A "return to greater normality" in care of Covid-19 cases in the community will see the government spend $58.1 million to cover services through to June next year.
Carmel Sepuloni. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Announcing the extension to funding for Care in the Community welfare support this morning, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said New Zealand was pivoting to support a broader range of circumstances for people significantly impacted by Covid-19 requirements.
The funding, which comes out of the Covid-19 Relief Fund, will include:
- $30.6m for Community Connectors
- $18.5m for community food organisations and MSD's Food Secure Communities programme
- $5m to support the wellbeing of disabled people
- $2m to support the community provider capability
- $2m for Personal Protective Equipment for at risk communities and providers delivering services for Care in the Community
It would mean looking at the role of the Community Connection Service, which supports the needs of people who are self-isolating, and a plan for continuing to fund community food provision.
Current Care in the Community welfare support would remain in place until the legislative requirement to self-isolate was lifted.
"At the height of the Omicron outbreak in mid-March 2022, weekly ... requests for care in community support were around 25,000. Now as Covid-19 cases continue to decline around the country, MSD is getting around 3400 weekly requests," Sepuloni said.
"The majority of requests for welfare support have consistently been for food while households self-isolate ... other needs have also included things like medical prescriptions, financial support for paying the power bills and other utilities, caregiving support and of course emergency housing."
She said there was lower demand on what the community connectors had originally been set up to do, which was to support people to self-isolate safely.
The funding levels would remain about the same, she said, but would be targeted more specifically at a local level through the community connectors.
"Basically the funding that we've committed to today will take us through to June 2023 and sustains that resource for those organisations.
"So it's not necessarily about the demand for what it was set up for before. It's about what is needed now by those communities and tha'ts what we need to respond to."
It could be used for a wider range of things, including for instance helping more tamariki return to school in Auckland.
The $5m to support disabled people would be ring-fenced, and would be administered by the Ministry of Social Development in consultation with disabled communities.
It comes after an urgent inquiry by the Human Rights Commission found the government response to Covid-19 caused considerable stress and confusion for disabled people and put their wellbeing at risk.
Disability Commissioner Paula Tesoriero said the easing of restrictions and abandonment of the elimination strategy in the face of Omicron had made it apparent that the needs of disabled people needed to be responded to differently than before.
"I welcome the announcement, it's as new to me as it is everyone else today so I'll want the time to work thorugh the specific detail but I'm really pleased to be here and obviously support the investment in responding to the needs of disabled people, and I look forward to working with the community to provide influence on what that might be used for."
She said disabled people felt they had not been listened to throughout the pandemic response, and many had talked to her about not feeling safe going out and having to be isolated.
"We don't want that for our long-term social cohesion, that's not good for anyone. So I encourage everyone to keep up with good public health measures."
Sepuloni said disabled people had been prioritised from the beginning of the government's response in pursuing elimination, but acknowledged some things could have been done better.
"I think that's very fair to say. And you know, the funds that we put in place at different points have certainly got to disabled peple but this is a ring-fenced fund and I think that it's very much needed."
"The Ministry of Social Development will work directly with the disability community to determine the best options for specific support for disabled people in line with the 'nothing without us' approach - so not predetermining what might be needed by disabled people but looking to work with them to decide how that funding can be best used."
Sepuloni said the changes were part of the government's transition beyond the Omicron peak.
"Where we are at now is very different to where we were two years ago. We now have higher rates of vaccinations, greater data, and more tools in the tool box to help us slow the spread of Omicron," she said.
"As we undertake our post-peak plan and transition to a greater normality, our response will continue to place people at the heart of it and ensure we're leaving no-one behind."
National's Covid-19 Response Spokesperson Chris Bishop said the funding made sense.
"There's clearly going to be an ongoing role to play in terms of government funding for Care in the Community, we don't object to any of that funding, it's clearly going to be important and you know it's important that we maintain a little bit of discretion around how things evolve.
"We don't know where we're going to be in a year's time when it comes to new variants and things like that ... it's going to be really important as we get through the next few months."