Disability Support Services Bill – Our feedback, and making a submission
The Government has announced developments and changes that affect disabled people and family carers. A new Disability Support Services Bill is on the table to create a formal legislative framework for Disability Support Services in New Zealand. The Bill, which passed its first reading in Parliament last week, is designed to address gaps and “strengthen and stabilise” the disability support system.
Carers NZ supports having a disability legislative framework, but the sudden announcement about this Bill, its potential impacts for our community, and the constricted timeframe to give Select Committee feedback, are all concerning.
In our experience, hurried legislation is bad legislation, creating more stress and harm for disabled people and families that must then be unpicked. This takes considerable time, creating mayhem along the way.
There is now a tight window for you to give your feedback about the Bill and its contents to the Select Committee. Written submissions close on 12 June, followed by oral submissions to the Select Committee over a three week period (dates tbc). The Select Committee will report back to Parliament by 13 August 2026.
Although many disabled people, not for profits, peak bodies, and family carers asked for a longer timeframe to give input into this proposed Bill, no extension has been forthcoming. Below are issues relating to the Bill for you to consider, and a template to help you make a submission by 12 June. Many organisations are sharing templates and we’ve put links to some of these at the bottom of this article.
Carers NZ is especially concerned about the potential impacts of this Bill for family carers, and expectations of how much care and support they will be asked to provide.
Many family carers already experience high stress and low wellbeing, as our upcoming State of Caring report (Synergia) will highlight when the report is released in June. We are concerned the Bill will shift more responsibility onto families without adequate support, funding, or recognition of the vital role carers have in disability support.
Concerns
We believe the Bill as drafted contains significant problems that will harm disabled people, their whānau, and the family carers who support them.
It makes no reference to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), to which New Zealand is a signatory, nor to the Enabling Good Lives (EGL) approach and principles. Instead of framing support as a basic human right, the Bill describes it as a “contribution” towards an “everyday life”. This language matters. It signals a retreat from the vision of a good life that disabled people and families have fought for. The Bill fails to uphold the EGL vision and all 8 principles.
The Bill was introduced quickly and without proper consultation
Disabled people, whānau, and family carers were not meaningfully consulted in the development of this Bill. Article 4.3 of the UNCRPD requires governments to “closely consult with and actively involve” disabled people and their representative organisations in developing legislation that affects them. The Government’s own disclosure documents acknowledge this obligation has not been met. The Select Committee process, as currently scoped, does not remedy this. Previous consultations on different topics cannot be recycled to meet the obligations of good faith and the UNCRPD requirement of meaningful participation. This is a fundamental breach of trust.
Clause 8 creates “care without limits”
The “family first” clause implies that all disabled people must exhaust all family members as a source of support before they are entitled to government-funded care. This is deeply problematic. It ignores the reality that many disabled people are themselves carers. It overlooks issues of abuse and coercive control. It disregards the right of disabled people to choose who provides their care. It creates an implied unlimited obligation of unpaid care on whānau that is not clearly defined. Clause 8 must be rewritten to avoid creating undue burden on families, and centre the rights of disabled people to choice and control over who provides their care.
Family carers deserve fair employment rights now, not later
The Bill fails to guarantee fair employment conditions for family carers providing intensive support. Families need certainty: if a family member is providing 40 or more hours of care per week, they should be entitled to proper wages, holiday pay, KiwiSaver contributions, and parental leave. This should be enshrined in the Bill, not deferred to future Ministerial regulation. The Bill also bars carers from pursuing employment claims through the courts (Clauses 12–15), which leaves family carers without recourse and without rights.
Too much is left to Ministerial discretion
The Bill grants the Minister broad powers to create “programmes” by regulation with minimal Parliamentary oversight. Disabled people and whānau cannot plan their lives around support that can be changed at the stroke of a Minister’s pen. Rights must be in the legislation itself. These programmes include the ability to introduce asset and income testing of families and disabled persons, without adequate legislative protections. There is no minimum floor, no requirement to uphold human rights, and no requirement to consider the welfare of family carers.
