diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_nodegroup.go b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_nodegroup.go
index 63f8299570f..87e7803571f 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_nodegroup.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_nodegroup.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package clusterapi
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
@@ -52,7 +53,14 @@ func (ng *nodegroup) MaxSize() int {
 // (new nodes finish startup and registration or removed nodes are
 // deleted completely). Implementation required.
 func (ng *nodegroup) TargetSize() (int, error) {
-	return ng.scalableResource.Replicas()
+	replicas, found, err := unstructured.NestedInt64(ng.scalableResource.unstructured.Object, "spec", "replicas")
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, errors.Wrap(err, "error getting replica count")
+	}
+	if !found {
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("unable to find replicas")
+	}
+	return int(replicas), nil
 }
 
 // IncreaseSize increases the size of the node group. To delete a node
@@ -163,7 +171,7 @@ func (ng *nodegroup) DecreaseTargetSize(delta int) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("size decrease must be negative")
 	}
 
-	size, err := ng.TargetSize()
+	size, err := ng.scalableResource.Replicas()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_nodegroup_test.go b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_nodegroup_test.go
index 37059450fc5..42eef095726 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_nodegroup_test.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_nodegroup_test.go
@@ -1072,7 +1072,7 @@ func TestNodeGroupDeleteNodesSequential(t *testing.T) {
 		ng = nodegroups[0]
 
 		// Check the nodegroup is at the expected size
-		actualSize, err := ng.TargetSize()
+		actualSize, err := ng.scalableResource.Replicas()
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
 		}
diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_unstructured_test.go b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_unstructured_test.go
index be51c9350f7..7252b49f677 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_unstructured_test.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/clusterapi/clusterapi_unstructured_test.go
@@ -60,6 +60,17 @@ func TestSetSize(t *testing.T) {
 		if s.Spec.Replicas != int32(updatedReplicas) {
 			t.Errorf("expected %v, got: %v", updatedReplicas, s.Spec.Replicas)
 		}
+
+		replicas, found, err := unstructured.NestedInt64(sr.unstructured.Object, "spec", "replicas")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if !found {
+			t.Fatal("replicas = 0")
+		}
+		if replicas != int64(updatedReplicas) {
+			t.Errorf("expected %v, got: %v", updatedReplicas, replicas)
+		}
 	}
 
 	t.Run("MachineSet", func(t *testing.T) {