Just two years after its establishment, the Disability Ministry in Whaikaha is being drastically scaled back following the findings of an independent investigation.
The inquiry, led by Sir Maarten Wevers, found that the delivery of support services was inconsistent and hampered by the way Whaikaha was set up.
“Recent events have revealed that the Department was ill-prepared for its vital role. Its creation, in the late stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, was hasty and challenges quickly arose in dealing with partner organisations tasked with delivering shared services and other support,” Weavers said.
He also found that there was “inadequate budgetary control and commercial rigour” and that the department was on track to once again over-budget.
Disability Minister Louise Upston confirmed the expected overspend for this year is $150 million.
According to Wevers, the financial controls and supervision were poor.
“The Department, as established, lacks many of the public sector disciplines and operational practices seen in other government agencies… It is difficult to get a clear picture of how well disabled people are supported by providers contracted by the Department. Contract monitoring and performance reporting are inadequate and risk identification and management need to be strengthened.
“There are also different levels of service provision across the country – this is like describing the provision of health services as a postcode lottery.”
This will speed up the evaluation process and ensure that the recommendations are quickly implemented by the government.
“For this reason, the reviewers propose that phase two of the review as originally conceived should not proceed at this time. It appears that the most urgent need is for a team of experienced staff to be brought into the Department as soon as possible to work with the Chief Executive to strengthen processes and systems, improve monitoring and controls, and reset current procedures and arrangements where necessary, to provide stability and confidence in the Department and its vital role.”
Upston said immediate action would be taken.
“This administration is committed to supporting people with disabilities, which is why we have allocated a record $1.1 billion in this year’s budget for disability support services.
“We must now take urgent action after an independent review found that the delivery of these services is in a sorry state, with unsustainable spending and a lack of fairness and transparency about the support that disabled people have access to.”
She said the biggest problem was the way Whaikaha had been established under the previous government and did not blame the current leadership team.
“I think it was downright unfair to set up a ministry like this, where the government and the ministers knew the risks, knew the financial challenges, knew the complexities that had existed for years, and they went ahead with it anyway.
“If you look back at the original cabinet documents and the establishment, I think that disability care was a side issue.
“So I think Paula and the team did the best job they could in what was, quite frankly, a mess.”
Responsibility for the delivery of support services will be transferred to the Ministry of Social Development in October.
This would be overseen by a task force that would also review other recommendations from the reviewers.
Paula Tesoriero, CEO of Whaikaha, described the past two years as “hugely challenging”.
“I haven’t got as far as I wanted to, but I’m proud of what we’ve achieved. The opportunity now is for disability support services to have the support of a larger, more established organisation. It’s really important that we focus on building a solid, sustainable system that disabled people, families and carers can rely on.”
Delivering support services through the current models, where infrastructure and systems were shared between both the social development and health departments, was a huge challenge.
“And despite the tremendous effort that the team has made, the reality is that it would probably have taken us another two to three years to really build the infrastructure to support disability support services, and disabled people have been waiting for change for so long.”
Upston also confirmed that Whaikaha would become a standalone ministry (it currently falls under the Ministry of Social Development).
“It will be responsible for leading work to improve the lives of disabled people through policy advice, monitoring the effectiveness of services and advocating for positive change.”
She had confidence in Tesoriero, but said the Public Service Commission would go through the appointment process in due time.
Tesoriero would not confirm whether she would run for the role again.
Seven recommendations were made, including securing budgets for needs assessment services, enabling venues for good living demonstrations and provision of equipment, and freezing current funding levels for residential care while further research is conducted.
The criteria and allocation settings for support services are being updated and the guidelines for flexible financing are being revised.
The investigation, which was conducted in April, was launched in March after it emerged that Whaikaha had imposed tighter restrictions on disability spending as the city faced another annual cost overrun.
Wevers said the recommendations were good, despite the fact that the research was conducted within a tight timeframe and there was limited collaboration with outside parties.
Upston stressed that the implications of the decisions would not change overnight.
“I realise these are big changes for the disability sector, but I cannot stress this enough to disabled people across the country: nothing will change overnight and no one's support will be cut off.
“This is a fresh start and an opportunity to get our act together, get spending under control and address the long-standing problems that I have heard about in my many meetings with disabled people across the country. We can and must do better.”