The Bill does not uphold the Treaty of Waitangi
We dispute the Crown assessment that the Bill is consistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, and that no reference to the Treaty was considered necessary. The principles of partnership, participation, and protection that underpin the Treaty relationship require more than a finding of non-discrimination. They require active engagement with Māori as partners in the development of policy that significantly affects them – and tāngata whaikaha Māori (Māori disabled) and whānau are disproportionately represented among DSS recipients. The “families first” principle in clause 8, while expressed in culturally inclusive language (referring to “whānau” and “other culturally recognised family groups”), does not engage with the specific context of Māori carers or acknowledge the additional pressures that whānau face.
How to make your voice heard
Many carers do not have the time, energy, confidence, or support needed to draft a submission within the limited timeframe available. We also recognise that many disabled people face barriers accessing and responding to complex legal and policy information.
There is no “right” way to make a submission. What matters is that disabled people, whānau, carers, and supporters have the opportunity to have their voices heard on legislation that directly affects their lives.
We encourage everyone who is able to make a submission before the closing date on 12 June 2026.
Making a submission
Submissions are publicly released and published on the Parliament website. Only your name or organisation’s name is required on a submission. Please only provide your contact details when prompted, not in your written submission itself. If your contact details are included in the submission, they may become publicly available when the submission is released.
If you wish to speak to your submission, please indicate this in the online form. If you would like to make requests to make the submissions process more accessible for you, please contact committee staff; details are on the submissions webpage.
Here is a template you can use or adapt
May/June 2026
Submission on the Disability Support Services Bill
To the Social Services and Community Select Committee,
Tēnā koutou katoa.
My name is __________________________
My organisation is (if applicable) __________________________
I am:
- disabled / tāngata whaikaha / whānau hauā / carer / family member / support worker / community member/ service provider.
I am writing to oppose the Disability Support Services Bill and ask the Select Committee to reject the Bill in its current form.
The Bill does not reflect the views of disabled people, family carers, providers or the disability sector.
It has been largely developed by officials without meaningful involvement from our community. This is not aligned with the principles of good public policy development, where the people most impacted by legislation are usually actively involved in its design and development before it is introduced to Parliament and referred to Select Committee. It also does not uphold the rights of disabled people and families to be involved in the development of public policy and legislation that directly affects their lives.
I do not believe this Bill and its process reflects the principles of partnership, participation, accessibility, and equity that New Zealand has committed to.
As a result of this flawed process, there are a number of areas within the Bill that do not appear to be right or sufficiently developed. These include the strong focus on “natural supports” and family caregiving expectations, the amount of important detail being left to secondary legislation and future policy settings, the lack of clear safeguards and rights protections, uncertainty around eligibility and access to support, insufficient transparency around decision-making processes, and the overall lack of reassurance for disabled people and families about how the system will operate in practice. These issues reinforce concerns that the Bill was developed without enough lived experience, sector expertise, and meaningful involvement from the disability community.
I am also deeply concerned about the extremely short timeframe for submissions. The sector was only given 19 days to respond to a complex and important Bill. Many disabled people and family carers face barriers accessing and understanding information, especially legal or technical documents. Some disabled people need accessible formats, support people, interpreters, advocates, or simply more time to process information and prepare a response. This means many in our community who would have liked to make a submission did not have the time they needed.
This process feels rushed, inaccessible, and unfair. I therefore ask the Select Committee to:
- Reject the Bill in its current form
- Recommend that Disability Support Services redesign and redevelop the legislation properly alongside disabled people, whānau, carers, providers, and representative organisations
- Ensure any future process is genuinely consistent with the principles of good public policy development
- Allow adequate time, accessible information, and proper support so our community can fully participate in decisions that affect our lives
We deserve legislation that is developed with us, not for us.
Make your submission here.
Make a submission in Easy Read
Carers NZ thanks NZDSN and PVI for sharing their information and templates.
For other perspectives and submission templates, here are more links:
