FAMILY CARERS CONSULTATION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS THE CONSULTATION 1

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Family Carers Questions and Answers

Family Carers Consultation Questions and Answers


The Consultation


  1. What is the consultation about?


The Ministry of Health (the Ministry) is changing its current policy of not paying parents and resident family members to provide home and community support to disabled adults.


This follows the Government’s decision not to appeal the Court of Appeal ruling in the family carers case (Ministry of Health v Atkinson and Others) in June 2012 (see question 5).


  1. What is the Ministry consulting on?


The Ministry is consulting on options for a new policy on paying certain family members to provide home and community support to disabled adults. The consultation will look at questions including:



  1. How do I get the document that tells me about this?


There is a consultation document called ‘Consultation on Paying Family Carers to Provide Disability Support’. You can obtain this document and the submission form via a number of means:



  1. Where do I find out more information?


Further information is available at www.health.govt.nz/familycarersconsult.




The Background


  1. What is the Family Carers case?


In 2001, Susan Atkinson and others challenged the Ministry’s policy of not paying family members to support disabled people by taking complaints to the Human Rights Commission. Their case focused on the parents of disabled adult sons and daughters who required an on-going and high level of care.


The Human Rights Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) subsequently considered their case and, in 2010, released its decision that the policy was discriminatory. The Tribunal issued a declaration that the Ministry’s policy of not allowing the payment of specified family members for the provision of disability support services is inconsistent with section 19 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA) in that it limits the right to freedom from discrimination on the grounds of family status and is not, under section 5 of that Act, a justified limitation.


  1. Why is the consultation and policy only about family carers of disabled adults? What about other groups like family carers of older people?


The court case and decisions related specifically to family carers of disabled adults. The Government must make decisions about a new policy as quickly as reasonably possible to fit the time frame allowed by the Court and therefore needs to focus on those groups most directly relevant to the Court’s decision.


There may be broader implications for family carers of other people receiving government-funded support services which the Government will look at once the new policy has been established.


  1. Why didn’t the Ministry of Health pay family carers?


The Ministry and its predecessors have operated a policy for many years of not paying parents, spouses or resident family members to provide care for their disabled relatives1. This policy was based on a view that government-funded disability supports are provided to a disabled person to complement, not replace, their natural supports (such as those provided by family members).


  1. Which family carers are included?


This consultation relates specifically to those groups that are most central to the courts’ decisions on the family carers case. That means parents and resident family carers providing home and community support to adult disabled family members.


  1. Which services are included?


This consultation relates specifically to disability home and community support services funded by the Ministry of Health.



  1. How were the options developed?


The Ministry developed the options with assistance from a Technical Advisory Group comprising individuals from the disability and carer sectors who have experience of disability, caring, the disability support system, and managing funds for disability support.


  1. How much is spent on Disability Support Services?


Approximately $1.028 billion a year of Vote Health funding is spent on a range of disability support services (DSS)2 for around 30,350 people with physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities (or a combination of these) who need on-going support, generally aged under 653, and their carers.


In addition, government funds significant supports for people with a wide range of impairments and their carers through district health boards (DHBs) and other agencies such as Veterans Affairs New Zealand.



Disabled people and family carers


  1. What will this mean for disabled people and family carers?


This will depend on final policy decisions. This consultation process provides an opportunity for disabled people, family carers and others to give their views on a range of options and how these might affect them, so that these views can be included in the policy development process.


Giving feedback


  1. How do I make a submission?


Submissions can be made online at www.surveymonkey.com/s/familycarersconsult, emailed to [email protected] or sent by post to:


Family Carers Consultation

Ministry of Health

PO Box 5013
Wellington 6145.


To assist in analysing submissions as efficiently as possible we encourage people to provide their views via the online survey or the submission form.


You can obtain a submission form by emailing [email protected]


There will also be public workshops in the main centres for people to discuss the issues and express their views.


  1. Who can come to the public workshops?


The workshops are open to anybody with an interest in this issue.


  1. When are submissions due by?


Submissions close at 5 pm Tuesday 6 November 2012.


  1. When are public workshops being held?


You can find a list of workshop locations and times at www.health.govt.nz/familycarersconsult


What next?


  1. When will decisions on the policy be made?


It is anticipated that final decisions on the policy will be taken in early 2013.


  1. When can family carers start getting paid?


The final policy on payment of family carers is anticipated to come into effect in May 2013.

1 Family members who are not, parents, spouses or living with the disabled person can, however, be employed by contracted DSS providers to deliver home and community support services.

2 Ministry of Health funded disability supports include: home and community support; respite and carer support; day programmes; supported living; community residential support; environmental support; disability information and advisory services; needs assessment and service coordination services.

3 District health boards fund disability and long-term supports for: people who are first assessed as needing support at age 65 or over and those people aged between 50 and 65 years assessed as having health and support needs because of long-term conditions more commonly experienced by older people; people needing support due to mental illnesses or addictions; and, people with chronic health conditions. ACC funds supports for people with personal injuries that meet the definition of disability in the Accident Compensation Act 2001.

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