Community consultation - runs from 10 February to 24 March 2025
Our next community consultation is now underway. It runs from 10 February until 24 March 2025 and builds on responses we received through our survey and submissions in late 2024.
How to have your say
- Register to attend external an in person or online workshop.
- Make a submission – either in writing or by video or audio.
- Complete a short survey external (this is the quickest way to have your say).
- Run your own workshop.
While places are limited for in-person events due to venue capacities, all contributions, including submissions and survey responses, will be considered equally.
All is for All external is managing the registration process for the in-person and online workshops on our behalf.
About the consultation
This consultation is focused on the 50,000 disabled people, and their whānau, who receive essential disability support after an assessment from:
- a Needs Assessment and Service Co-ordination (NASC) organisation, or
- an Enabling Good Lives (EGL) site.
We want to stabilise disability support services so that they are fairer, more consistent, more transparent, and sustainable into the future.
This consultation will support us to develop options for Government to achieve this and respond to the recommendations of the Independent Review of DSS before considering further work to strengthen disability support services into the future.
Watch this video for more information
Video transcript
Visual description: Chris stands next to an NZSL interpreter, against a grey background with the DSS and MSD logos in the corners.
Kia ora koutou. I'm Chris Bunny. I am leading the work to stabilise Disability Support Services.
Thank you for being part of this important consultation. We really appreciate you being involved. I want to acknowledge that 2024 was a challenging year for many of you with a lot of change and uncertainty.
We want to do better for disabled people, their whānau and carers. This is why we are working in consultation with you to stabilise the disability support services we manage and provide certainty for the future.
This consultation builds on the responses from our survey, submissions and wider feedback in 2024.
It focusses on two topics:
- how we can improve disability support services through clearer assessment and support settings, and
- options for changes to flexible funding.
A discussion document and shorter summary document, which you can find on our website, have more detail about these two topics, as well as specific questions we have.
We really want to understand your views. Your feedback is important. It will help Government to make decisions to stabilise disability support services around the middle of this year.
We will update you on the outcomes of this consultation. Our goal is to build a system where all disabled people can access fair, consistent and transparent services and supports. By having your say, you play a vital part in this work.
Tēnā koutou, thank you for helping.
On this page
Who should participate
While everyone is welcome to participate, we especially want to hear from people who receive essential disability support after an assessment from a NASC or EGL site.
This includes disabled people, their whānau, carers, and advocates.
The consultation does not include people who only receive supports from other agencies, such as Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transport or Work and Income.
What we are consulting on
We want your feedback on:
- clearer assessment and allocation processes
- options for changes to flexible funding.
Assessment tools and processes
We want to hear from you about how we can make our assessment and allocation processes clearer.
This is about improving how the needs of disabled people are assessed, and decisions made about the support they are given to ensure consistency.
Flexible funding
We want your feedback on proposed criteria for access to flexible funding and changes to how the funding is used.
There are two options for how these changes could be made:
- Option 1 links each person’s flexible funding to a plan.
- Option 2 amends the current purchasing rules.
Discussion document
We recommend you read our Discussion document before having your say.
There are two versions of this document: a full version and a shorter summary.
They give wider context on the topics we are seeking your feedback on as well as the questions you can respond to.
What happens next
Your feedback will help Government to make decisions to stabilise disability support services before considering further work to strength those supports into the future.
The final decisions relate to Recommendations 5 and 6 from the Independent Review.