The New Zealand disability support workforce: 2015 survey of NZDSN member organisations - summary

This reports brings together information on New Zealand’s disability support workforce, including what the workforce looks like and challenges it faces. The information was gathered in a 2015 survey of NZDSN member organisations. This is a summary of the full report. The full report is available in the resource centre.

This summary:

• provides a brief overview of the characteristics of participating organisations
• discusses key findings in relation to the Disability Support Services: Workforce action plan, 2013–2016 (Ministry of Health, 2013) and the previous NZDSN survey (NZDSN, 2012) with comparisons made to other relevant information
• makes recommendations for future research and workforce development strategies.

One in five New Zealanders have a disability - around 1.1 million people. New Zealand needs a skilled and stable workforce to provide quality services to disabled people and their family and/whānau who choose to access support.