this circumstance). 

Ready-made meals can also be purchased through IF HM and PC, EIF, CiCL, and EGL Personal Budgets, where this offsets the cost of funded support. Ready-made meals have their own section in the ‘information on specific support costs’ pages.

Across the flexible funding services DSS funds, some things are excluded entirely: 

• Gifts and other forms of recognition for support provided voluntarily. 
• Travel-related costs for disabled people,  whānau , and/or persons providing support, including: 
• Accommodation 
• overseas and domestic travel, and 
• food 

Travel-related costs are discussed in the ‘Some definitions’ and the ‘Information on specific support costs’ pages below. 

The revisions to the Purchase Rules are not intended to limit the ability of any disabled person to maintain their current engagement in employment, a course of study, therapy, or a timebound programme that support is required for. 

We have already undertaken to honour financial commitments made prior to 18 March 2024. 

We are introducing some further measures to recognise more fully the range of situations where disabled people have relied on the previous scope of flexibility to organise their lives and support. 

We are clarifying that the disabled person can continue to use their flexible funding to access the support they did prior to the revisions to the purchase rules where: 

• they have committed to employment, a course of study, therapy, or a timebound programme, and 

• they have relied on the availability of flexibility under the previous Purchase Rules to support them to participate in those commitments, and 

• that commitment has been made before 18 March 2024. 

This extends to: 

• contributing to the costs of delivering support  

• expenses that are a necessary part of supporting the disabled person, and 

• the travel-related costs of support workers (accommodation, transport, meal allowances) can continue to be paid where those costs are incurred as part of supporting the disabled person when they engage in domestic travel (including between cities and regions) for work. 

It does not extend to the purchase of items that are otherwise no longer in scope. 

An ongoing commitment can be demonstrated by, for example: 

• employment agreements 

• explicit inclusion in a support plan pre-dating 18 March 2024, where this demonstrates an intended ongoing use of a particular support, or 

• the individual already receiving or engaging in a course of therapy, a course of study, employment, or a time-bound programme that support is required for. 

In general, there should be limited circumstances where evidence of a requirement for continuing support is sought, as it will often be clear from plans, ISPs, and past patterns of transactions. 

Resuming supports that have been re-planned 

The purpose of supporting ongoing commitments is to mitigate any potential risks to continuing in employment, study, and therapy. 

We are aware that some people may have reorganised their supports and family lives to continue in employment, study, or therapy after the 18 March 2024 revision of the Purchase Rules. 

Where that is the case, disabled people may resume any previously in place supports that they consider mitigate risks to their continuing in employment, study, or therapy, so long as those supports are: 

• the costs of delivering support  
• expenses that are a necessary part of supporting the disabled person, and/or 
• the travel-related costs of support workers (accommodation, transport, meal allowances) can continue to be paid where those costs are incurred as part of supporting the disabled person when they engage in domestic travel (including between cities and regions) for work. 

All of these claims must continue to be within your existing allocation, and any other conditions upon accessing flexible funding 

Retrospective costs 

Some disabled people and families may also have begun to pay for some supports they were previously receiving, such as therapy, privately after the 18 March revisions to the Purchase Rules. 

Where those costs were part of support delivered previously, costs incurred between 18 March and 24 April 2024 may be claimed for retrospectively. Where you are claiming for these costs under Carer Support, the usual 90 day claiming period applies, although we encourage you to make these claims sooner, and to mark them clearly as “RETROSPECTIVE PAYMENT FOR CONTINUING IN EMPLOYMENT, STUDY, OR THERAPY”. 

All of these claims must continue to be within your existing allocation, and any other conditions upon accessing flexible funding. 

A number of terms are used in the revised Purchase Rules that many people have asked about to ensure they are applying them correctly. We set out some of them here, to provide clarity on what is intended by these terms. 

In this section: 

• What is a 'necessary expense'? 
• What is 'for the direct benefit of the disabled person'? 
• What does costs of Overseas travel cover? 
• What is included in domestic travel? 
• What is included in local travel? 
• What is a 'ready-made' meal? 
• What is a sensory item? 

An expense is a necessary part of providing care if, in the view of the person managing the package, within their context it is not possible to provide the desired support to carry out a particular task or participate within a particular activity without the expense. 

Rule Three – that the expense be reasonable and cost-effective – continues to apply to ensure that public money is used in an economical manner. 

