However, a Dunedin parent carer is convinced the Government will appeal the decision to try to avoid paying millions of dollars every year.
Parents caring for their disabled children do not receive payment. In 2010, the Human Rights Review Tribunal ruled a ministry policy to pay carers only if they were not related to the patient was discriminatory.
The ministry went to the High Court, which also ruled parents caring for disabled children were eligible for financial support.
After another appeal by the ministry, the argument reached the Court of Appeal in February.
The ministry appealed the application of the test for a breach of the Bill of Rights which the High Court used to rule in favour of the families. Testing for the breach first asked whether the claimant group had been subjected to differential treatment or effects when compared with a group in a similar situation, and whether the treatment had a discriminatory impact.
The High Court ruled the parents should be compared with people who provided disability support services to the ministry.
It found being excluded from paid work meant parents had been treated differently because of their family status. It also found the treatment had a discriminatory impact because of the denial of paid work.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal agreed and dismissed the ministry's appeal.
Dunedin woman Sandra Jones, who cares for her 37-year-old intellectually disabled daughter, had little doubt the finding would not end the long-running saga.
"They [the Government] will keep fighting it," Mrs Jones said.
She said families needed two full-time incomes to survive. She could only work a few hours a week. Her daughter received an invalid's benefit, but she believed parent carers should be paid about $200 a week.
Carers' Society Otago senior community worker Susan Easterbrook said Dunedin lacked institutional care options, and some parents had no choice but to care for their disabled children at home.
She believed parent carers saved the Government millions of dollars a year, and deserved something in return.
Health Minister Tony Ryall did not rule out an appeal.
"This decision has serious implications way beyond the disability sector, and is being reviewed by the Ministry of Health and Government lawyers."
