COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES

Key points

Introduction

Home support services, such as meals on wheels, cleaning, and personal care services for bathing, dressing and feeding, are defined as core disability support services and are therefore funded through regional health authorities. These services enable older people to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible.

Community support services, include lawn mowing, home maintenance, assistance with shopping, social support, transport, outings and the provision of advice. These services are generally provided by volunteers working for community organisations. The services provide practical support to assist older people to remain active and independent. For this reason, they are just as important as health-related services.

Demand for community support services is steadily increasing. The growing pressure for these services is a result of:

• the growth in New Zealand's older population, and in particular people aged 80 and over;
• older people's expectations that they should be able to live in their own homes for as long as possible;
• recent government health policies which have encouraged and supported older people to live in their own homes, rather than moving into expensive residential care; and
• the geographical spread and mobility of families, which often prevents families from providing informal care to their older members.

Because community support services are not defined as core health or disability support services, there is an expectation by the health sector that these services for older people are the responsibility of the non-government sector. However, many community organisations are reporting that they are finding it increasingly difficult to fund these services and to attract sufficient volunteers to provide them.

Current Sources of Funding

The main funding source for community support services for older people is the Lottery Aged Distribution Committee of the Lottery Grants Board. Other sources of funding available to community organisations are the Community Organisations Grants Scheme (COGS), philanthropic trusts, corporate sponsorship and local fund-raising. Regional health authorities (RHAs) at present only fund core health and disability support services. The New Zealand Community Funding Agency (NZCFA) of the Department of Social Welfare does not have a funding allocation for services for older people, although some of the community services it funds are used by older people.

Lottery Aged funding

The Lottery Aged Distribution Committee makes grants to non-profit organisations for projects which improve the physical, mental and social well-being of older people. Lottery Aged provides salary subsidies as well as funding for travel, administration, equipment and volunteer expenses. Priority for funding is given to projects which provide support for older people to enable them to remain in the community. The Senior Citizens Unit provides information to the Committee on services which meet the needs of older people in the community.

Over the last decade, while the funding available for distribution through the Lottery Grants Committees has increased substantially, the funding allocated to Lottery Aged has decreased since Fiscal 1991/92.

• In 1991/92, 22.55% ($5.75 million) of the total funding for Lottery Grants Committees was allocated to Lottery Aged.
• In 1994/95, 3.05% ($3.8 million) of the total funding available to Lottery Grants Committees was allocated to Lottery Aged.
• In 1996/97, 2.67% ($3.7 million) of the total funding available to Lottery Grants Committees was allocated to Lottery Aged.

There are two issues of concern. Firstly, while there is a major growth in the older population, the level of funding available through the Lottery Aged Distribution Committee has decreased. Secondly, because there is no government agency responsible for funding community support services to maintain older people in their own homes, the Lottery Aged Distribution Committee is being called on to fill this role.

Due to the uncertainty of its annual budget, the Lottery Aged Distribution Committee only provides funding on an ad hoc grants basis. This has created difficulties for community organisations, particularly at a time when demand for community support services is growing. Lottery Aged cannot adequately fund community support services at the present time and, in attempting to meet the demands, it is disadvantaging older people's organisations seeking funds for other purposes. The nature of its funding base and the breadth of its funding mandate means it is inappropriate for the Lottery Aged Distribution Committee to be the major source of funding for community support services.

Community Organisation Grants Scheme (COGS)

COGS is funded through Vote:Internal Affairs and its aim is to "help community organisations provide essential social services to disadvantaged people within their local community". Older adults are listed among the people that COGS would particularly like to help. COGS does not give ongoing project or service funding, but rather provides a small amount of funding to community groups on a one-off basis. Applications to COGS far exceed the funds which local COGS committees have available to allocate. According to comments received during Senior Citizens Unit consultations with older people, COGS is the preferred source of funding for groups providing services for older Maori because they say their applications are more likely to be successful.