Applying rule three may involve a conversation with staff working for a host or another processing role before a claim proceeds. This is an ordinary check and balance on the use of public money. 

Means, the disabled person is the recipient of, for example, the massage or therapy, and it creates a disability-related benefit by supporting the disabled person to improve their independence. 

While disabled people may indirectly benefit when their family members and carers experience self-care services such as massages, pedicures and other appearance or therapeutic care, this is now out of scope of the purchasing rules. 

Costs of overseas travel refers to the costs of accommodation, food, and transport while travelling for the disabled person, their family and whānau  and anyone providing support. The costs of a person providing support while overseas (for example wages) however are not excluded from this scope of support.  

Please note there continues to be a requirement, where wages are required for international trips over 21 days, for IF hosts to seek DSS approval.  

Domestic travel refers to the costs of travelling between cities or regions to, for example, go on a break.

Local travel means travel within a local community where the disabled person usually lives, works, engages in recreation, and otherwise lives their life. Local travel will usually be: 

• within a region 
• in or to areas around a city, and/or 
• an equivalent distance where someone lives on or near the border between regions. 

A ready-made meal is any meal prepared ahead of time, that can be eaten at a time of the person’s choosing. 

Ready-made meals can contribute to the person having greater choice of what they eat, and when they eat it. 

Take out or food deliveries have some of the features of ready-made meals, and this may be appropriate, occasionally. In practice, it is unlikely that regular use of takeout or food deliveries will be more cost-effective than paying for support to prepare meals. 

A range of items may support disabled people to self-regulate where they can find particular kinds of sensory stimulation overwhelming.  

While a wide range of things might serve this purpose, the range of things we are providing access to, through flexible funding, is limited to small, portable items, and does not extend to larger and more expensive options such as spa pools, trampolines, play gyms etc.    

Rule three, that a purchase is reasonable and cost-effective, continues to be in effect. We would not expect that most purchases of small items would require in-depth consideration. If you are unsure about purchasing a specific sensory item, get in touch with your Host or EGL site – they can support you in your decision. 

This section sets out answers on some specific issues that have been raised with Whaikaha, to provide confidence in how the Purchase Rules are applied. 

In this section 

• Purchase of some items for respite 
• Funding activity costs 
• Applying Household Management and Personal Care definitions 
• Cost offsets and 'Corresponding reductions in support' 
• Transport costs 
• Ready-made meals 
• Self-care services like podiatry, massages, and haircare costs for disabled people 
• Costs in managing flexible funding 
• Food, where it is not part of travel-related expenses 
• Continence products 
• Personal trainer or gym membership for the disabled person 
• Tuition/tutoring 
• Costs of laundry service or laundromat 
• Costs of occupational therapy driving assessment 
• The cost of extra driving lessons 
• Mileage for parents 
• Mileage for a volunteer/family member 
• Costs related to sustaining a living situation 
• Therapies 
• Software for tablet devices 
• Support at work 
• Support at a course 
• Support where a child is not attending school full-time 
• Day programmes 
• Sign language interpreters and communicators 

Tablet devices, noise cancelling headphones, sensory items (such as fidget spinners) and weighted blankets, are all able to be funded from Carer Support, Individualised Funding Respite (IF Respite), EIF and EGL Personal Budgets, where this creates a break for family carers. 

These items – and only these items – can be purchased through Carer Support and IF Respite. 

Tablet devices and noise cancelling headphones can be purchased no more than once in an allocation period (usually 12 months). 

Purchases of tablet devices and noise cancelling headphones must continue to meet the requirements of all four purchase rules. Tablet devices and headphones can be purchased where: 

• They are related to the specific disability-related challenges that the disabled person encounters. 
• They are reasonable and cost-effective. It is not cost-effective, for example, to purchase another tablet device or set of headphones if the disabled person has one that works and was purchased from a previous year’s allocation; and 
• Attempts have been made to access relevant other agency funding, including, for example, Ministry of Education funding for some devices.

In the context of IF Respite/Carer Support: 

• Carer Support and IF Respite generally are allocated because disabled people and whānau require breaks more often, or of more intensity, than other whānau might. If an activity provides relief care, we consider that the cost of the activity includes the cost of providing support and expenses necessary to provide that support. 
• Activities that accommodate or include disabled people can simultaneously provide a break for the main carer. Where this is the case, the organisation providing the activity is effectively the relief carer, and flexible funding can contribute to those activities as a cost of providing support.  
• It continues to be the case, for example, that an organisation providing a programme can be the relief carer claiming the Carer Support subsidy. 

