Extra funding for veterans welcomed, but more needs to be done – RSA

The Government has announced more funding for veterans – but both the Veterans Minister and the RSA admit there's more to be done to help those who have served.

In Budget 2024, it was announced an additional $4 million will go towards Veterans' Affairs over the next four years.

Veterans Minister Chris Penk said a "large part" of the money will be used to speed up processing of applications for treatment and rehabilitation.

Earlier this year, the RSA spoke to 1News of their concern about the Veterans Independence Programme (VIP) being suspended for new applicants and those who served after 1974.

According to Veterans' Affairs, the programme was built to provide services and support to veterans who were unable to undertake activities necessary for them to live independently in their own homes.

However, new applications for the programme were set to be suspended for 12 months due to the long wait times.

Under new rules for the programme, veterans had to have their deployment classified as a qualifying operational service, and for some, have a condition linked directly to the deployment.

However, with additional funding, the programme is now set to re-open partially to a "small group of vulnerable veterans", according to a Veterans' Affairs spokesperson.

The group includes those with qualifying service who don’t have service-related illnesses or injuries, but who are aged 80 or over, or have a terminal illness.

"These veterans will be able to apply for the services from 1 July––and the application process will be more straightforward," the spokesperson said.

However, even with the added funding, Penk said there is still a "large task ahead" to "reduce processing times to an acceptable level".

"New Zealand’s veterans have sacrificed a lot for this country, and when they need our support, they deserve the best possible level of service.

"The extra funds that have been made available in this Budget confirms my commitment as Minister, and that of the coalition Government, to those who have served."

Bernadine Mackenzie, head of Veterans' Affairs, welcomed the new funding.

"We’ve been working to improve our systems and processes so we can reduce the time veterans have to wait before their claims are accepted, and we’ve made some good progress.

"However, the increasing number of complex claims coming in to us take longer to process, and a backlog has built up."

"We’ll now have some extra resources to use in this area, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to make some inroads into current waiting times."

A large part of the extra $1m available this year will be used to speed up the processing of veterans' claims.

RNZRSA general manger of support services Andrew Brown told 1News they wrote to Penk and called for the decision to suspend new applications to the programme to be reversed.

"While [the] announcement doesn’t quite do that, we are cautiously optimistic that these additional resources will make a real difference to some of the most vulnerable veterans experiencing unacceptably long wait times.

"The process improvements for new applications for Veterans’ Independence Services are long overdue, but will have a real effect by making it easier for veterans to access those services in a realistic timeframe.

"While we welcome the announcement, there is still a far wider problem that needs to be addressed to improve the inequity of the Veteran Support Act 2014 and the overall resources provided by Government to support our veterans."