These regulations, which come into force on 1 July 2026, amend Schedule 2 of the Residential Care and Disability Support Services Act 2018 (the Act) in accordance with section 75 of the Act, which makes it mandatory for certain figures in that schedule to be increased on 1 July each year to reflect increases in the relevant New Zealand Consumers Price Index for the previous year.

The amendments—

• adjust the applicable asset thresholds specified in Part 1 of Schedule 2, which are applied as part of the financial means assessment of a person’s assets to determine whether the person is financially eligible for a residential care subsidy, by—

  • increasing applicable Threshold A from $291,825 to $300,811 (clause 1(2) of Schedule 2):

  • increasing applicable Threshold B from $159,810 to $164,731 (clause 1(3) of Schedule 2):

• adjust the definition of income-from-assets exemption in clause 5 of Part 3 of Schedule 2, which relates to the amount of income derived from assets that is considered exempt from a person’s financial means assessment when determining the contribution the person is required to make towards the cost of their residential care, by increasing the exempt income—

  • from $1,267 to $1,306 if the person is single:

  • from $2,534 to $2,612 if the person’s spouse or partner is a resident assessed as requiring care:

  • from $3,801 to $3,918 if the person’s spouse or partner is not a resident assessed as requiring care.

The adjustments reflect the percentage upward movement in the index number of the New Zealand Consumers Price Index (All Groups) for the year ending on 31 March 2026 (approximately 3.08 %).

In accordance with section 75(4) of the Act,—

• the adjusted amounts have been rounded up to the nearest whole number of dollars:

• the adjusted amounts are based on the previous adjusted amounts before they were rounded up for the purposes of the Residential Care and Disability Support Services (Annual Adjustment of Applicable Asset Thresholds and Income-from-assets Exemption) Regulations 2025.

The adjusted amounts apply for the year beginning on 1 July 2026 and ending on 30 June 2027. On 1 July 2027, the amounts must be increased again to reflect the upward movement (if any) in the relevant index numbers for the year ending on 31 March 2027.