In the context of IF Household Management and Personal Care: 

• The scope of these services is specific to providing supports that assist the disabled person to complete tasks and participate in activities 
• Our general position is that the scope of IF HM and PC allows the disabled person to pay a support worker, and their expenses (for example entrance tickets, transport costs) when undertaking an activity, but that the disabled person and their family must pay their own costs of participating in the activity (for example their entrance tickets etc.). 

Rule One of the purchase rules confirms funding must be used in line with the purpose for which it was allocated. This may include the specification under which the allocation was made. 

Nothing in the revision of the Purchase Rules is intended to affect the relative balance of HM and PC activities that people currently undertake. 

We encourage people to work broadly in line with the balance of HM and PC allocated as reflecting the balance of needs in an individual situation.  

We acknowledge that this may also be affected by means-testing eligibility for HM. 

If the relative balance of support types required has shifted significantly this is something an individual and their whānau might discuss at their next full NASC review. 

We don’t expect that Hosts need to seek any greater degree of evidence about whether specific costs should be coded to HM or PC as a result of the changes to the Purchase Rules.

A number of changes in the Purchase Rules refer to the ability to purchase items where they reduce the need for other support. 

Where you are supporting someone to purchase an item that may support them to do things more independently, or purchase ready-made meals which may reduce the need for other support, it is enough that you apply Rule 3 to determine cost effectiveness. You do not need to undertake any further processes (such as quantifying cost savings etc.). 

Where an item has ongoing usefulness, this will be taken into account in applying rule three – cost effectiveness, in considering future purchases for the same purpose or need. 

Domestic travel refers to the costs of travelling between cities or regions to, for example, go on a break. 

These costs can no longer be paid from flexible funding. 

Travel to and from school is funded by the Ministry of Education Specialised School Transport Assistance (SESTA).  

Local transport is part-funded by other agencies through the Total Mobility Scheme. NZTA and Regional Councils subsidise the costs of local transport for eligible people, which we understand includes most disabled people. 

Our expectation is that these subsidies are accessed before considering the use of disability support funding to pay for local travel undertaken independently of a support worker. 

‘Expenses that are a necessary part of providing support’ may include the costs a support worker incurs when taking the disabled person to go to the supermarket or engage in other activities outside the home. These costs can continue to be met from flexible funding. 

If you have accessed the Total Mobility Scheme the disabled person can also use flexible funding for additional disability-related costs for local transport that don’t require the use of support workers, where this is more cost-effective. Examples including driving services, ride share services etc. 

In Between Travel refers to the time and travel costs that support workers incur when they are travelling from one client to another, as part of working for the same employer. In Between Travel is not generally paid to support workers where disabled people and families are managing their funding, as they employ people to work with them, rather than with multiple families. 

If someone providing support must travel more than 15km to work, and the person’s specific requirements mean that there are few or no alternative workers who are more available, ‘exceptional travel’ may be funded in line with the general In Between Travel guidance. You can find out more in section 4 of the implementation guidance for providers and funders on Health NZ’s website. 

Generally, In Between Travel is unlikely to be relevant to managing your flexible funding yourself. 

If you are a Flexible Disability Support Provider managing personal budgets, and either ordinary or exceptional In Between Travel has been included in the personal budget, you can continue to claim for those costs. 

A ready-made meal is any meal prepared ahead of time and can be eaten at time of the person’s choosing. 

Ready-made meals can contribute to the person having greater choice of what they eat, and when they eat it. 

Ready-made food may be a more cost-effective support than having someone come in to cook a meal. Purchases of ready-made food should only be made when this reduces the need for paid support for meal preparation. 

We know that many disabled people also have children or other dependent family members that they would otherwise require support to prepare meals for. Ready-made food can be used as their contribution to household tasks which are shared amongst whānau , where this is a cost-effective way of doing so.  

Take-out or food deliveries have some of the features of ready-made meals, and this may be appropriate occasionally. In practice, it is unlikely that regular use of takeout or food deliveries will be more cost-effective than paying for support to prepare meals. 

Yes, disabled people can use their allocation to contribute to the cost of support being provided. 

