Who we heard from
Engagement on the issues experienced by disabled people and whānau using MSD’s Disability Support Services (DSS) took place between 29 October 2024 and 22 November 2024. This included written submissions, an online survey, and hui with organisations representing disabled people and carers.
On this page
Written submissions
We received written submissions by email. Hard copies were also received. Some people emailed their completed online survey responses to us directly to provide long form answers.
Alternate formats were also emailed to the DSS consultation inbox. If submissions followed the online survey template, they were included in the analysis of online survey responses.
55 people emailed free form written submissions. These were analysed by theme. Where the submissions were relevant to residential care they were included in the analysis for recommendation 2 engagement – this is reported on separately.
Hui
Consultation hui focused on recommendations 5 & 6 of the Independent Review. These recommendations were focused on needs assessment and allocation settings and flexible funding. There were 9 online meetings with peak bodies and community groups.
As part of the hui, participants and officials discussed the Independent Review, the timelines for the Taskforce, and the questions in the online survey.
Participants were also given the opportunity to discuss any additional issues they felt were important for us to understand. Notes taken from these hui were analysed by theme, providing greater detail on the issues identified from the survey analysis.
Online Survey
The survey was launched on 29 October 2024 and was promoted on the DSS website, and by peak bodies and community groups, including in the Disabled People’s Organisations Coalition (DPOC) newsletter.
By the close of the survey on 22 November 2024, 1501 people had engaged with the survey, either online or by emailing or delivering hard copies of the survey to us.
The survey had 3 parts. The first part asked participants to respond to the Independent Review of Disability Support Services (Independent Review), with questions focusing on the role of disability support services, navigation of the system, and suggestions for short and longer-term actions to improve the system.
The second part of the survey focused on recommendation 5 of the Independent Review, and sought insight into needs assessment, service coordination, and reassessment processes.
The third part of the survey asked questions about recommendation 6 of the Independent Review and sought insight into flexible funding, including examples where flexible funding was used, and how to improve the rules around its use.
The survey featured a mixture of yes/no questions. There were also some options to indicate the level of agreement with each question, and the option to provide more detailed responses in the open comment boxes.
To protect privacy, we decided not to ask for demographic information, as this risked identifying individuals. However, respondents were asked to select their region and their connection to the disability community from a list of options.
Connection to the disability community
Half of the respondents identified as a family/whānau member of a disabled person. 30% of respondents identified as a disabled person.
Respondents could only opt into 1 group. However, many indicated they had multiple connections to the disability community, for example having a disability and being a family member/carer of a disabled person. There were 1,493 responses to this question.
| Respondent type | Percentage |
| Carer | 10% |
| Community group | 1% |
| Disabled person | 30% |
| Family/whānau member | 50% |
| NASC | 1% |
| Service provider | 7% |
Regional distribution
68% of the respondents who provided regional data were from the 4 main regions (Auckland, Wellington, Waikato, and Canterbury - including Chatham Islands). There were 1,483 responses to this question.
