The Child Disability Allowance (CDA) is a non-income tested payment, paid to the carer of a child under 18 years with a serious disability or health condition in recognition of the extra care and attention required for that child. Research has shown that there is a relationship between disability including chronic health conditions, and poverty and that children with a disability are more likely to live in low-income households. A 2015 study by Child Poverty Action Group, It shouldn’t be this hard: children, poverty and disability, also highlighted that the CDA is under-paid and difficult to access for families in need.

This preliminary study set out to examine rates of disability and levels of access to the CDA in Otara – which is a low socioeconomic suburb. Considering the relationship between disability and low-income households, it was expected that Otara would have a higher proportion of children with a serious disability or chronic health condition. The objectives of the study were to establish current levels of access to the CDA, identify any barriers to receiving this allowance and assist families with children with a disability or chronic health condition not receiving the allowance to gain their entitlements through Work and Income, a section of the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). This was achieved through gathering both qualitative and quantitative data through door-to-door surveys within the Ferguson area of Otara. However the low response rate achieved, and lower than expected disability rate revealed means that this can be regarded as an exploratory study only.

A total of 112 children with disabilities or chronic health condition were identified from 1084/2215 households who answered door knocking (49% response rate). Of the 1084 households, 108 (10%) had at least one child with a disability or chronic health condition, and they had a structured interview. Of these, the majority reported a child with a serious chronic health condition (48.1% of respondents had a child with severe eczema and 20.4% with chronic asthma), and a minority reported a serious disability. Most of these families reported that they were struggling in terms of supporting their child and managing these conditions. Only 7.6% of the 108 families were receiving the CDA. The majority of them had not previously applied for the CDA, with 82% of the respondents reporting that they were not aware of the allowance or that they could receive any assistance from Work and Income. There were also some respondents who had previously applied for the CDA but had been declined. These families’ experiences showed that there were barriers which make the CDA difficult to access particularly in regard to the Work and Income application procedure. This included difficulties in understanding the application procedure itself, unpleasant interactions with Work and Income staff and difficulties in getting supporting documents for their application. Due to these barriers respondents were reluctant to re-apply for the CDA as many believed the effort was not worth the CDA payment. 

In light of these exploratory findings, recommendations made to improve accessibility to the CDA included:

• Increase promotion of the CDA to families and doctors, especially the eligibility criteria - by Ministry of Social Development and Ministry of Health.
• Simplify the application procedure for CDA.
• Better funding for culturally appropriate advocacy services by MoH and DHBs