This includes purchases that fall under self-care services, such as massages, pedicures and other appearance or therapeutic care that are for the direct benefit of the disabled person. 

A disabled person can still pay for podiatry (toenail cutting) and haircare costs, such as going to a hairdresser to get their hair washed, rather than getting a support worker to come into the home to wash their hair or cut their toenails.

Flexible funding has historically paid for some administration costs. These costs are factored into the calculations used to create the IF hourly rate. Most of these costs are unaffected by the changes to the Purchase Rules. 

Some management costs are part of supporting people to manage their disability support. These include, but are not limited to: 

• additional HR advice, payroll support, and other support to be a good employer 
• additional planning and facilitation support, and 
• in some instances, paying higher duties allowances or other costs of staff managing all or part of support. 

Some expenses can be a necessary part of delivering management support. These include, but are not limited to: 

• costs of office supplies necessary to manage timesheets etc. 
• technology used to access online platforms and reasonably undertake management tasks (historically, one laptop under $1,500 every 3 years, and a printer). 

These forms of support continue to be available, as do recognition payments for Agents. 

Food, where it is not a part of travel-related expenses 

Ready-made meals continue to be available for the disabled person to use under IF HM and PC, Enhanced Individualised Funding, and EGL Personal Budgets, where this is a cost-effective way of delivering household management. 

Food has been excluded where it is part of travel-related costs. 

Food, such as takeout, as a way of family taking a break from routines, is also excluded from being purchased using flexible funding. 

There may be instances where a support worker accompanying a disabled person to an activity incurs some food-related or meal costs. In considering food-related costs, please bear in mind that any worker will usually have to provide their own lunch etc. as part of conditions of employment. 

Where meal costs have been included in terms and conditions of employment (for example, as part of working longer shifts) these terms and conditions should continue to be honoured, but no such new arrangements should be entered into. 

We are aware that some people we support have used flexible funding where the level of continence products available through Health NZ does not fully meet their needs. 

No-one will lose access to essential services through the revisions to the Purchase Rules. 

If you have accessed continence products through Health NZ, and require further products to maintain personal cares, the additional products can be considered “Items that support the disabled person to carry out tasks more independently” and can be purchased through flexible funding. 

Training and gym attendance can provide direct therapeutic benefits to the disabled person, and may be an activity that also provides a break for a family carer while the disabled person undertakes the activity. 

Where that is the case, the personal trainer or participation in the gym is effectively relief care, and is an activity that can be funded as support and necessary expenses for providing that support. 

Tuition can support some disabled people where their experience of disability means they face additional hurdles to educational success. It may also be an activity that provides a break for a family carer while the disabled person undertakes the activity. 

Where that is the case, the tutor is effectively relief care, and the cost of tutoring can be included as a contribution to the cost of supporting the disabled person while a family carer takes a break. 

There are a number of mainstream and disability-specific services that may be useful in delivering household management. For example, commercial cleaning services have been used by many people as an alternative to a support worker to provide some household management tasks. 

For some people, laundry services may also be a cost-effective option to carry out that component of household management. This might particularly be the case where, for disability-related reasons, there are increased amounts of laundry required to be done. 

Access to specialist driving assessments is prioritised and managed through the Equipment and Modifications system. As such, it cannot be funded through flexible funding. 

In some instances, disabled people may require additional driving lessons, or greater time, to accommodate disability-related challenges they encounter to learning to drive. Additional driving lessons may also be an activity that provides a break for a family carer while the disabled person undertakes the activity. 

Where that is the case, the driving instructor is effectively relief care, and the cost of additional driving lessons can be included as a contribution to the cost of supporting the disabled person while a family carer takes a break. 

For some disabled people, the motion of being driven in a car can support them to self-regulate. A number of families use a log book to claim specifically for the mileage involved in doing so. 

Where someone is being driven as part of a strategy to support them to self-regulate, mileage can be considered to be a necessary expense for the support being provided. 

Some disabled people and their whānau rely on family and friends who come from out of town to provide support. 

Necessary expenses include costs that a person might incur in the course of being available to and supporting the disabled person. 

If the travel involved is within region, or a similar distance if someone lives near the border of a region, it is considered to be local travel, and can be funded as a necessary expense to provide support. 

