"The Disability Allowance Is Broken – And It's Hurting The People Who Need It Most" (Part 4)
The Disability Allowance was designed to help some of the most vulnerable people in Aotearoa – those living with ongoing physical or mental health conditions that incur regular costs. But ask anyone who has tried to access it recently, and you'll hear the same story: it's broken.
Every week, we speak to state care survivors, disabled people, and mental health service users who are trying to navigate this system. They're not asking for luxuries – they're asking for help with GP visits, counselling, transport, medication, gluten free products, or extra heating. Basic costs for daily survival, healing and wellbeing. Yet they are being met with suspicion, delays, inconsistent rules, and outright denials.
It's Not the Criteria – It's the System
The criteria for the Disability Allowance are already narrow: you must have a disability likely to last at least six months, and it must incur extra costs. But even when someone clearly meets these requirements, barriers are built into every stage.
GPs are asked to fill out complex forms, sometimes requiring detailed medical notes, verification and financial estimates for every item. For trauma survivors, this means reliving their experience over and over again. Some one receiving gluten free products, or unsubsidized medication or even simply gym visits, must provide copious amounts of evidence, stretching an already over-whelmed health system.
MSD staff apply inconsistent interpretations, with some clients being approved for support and others being told 'you don't qualify' – for the same medication, the same cost, depending on who they get.
Reviews are demanded regularly, with little warning. Clients are forced to re-prove their disability as if it might have magically disappeared.
We know of survivors whose claims were rejected because their trauma-related costs were not deemed 'essential,' despite being recommended by medical professionals. Our survivors know their healing, yet with the small amount extra a week, they have to provide so much, it isn't worth the hassle.. People with PTSD and chronic health issues produced by their abuse in state care have been told that they are not eligible for Disability Allowance, because they must first spend the money, they must first produce all the receipts, they must first get a specialist letter. And all of this happens while they are simply trying to survive. Why should someone go without food? Just to buy medication? That shows you how backwards the policy is.
A Patchwork of Postcode Policies
Perhaps the most insulting feature of the Disability Allowance system is how postcode-dependent it is. What's approved in Christchurch may be rejected in Porirua. What one case manager calls 'reasonable' may be dismissed as 'not covered' by another.
This is not just unfair – it's unlawful. The Ministry of Social Development is a public agency. It is bound by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Human Rights Act, and the principle of equity. Yet it is administering a benefit that delivers different results depending on where you live, who you talk to, and how much you know how to fight.
For State Care Survivors, It's Another Betrayal
Many of the people we support are survivors of state abuse. They were harmed by the very institutions that were meant to protect them. The state failed them once – and it is failing them again.
Being denied the Disability Allowance isn't just a bureaucratic inconvenience. For these survivors, it means going without counselling. It means deciding between heating and medication. It means staying isolated because they can't afford to travel to healing spaces. Every rejected form is a reminder that their wellbeing is still seen as a cost to be minimized, not a right to be protected.
If the government is so risk adverse why don't the put the costs on the green card? That way they ensure that the person's health costs are going to the place, directly to the provider.
What Needs to Change
We're calling on the Government to overhaul the Disability Allowance system with urgency. This includes:
Trauma-informed training for MSD staff;
Standardised national guidance to end postcode-based decisions;
Streamlined application processes, especially for those already in the healthcare or redress systems;
Guaranteed access to interpreters and alternative therapies for those with specialist needs;
And most of all, a shift in mindset – from gatekeeping to support.
People shouldn't have to fight for the basics. They shouldn't have to beg, prove, or relive trauma just to get the help they are entitled to. The Disability Allowance was meant to uphold dignity. Right now, it is doing the opposite.
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