This briefing investigates ethnic inequality in two forms of support for disabled children and young people in New Zealand. The two supports are the Ministry of Health’s Disability Support Services and the Ministry of Education’s Ongoing Resourcing Scheme. We compared children and young people aged 6 to 18 using those supports with each other and to all children and young people aged 6 to 18 using Statistics New Zealand’s estimated resident population in the Integrated Data Infrastructure.

We found evidence of unequal access to Disability Support Services compared to the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme. Compared with the latter, children and young people accessing Disability Support Services were more likely to be New Zealand European and less likely to be Māori, Pasifika, Asian, and Middle Eastern/Latin American/African.

Three quarters (75%) of children and young people accessing Disability Support Services were New Zealand Europeans, higher than the estimated resident population percentage of 67%. By comparison, only 66% of children and young people accessing the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme were New Zealand Europeans.