We are aware that, for some people, EGL personal budgets have been used to provide a level of support that would otherwise usually only be available through residential care.  

We want to reassure individuals in that situation, and the providers who work with them, that where this is the case the revisions to the purchase rules will not be applied in a way that affects their ability to maintain that living situation.  

We are working to put in a process across the EGL sites to ensure that the application of the Purchase Rules in these situations are clear, and that people, family, Hosts and providers are aware of how to apply the rules in those situations. 

We understand that this is a relatively small number of individuals, known to their EGL sites, who will be in contact to discuss any concerns. 

If you are concerned that a package allocated by your NASC organisation, or supported by your Host organisation, creates an alternative to residential care and is at risk of ceasing to be viable as a result of the revised purchase rules, please raise this with the Connector or with your Portfolio Manager in the first instance, who can seek further direction. 

Where a disabled person has been engaged in a course of therapy before 18 March, that therapy can continue to be funded from flexible funding, including where other agencies might otherwise have funding responsibilities for that therapy. 

Examples where other agencies may have funding responsibilities include (but are not limited to):  

• speech language therapy;  
• psychologist involvement in behaviour support; and 
• occupational therapy. 

If something is a form of therapy that is prioritised by another government agency, new courses of therapy cannot be entered into (including where the main carer would get a break whilst that therapy occurs). 

Some things may have some therapeutic benefits, but can also be understood to be a respite activity.  

These are not forms of therapy that we consider to be within another agency’s funding responsibility. Whether they are treated as an activity that provides respite, or as a form of therapy, they are within scope of flexible funding. This includes: 

• equine therapy; 
• art therapy; 
• music therapy 

If you are purchasing a tablet device that supports self-management, and there are disability-specific apps or software that you wish to purchase, these can be considered a necessary expense as part of delivering the support. These costs can be met from your flexible funding.

Work and Income provides some funding to support people who experience additional costs as a result of disability or health conditions when working. Information about this funding can be found at Job and Training Support Funds - Work and Income external. 

We encourage you to use these funds first.  

Where you have committed to an employment arrangement before 18 March 2024 on the basis that you could use your flexible funding in a way that would enable you to commit to, and maintain employment, you may continue to use your funding in the same way to: 

• contribute to the costs of delivering support  
• meet expenses that are a necessary part of supporting the disabled person, and 
• pay for the travel-related costs of support workers (accommodation, transport, meal allowances) where those costs are incurred as part of domestic travel (including between cities and regions) for work. 

Where you have committed to a course of study before 18 March 2024 on the basis that you could use your flexible funding in a way that would support you to participate, you may continue to use your funding in the same way to: 

• contribute to the costs of delivering support, and 
• meet expenses that are a necessary part of supporting the disabled person.  

Your flexible funding cannot be used to support you to participate in any new course of study that you had not committed to before 18 March 2024.  

If you are part way into a qualification (including, but not limited to, a degree or diploma), you may continue to use your flexible funding to support you to complete your studies, even if you have not signed up to all the necessary components of study yet.  

Where you are considering undertaking a new course of study, and you require support to do so, you should seek to access support from the training and education provider. 

In some instances where disabled children are not attending school full-time, flexible funding has been used to provide support where the child may need to go home at unpredictable times.  

This has been part of supporting successful, if longer, transitions into fulltime schooling, and to enable family members to maintain their employment. 

Unfortunately, flexible funding is no longer able to be used in this way, at this time. All children have a right to be educated, and providing support for children to participate in schooling successfully sits more clearly with the responsibilities of the education system. 

In some instances where day programme funding is not able to provide support throughout the whole working week, flexible funding has been used to provide support to attend additional day programmes, or for other support to the disabled person throughout the working day. 

This has been part of supporting disabled people to form connections with others, engage in activities outside the home, and to enable family members to maintain their employment. 

Unfortunately, flexible funding is no longer able to be used in this way, at this time. Day programme and vocational funding is the responsibility of MSD. 

However: 

• Where Enabling Good Lives Personal Budgets have had Community Participation funding integrated into them, personal budgets can continue to be used for vocational activities.  
• Where an organisation that holds Day Programme contracts also runs programmes that provide relief care through, for example, Carer Support, those activities can continue to be claimed for.  

If you have accessed interpreter services that are available to you through existing funding (such as iSign and Job Support funds), you may consider using your flexible funding for any further unmet communication needs.