Individualised Funding (IF) gives disabled people more choice in how they are supported.
What is Individualised Funding (IF)?
IF is a type of person-directed funding from Disability Support Services which gives disabled people and their family/whānau more choice in how they are supported to live their lives. It is available throughout New Zealand for eligible people who have been assessed to receive either:
- Home and Community Support Services, which includes help with household management and personal care
- Respite services to help carers take a break. This can include facility based respite, Carer Support and In-home support.
IF increases your choice and control about who provides this support, and how and when you use it. Your options range from engaging support workers to directly work with you and the person in your care, or choosing purchases which support you living a good life.
What you can use IF for
You can use IF to:
- Get help with household management and the personal care of the disabled person by engaging a support worker (these can include family members, contracted people or organisations) and pay costs relating to engaging support workers.
- Take a break through engaging a support worker or other suitable alternatives so that the full-time carer can have time out, and the disabled person can enjoy doing something away from the full-time carer while they take a break.
IF funding cannot be used for illegal activities, gambling or alcohol.
Who can get IF?
IF is something you need to have an assessment for, so contact the Needs Assessment and Service Coordination provider nearest you to talk about this funding.
You can get IF when you:
- Are eligible for Disability Support Services
- have talked to a NASC to see whether IF is suitable for you
- have been allocated a support that you are allowed to manage using IF.
What is hosted flexible funding?
Hosted flexible funding is when a disabled person manages their own disability support funding with guidance from a host – for example, an Individualised Funding Host or a Flexible Disability Support provider.
Hosted flexible funding covers:
- Individualised Funding (IF Personal Care, IF Household Management, IF Respite)
- Enhanced Individualised Funding
- Hosted Enabling Good Lives Personal Budgets.
In Auckland, the option available is Individualised Funding (IF Personal Care, IF Household Management, IF Respite) only.
IF Hosts
If you want to use IF to manage your support allocations, you must do this through an IF Host organisation.
The Role of Individualised Funding (IF) Hosts
IF Hosts are there to support you to make good use of your funds and budget. They are not the gatekeepers of your funding. They will
- Help you understand IF.
- Help you learn how to organise, set up and manage your supports.
- Administer payments for the support services.
- Help you manage your responsibilities – this includes reporting back to them on the support hours you have used,
- Work with you to ensure that your purchases and supports are relevant to your personal situation.
- Support you to revisit your plan as your needs change.
- Provide advice and guidance.
- Check that the service is working well and report back to the Ministry about it.
If you want your IF Host to be responsible for recruiting, training and paying your support workers and possibly managing the legal aspects of your service, your IF Host may do so for an extra fee that they set and you pay.
Please note that you do not need a host to manage your Carer Support Funding.
For more information about hosts and tiers, please check out the DSS website.
