Budget 2024: Additional capacity and Discretionary VIP Services
Budget 2024: Additional capacity and Discretionary VIP Services
This year’s Budget includes some additional funding for Veterans’ Affairs — an extra $4 million over four years. A large part of the extra $1 million available this year will be used to help speed up the processing of veterans’ claims.
Head of Veterans’ Affairs, Bernadine Mackenzie, welcomes 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.”
The additional funding will also enable us to offer a programme of discretionary VIP services to a small group of vulnerable veterans with qualifying service who don’t have service-related illnesses or injuries, but who are aged 80 or over, or have a terminal illness.
We will advise when this new programme becomes available. Veterans will then be able to apply for the services.
The new application process will be straightforward.
“As part of our drive to make systems easier for our veteran clients to use, those who apply for VIP services will just have to take an application form to a registered health practitioner — their GP, a district nurse, someone like that — and if that health practitioner believes that they have a need and would benefit from these services, then we’ll be able to put them in place quickly.”
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