Philanthropic trusts

In the past, philanthropic trusts provided significant funding to community organisations. However, voluntary organisations state that it is much more difficult to obtain funding from this source due to increased competition for funds. As a result, community organisations are receiving less funding from this source. There are also major geographical variations in the availability of trust funding. Because of pressure on available funds, trusts tend to favour one-off or short-term projects.

Sponsorship from corporate bodies

Over recent years, an increasing number of community organisations have approached corporate bodies for sponsorship of specific projects. Funding from this source tends to be for high profile activities or for resource material, rather than for the provision of community services.

Other Issues Raised by Community Organisations

Uncertainty of funding

In addition to the increasing difficulties faced by community organisations in obtaining funding to provide services, uncertainty over ongoing funding makes it difficult for organisations to plan services. The Lottery Aged Distribution Committee does not guarantee ongoing funding for projects. However, it is currently looking at options which would provide greater security of funding for established community organisations.

Attracting volunteers

Community organisations rely on the goodwill and labour of their volunteers and are facing increasing difficulties in attracting and retaining volunteers. This trend is partly the result of the following changes in family roles:

• women with young families, who traditionally provided a pool of volunteer labour, are now tending to return to the paid workforce;
• women are remaining longer in the paid workforce; and
• older family members, another traditional source of volunteer labour, are increasingly providing support such as caring for grandchildren, to enable their adult children to undertake paid employment.

Recognition and reimbursement of volunteers

At consultations held by the Senior Citizens Unit, volunteers often commented that they felt their services were being taken for granted and that increasingly more was expected from them. While most volunteers do not wish to receive payment for their work, there is general agreement that volunteers should not be out of pocket as a result of that work. The Senior Citizens Unit has found that many people are not aware that organisations can apply to Lottery Aged for funds to reimburse volunteers' expenses, such as transport, parking and phone calls. Lottery Aged has now included reference to this provision in its publicity material.

Lack of funding for purchase of vehicles

Prior to 1993, Lottery Aged provided funding for community groups to purchase vehicles, although this was given a lower priority than funding other projects. In 1993, the policy was changed and funding is no longer available for vehicle grants. Concern about this policy change has been raised with the Senior Citizens Unit by a number of Maori and Pacific Islands groups. Lack of transport is a barrier to older Maori and Pacific Islands people taking part in cultural activities or accessing support services such as day care which provide essential social contact for them. This issue has been discussed at Ministerial level but no changes have been made to the policy. As the issue is of ongoing concern for these groups in particular, the Unit will continue to pursue a change in this policy.

Future Directions

The demand for community support services for older people is increasing. Factors contributing to this demand are:
• New Zealand's ageing population, especially the projected increase in those aged 80 and over;
• the expectation that older people will live in their own homes most of their lifetime; and
• the reduced ability of family, particularly women, to provide support for older members due to changing employment patterns and increased geographical spread and mobility of families.

Community support services are mostly provided by non-government organisations which are facing increasing difficulties obtaining funding and attracting volunteers.

Funding for community support services for older people is inadequate, currently provided on an ad hoc basis through the Lottery Aged Distribution Committee. Lottery Aged has a significant role in funding older people's organisations, but the funding of essential community support services is not its responsibility.

Although government policies encourage older people to remain in their own homes, there is no government agency responsible for funding non-health related services to support this policy. Regional health authorities are responsible for funding core health and disability services, but these do not include community support services. However, community support services are just as important as health-related services in maintaining older people in their own homes.

The New Zealand Community Funding Agency (NZCFA) was established to manage Vote:Social Welfare's funding responsibilities to non-government organisations which provide services to meet Government's policy objectives. At the time of its establishment, NZCFA was not funded for services for older people as responsibility for these had been transferred to the Ministry of Health as part of the health reforms.

A specific funding programme for community support services, distinct from health-related services, should be established by the New Zealand Community Funding Agency to meet the increased demand for these services, to reinforce government policy direction, and to provide for greater sustainability of service provision by non-government organisations. Additional money would be required from Government to establish a new funding programme for this purpose.

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