Budget Day Wrap-up: Once again, disabled people miss out

Phoebe Eden-Mann, National Policy Analyst, CCS Disability Action

So that’s Budget Day for 2024 done and dusted. Now that the dust has mostly settled we can see what the year ahead holds for disability funding. In short, not a whole lot. Most of the increases in funding are funding boosts to address rising costs, our increasing disability population, and the historic underfunding in the sector.

This is all important but, for everyday disabled people, the increases won’t make much of a difference in their daily lives. There are also some big disappointments like scrapping free prescriptions and abandoning the work on the Wage Supplement that was to replace the Minimum Wage Exemption Scheme. 

We’ve seen increases in both Disability and Child Disability Allowance funding, but those increases are NOT increases in the Disability Allowances rates, so the amount that disabled people receive will not increase. This is incredibly disappointing because we know from international data that raising disability allowances, especially Child Disability Allowances makes a meaningful difference in the lives of disabled people. The Disability Allowances haven’t had meaningful increases in years, and it’s beyond time for the Government to increase them.

There’s a similar story for the Supported Living Payment, and Jobseekers (including JS with medical exemption). There have been increases in overall funding, but that doesn’t translate to increases in the amount that disabled people receive. Unfortunately, this is a trend we’re seeing throughout Budget 2024 increases to funding, but no increases in reality for those who need them most.

It was announced that there would be a $1.1B investment over five years in Disability Support Funding, which we’re pleased to see. That investment will go some way towards addressing historic underfunding, and working to ensure that Disability Support Funding is adequately funded and sustainable long term. 

We do have some concerns about the funding, namely that it’s currently in limbo pending the findings of the independent review into disability support services that was announced as a result of the changes to Purchasing Rules in March. Though this investment is certainly welcomed, we do have some reservations about the independent review overall, and are concerned that presently that investment is in funding limbo land. But it’s still a good thing, and we can only hope that the review is timely and well informed by disabled people. It is after all a system for disabled people, so at a minimum it needs to be fit for purpose. 

Moving on to education, it gets a bit muddy, with what seems to be a lot of funding reappropriated. Specifically, the Special Needs Intervention funding has seen a whopping $41.2M cut BUT I believe that this funding cut can be largely explained by staff redundancies, one-off funding initiatives not being renewed, and funding being directed to Learning Support and Alternative Education. Learning Support saw a $43.8M boost, which is why I believe that the Special Needs Intervention funding has been redirected (I’ve reached out to MoE for clarification on this and will update this blog if I receive a reply). 

Now, to the biggest disappointment of them all. The Minimum Wage Exemption Scheme (MWES). MWES is a scheme that allows employers to employ disabled people at a significantly decreased rate, usually much lower than the minimum wage. In 2021 the average hourly rate for disabled people employed via the MWES was $5.02 (from an OIA submitted by CCS Disability Action). It was announced in the last Budget that the MWES would be abolished, and replaced by a Wage Supplement. For the year 2023/24, the Government estimates it spent $608,000 on the Wage Supplement to replace the MWES.

On Budget Day, it appeared that the Wage Supplement was continuing because it had been costed out until 2028, leading me to report that the Wage Supplement was fully funded and the work would continue. However, upon further investigation it became apparent that the Wage Supplement has been scrapped, and the MWES will continue. This is an incredibly disappointing decision from the Government, and we are firmly opposed to the Minimum Wage Exemption Scheme. It is fundamentally exploitative of disabled people, and the Wage Supplement was a step towards addressing that issue. By scrapping the Wage Supplement, that exploitation will only continue, and we urge the Government to rethink this decision. You can read more on our views on this, in this artice from 2023.

So, that’s a wrap on Budget 2024, overall not a great budget for disabled people. There’s been some positive steps towards addressing systemic underfunding, but no real investment in directly improving the lives of disabled people by increasing the Disability Allowances or Supported Living Payment. There have also been some big let downs like stopping free prescriptions for most people, and scrapping the Wage Supplement to replace the MWES. 

The Government could’ve done a lot more to improve the lives of disabled people and it is challenging to see the visionary and transformative goals that disabled people and their families have been calling for, for so many years, brought to life, based on this budget.

CCS Disability Action, disabled people and families need to keep advocating hard together to make sure disabled people’s needs are taken seriously and our voices are heard.