Finance Minister calls in officials after cuts to disability services
Finance Minister Nicola Willis called officials and Disabilities Minister Penny Simmonds in for an urgent briefing, after families were blindsided by news of cuts to respite care.
Willis told Stuff that news came as a surprise, and she had not been told how dire the situation was at Whaikaha, the Ministry for Disabled Communities, before news broke on Tuesday.
She said there was a briefing earlier this year, warning Whaikaha was stressed - but she said that scale of the situation was not clear.
“It was in the context of a broader briefing listing agencies that had asked for early Budget decisions, and the rationale for it. On balance, the [decision] we got to was that we would just make decisions as part of a normal Budget process,” Willis said.
Then on Monday, Whaikaha surprised Willis and thousands of families with disabilities announcing it would remove funding for a range of services, including respite care.
“The news this week was a surprise to me, I can also confirm I had a breifing today with the minister and Whaikaha to understand their funding situation and understand what is required from the Government,” Willis said.
She said the Government had always planned to increase Whaikaha funding in the next Budget, due out at the end of May. The question now was whether the Government could provide early funding.
“What I've been working to understand is how is it that the appropriation they received at the last budget hasn't been sufficient to get them through the financial year? Because obviously that's the key challenge,” she said.
Willis told Stuff this was “a critical frontline service” that needed more funding.
While Willis said she only learnt how dire Whaikaha’s funding was when news broke, Simmonds first heard warning bells back in December.
Simmonds has also questioned how the money has been spent, and suggested some families were wasting their funding on “massages, overseas travel and pedicures”.
In question time, Simmonds was asked multiple times if she had asked Cabinet for emergency funding. She did not directly answer the question, instead saying there was “a Budget process”.
“There will be more funding for the disabled sector, but it is absolutely imperative that we get the settings, the policies, the rules in place ... before anything additional has to be done,” she said.
Whaikaha received a $863 million operating allowance in Budget 2023.
On Tuesday, Simmonds said funding concerns had been “bouncing around since before Christmas”.
She said the inexperience of the ministry was to blame for how this news was communicated to families.
Stuff asked Simmonds if she wanted to apologise for how this was handled.
“I'll talk to them about how we handle announcements,” she said.
“I apologise that they have a ministry that has been set up with policy settings that is putting Whaikaha in this situation.”
Families who rely on this funding told Stuff these changes would mean they would struggle to get respite carers.
For instance, Sue Kenny, a Whanganui-based mother of a 21-year-old autistic son, said there was essentially no way she could get respite care any more.
She can only work part-time, as she looks after her son. And previously, Whaikaha would pay for her to get a break and have someone come and look after her son. They would only pay $80 per day for the carer.
But now, the funding rules mean Whaikaha would only pay for her son to leave their home. That would be hugely traumatic for her son, Kenny said, as he has autism and it is his home.
“He’d have a meltdown. It’s just shocking. Does [Simmonds] know anything about trauma informed practice? You can't pick up people and take them out their comfort zones, especially with autism,” she said. “It’s his safe space. We do want him out in the community more, but we have to do that at his pace and not because the Government says so.”
Simmonds on Tuesday said the funding change had to happen as soon as possible, with no warning, as the ministry could run out of money “in days”.