Government settles historic IHC claim, boosts support for disabled students

Ms Stanford said the settlement marks a turning point for families who have waited too long for meaningful change.

The Government has reached a settlement on a long-running Human Rights Review Tribunal claim brought by IHC in 2012, which alleged that education policies at the time breached the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and resulted in systemic disadvantage for disabled students in mainstream schools.

Education Minister Erica Stanford welcomed the settlement, describing it as an important step toward addressing long-standing inequities in the education system and strengthening learning support for students with additional needs.

“I’d like to thank IHC and the Ministry of Education for their work in reaching a settlement,” Ms Stanford said. “Our Government is committed to stronger learning support for students with additional needs so the right support gets to the child at the right time, and we have a proven track record of delivering that.”

As part of the settlement, the Government has committed to a comprehensive Framework for Action designed to better respond to the needs of disabled and neurodiverse learners. A stakeholder group will also be established to support and oversee the implementation of the framework, ensuring ongoing engagement with the disability and education sectors.

The Framework for Action sets out a series of system-wide improvements, including stronger data collection and reporting to better understand student needs, improved access to specialist support services, and better coordination across education agencies to reduce fragmentation in support delivery. It also includes steps to ensure the curriculum is inclusive of all learners, improvements to accessibility in school infrastructure, and investigations into alternative funding structures.

Importantly, the framework also commits the Government to examining how education policies and funding decisions may contribute to ableism, shifting the focus away from perceived limitations of disabled students and toward their strengths and capabilities.

Ms Stanford said the Government has already begun implementing many of the framework’s commitments. In Budget 2025, the Government announced a $750 million investment in learning support, described as the most significant increase in a generation, directly targeting the inequities highlighted in the IHC claim.

This funding will deliver more than two million additional teacher aide hours per year from 2028, provide Learning Support Co-ordinators in all schools with Year 1–8 students, and expand early intervention services from early learning through to the end of Year 1. It also includes a major overhaul of the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS), moving to a guaranteed funding model so all students with high and complex needs who are verified for ORS receive the support they require.

Further reforms are already underway, including the expansion of the New Zealand Curriculum to better support students with high and complex needs from Term 1 next year. For the first time, special schools have also been included in national property network planning, helping ensure facilities are fit for purpose and accessible.

Ms Stanford said the settlement marks a turning point for families who have waited too long for meaningful change.

“For too long, children have waited to receive support, or missed out altogether, on the help they need to reach their potential,” she said. “We are addressing this by investing in smart, system-wide reform that significantly increases specialist and support staff resources in our schools and builds a more inclusive education system for all learners.”