Supported Living Payment review: our submission to Parliament

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CCS Disability Action has made a Supported Living Payment review submission to Parliament. We are backing a petition that would end yearly reviews for people with lifelong disabilities. The current system is harmful and costly. It asks disabled people to keep proving what is already medically confirmed.

Byron Donaldson is the petitioner. He gathered 3,581 signatures and lodged his petition with Parliament in November 2023. The petition was handed to the Clerk of the House by Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March and accepted by Parliament earlier this year. We were invited to submit alongside Byron and the New Zealand Disability Support Network. Our National Policy Analyst, Phoebe Eden-Mann, lodged our submission on 22 May 2026. She will present to the select committee in the coming weeks.

"The current review system is unnecessary, inefficient and harmful," Byron Donaldson says in his petition statement. "Forcing people to repeatedly 'prove' conditions that will never change is demeaning and inconsistent with a respectful rights-based approach."

What is the Supported Living Payment?

The Supported Living Payment is a benefit for people who cannot work long-term. It is for people whose health condition, disability, or impairment makes work impossible for at least two years, or forever. The bar to qualify is high. If you get it, there is a clear medical reason why.

Even so, recipients must renew their medical certificate and complete a Confirmation of Circumstances review at least every 52 weeks (Work and Income). For people whose disability will not change, this is a yearly hurdle with real consequences.

Why these reviews cause harm

Disabled people are 2.3 times more likely than non-disabled people to be unable to afford a GP visit. One in five disabled adults cannot afford to see a GP when they need to. The rate for non-disabled adults is 12.7 % (Ministry of Health, 2020/21).

If a disabled person cannot afford that GP visit, they can lose their payment. That is unfair. People should not have to choose between food and a doctor's visit that only exists to confirm what is already known.

The pressure does not sit only with disabled people. New Zealand has a national shortage of GPs. Waits for routine visits are long, and many practices have closed their books to new patients (General Practice NZ, 2025). GPs should be treating people with current health needs. They should not be filling out paperwork to reconfirm a permanent disability. The same logic applies inside MSD, where staff time goes into reviewing cases with a known outcome.

Severe and permanent disabilities are just that – severe and permanent. Down Syndrome does not go away. A limb does not grow back. Autism is not resolved by a 52-week review.

What happens if you miss a step

The risk is not only about the review itself. People on a benefit have to meet ongoing obligations, such as attending appointments, returning calls, and renewing their medical certificate on time. Missing any of these is recorded as an obligation failure. A first failure can mean a warning or a paused payment. A second can mean a 50% cut. A third can mean the payment is cancelled.

The Government has recently doubled the time these failures stay on a person's record, from 12 months to 24 months. That means one missed letter or phone call can be held against someone for two years.

This is a real risk for disabled people. Citizens Advice Bureau, quoted in our submission, says it regularly helps "people who have benefits cut or cancelled through error or mishandling of their case or because they happened to miss a phone call or appointment" (Child Poverty Action Group, 2025). The more times a person has to engage with a system that is not built for them, the greater the chance of a slip with serious consequences.

What we are asking the Government to do

Our submission makes four recommendations:

• End yearly reviews for Supported Living Payment recipients with a medically confirmed permanent disability or condition.

• Shorten the time that a missed appointment or other obligation failure counts against a person, from 24 months back to 12 months. A missed call or letter should not follow someone for two years.

• ‍Work with the disability community and medical professionals to agree a list of permanent conditions. Recipients with those conditions would be exempt from repeated reviews.

• Consult the disability community to make the welfare system more accessible and user-centred.

"Disabled people with permanent disabilities should not have to keep proving they exist to get support," says Phoebe Eden-Mann, National Policy Analyst at CCS Disability Action. "Reassessment causes stress and a loss of dignity. It also wastes resources in both the medical and welfare systems."

A separate proposal worth watching

Alongside the petition, ACT has set out a welfare policy that would expand the role of Work and Income's "designated doctors" – medical and nurse practitioners contracted by MSD to provide second opinions on a person's capacity to work (ACT, 2023). Under the policy, these doctors would have a stronger role in deciding whether a person's condition is permanent and whether they can work.

ACT's policy is framed around helping people back into work. But the same mechanism applies to disabled people with lifelong conditions. It would mean a higher bar to have a disability accepted as permanent, and a greater role for an MSD-contracted doctor in that decision.

We are concerned about this for two reasons.

First, disabled people and their whānau would be sent to a doctor who does not know their history. Second, designated doctors are contracted and paid by MSD. If their work is tied to MSD's goals, they cannot act as a neutral medical voice. The independence of the assessment is at risk.

This proposal is separate from Byron Donaldson's petition. But it points the same way: more hurdles between disabled people and the support they are entitled to. We will keep pushing for a welfare system that is accessible, fair, and built with the disability community.

What this means for you

If you receive the Supported Living Payment, you are not alone in finding the review process stressful and demeaning. CCS Disability Action is using our policy voice to push for change. We will keep our community updated as the select committee process unfolds.

You can read the full submission here.

You can read more about how we advocate for system change on our strategic priorities page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Supported Living Payment?

The Supported Living Payment is a Work and Income benefit for people who cannot work long-term. It is for people whose health condition, disability, or impairment will stop them working for at least two years, or forever.

How often are Supported Living Payment recipients reviewed?

At least every 52 weeks. Recipients must complete a Confirmation of Circumstances review. In most cases, they also renew their medical certificate with a GP or other medical professional.

Why is CCS Disability Action opposed to these reviews?

Because they ask disabled people with medically confirmed permanent disabilities to keep proving their disability. The reviews cause stress, cost money many disabled people do not have, and waste medical and government resources.

What is Byron Donaldson's petition asking for?

Byron Donaldson is petitioning the Government to remove Supported Living Payment reviews for people with lifelong disabilities. He gathered 3,581 signatures before lodging the petition with Parliament in November 2023. CCS Disability Action supports the petition and was invited to submit to the select committee.

When will the select committee hear the submission?

We will present to the select committee on 23 July 2026. We will share an update once we have a confirmed time.

About CCS Disability Action

CCS Disability Action is the largest pan-disability support and advocacy organisation in Aotearoa New Zealand.

We support people with all types of impairments and have been working alongside disabled people since 1935.

We are at the forefront of service provision, advocacy and information sharing in the disability sector. We partner with disabled people, their families and whānau to enable them to have choice and control in their lives. Our vision is to see every disabled person and whānau hauā interwoven into the lives of their whānau and community.