Experts working with disabled pre-schoolers say the Ministry of Education is underfunding them, while paying their own staff to do similar roles far more
Independent early intervention services risk losing staff as they struggle to pay their workers the same as the government can.
Providers, including organisations such as CCS Disability Action, are contracted by the Ministry of Education to provide early intervention support services such as speech and language therapy or teacher aide support to children six and under. READ MORE: * Disability providers decry ‘miserly’ funding lift * Clock ticks for care and support pay equity deal
However, the independent providers, which generally take on children with the highest needs, are paid less to do this by the ministry than what it pays its own staff.
There has been no increase to funding for the specialist contract for 10 years.
In 2021 the rate decreased by about 30 percent per place. However, since 2021 Ministry of Education-employed specialists under the NZEI collective have had salaries increased by 12 percent.
The salary gap can be up to $17,000 for the same job.
There are 12 independent organisations across the country supporting about 700 high needs children.
Choice for whānau
All one Auckland man wants is for his three-year-old daughter to be given the best possible chance of a good life.
“We want our child to be the best she can be, hopefully she can contribute to society. We want her to pay taxes instead of potentially being a burden. Just because she’s got Down Syndrome, that shouldn’t matter and so we want her to have the support and the help from early on."
He asked not to be named, saying he was fearful his criticism of the service his family got from the Ministry of Education might put a black mark against his name if he tried to access help from them down the track.
“We went down the MoE route and to be honest our impression of them was that they thought we didn’t need them and they just wanted to take us off the system.”
“We had two meetings … I left one in tears and then at the next meeting a similar thing happened; are you happy for us to close her case? I didn’t want to say yes, because then we’re on our own.”
‘We do the work and more complex mahi, but it can't be remunerated and rewarded’ - Bettina Syme
He had no idea there were other options.
“I said to my partner can you put something on Facebook … if we’re facing this there must be others, and I just felt so alone.
“The whole thread blew up and we learned about CCS.”
The family have been with CCS Disability Action for just over two months now.
“To say it’s been a breath of fresh air would be an understatement. They gave us hope in the system again.”
His daughter attends a local kindergarten. CCS Disability Action is applying for support worker funding so she has someone with her for part of the day.
They’re also applying to respite centres, to try to give the man and his partner a break every once in a while.
CCS Disability Action has also given the family practical advice.
“Now we’re doing everything we can to have her ready for a mainstream school. MoE told us she wouldn’t go to a mainstream school but CCS told us what we could do to increase our chances; get her toilet trained, speech and language therapy, we’ve had her come into the school and play on the playground so the school gets to know her.
“Everything they’ve said has been spot on.”
He said he did not mean to bag the ministry, but for his family, the support that suited them best came from CCS Disability Action.
In addition to insufficient funding for specialists, Independent Providers are funded to provide just 3 hours of teacher aide support per child per week. The children they support often require full support to attend their local early childhood centre and the level of funding provided falls way short of this
CCS Disability Action Early Supports team leader Liz Stenning said it was about choice.
“It creates this real systemic barrier for disabled children and is discriminatory because they and their families don’t have the same choices as non-disabled children.
“We’re talking at least $5,000, but often $10,000 or even a $20,000 gap per specialist for their salaries … so how do we provide a service and attract and retain staff?”
Staff retention challenges
CCS Disability Action Northern Region general manager Bettina Syme said there was already a shortage of qualified staff so attracting and retaining them was harder than ever.
She said independent providers were more likely to take on children with higher needs as well.
“We do the more complex [support] and we specialise in children who need that, more so than the Ministry of Education does. That's what we excel at, but we can't compete with it.
“We do the work and more complex mahi, but it can't be remunerated and rewarded.”
Stenning said it was simply goodwill that was keeping staff on at this point.
“We have been really lucky to have quite a stable team because the team have that goodwill, they have the heart … but goodwill doesn't pay the mortgage.
“So that's our very real fear at the moment, and the risk that we take if we do not challenge the ministry now, and do it seriously, is that our staff will go.”
In a letter to CCS Disability Action replying to its concerns about the funding disparity, the Ministry of Education said it had asked for extra funding in Budget 2023 for this purpose, but it had been declined.
"When requesting additional funding for contracts such as [specialists], we are required to follow the Government’s budget process. The ministry submitted a budget bid for additional funding for learning support initiatives for the 2023/24 financial year. This bid was unsuccessful; however, I want to assure you we will seek to make another request for the 2024/25 financial year."
After Newsroom made enquiries, Ministry of Education Operations and Integration Hautū Sean Teddy said the ministry was looking at what it could do to address the gap.
“There are plans to meet with representatives from CCS Disability Action to discuss the issues and determine what is required.
“The Ministry of Education is committed to ensuring young New Zealanders have access to high-quality early learning that supports their development and wellbeing. We appreciate the work teachers and services do every day to deliver meaningful learning to our youngest children.”
