The government has passed a bill that makes crucial changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and will reportedly save $14 billion over four years.
The NDIS Bill enabled the government to begin designing new rules for the NDIS and other disability supports in partnership with the states and territories. These laws will come into effect from mid to late September 2024.
There are, at this stage, many unknowns in the Bill and what it will mean for Australians living with a disability.
Children and young people make up more than half of NDIS participants. The proposed changes that will likely have the most impact on them and their families are:
- How eligibility is assessed
- The supports that can be funded by the NDIS
- How NDIS plans are managed
- How their funding is allocated and needs to be spent
- Requirements for information gathering for eligibility reassessment
- The introduction of ‘impairment notices’
Some of these changes will come into effect immediately, and others will be delayed until early 2025. Some of these key changes in further detail are:
Separate pathways
The Bill will enact the foundation for the Early Intervention Pathway. This pathway will help differentiate children, young people, and individuals accessing supports for a short time from those who need lifelong support. It assumes that if supports are put in place early enough, then these might reduce the need for longer-term NDIS support (if assessed as no longer needing support).
NDIS supports
Currently, individuals on the NDIS have a plan that allocates funding for agreed goals with some flexibility. Under the new Bill, there will be a defined list of what is and is not allowed – although the specifics are yet to be finalised. This will largely affect participants on self-managed NDIS support plans. It means that participants can only spend their NDIS funds on NDIS supports, not necessarily on the services that have been proven beneficial. This will be restricting for many children and families, particularly those living outside metropolitan areas.
Impairment notices
From early 2025, NDIS participants in the early stages of requesting access to the scheme will be issued an impairment notice when they meet requirements. Current participants will receive this notice when they transition to their plans under the new framework. This will mean that impairments are clearly identified and communicated as part of planning how a participant can access the scheme and which supports they will be eligible for. This approach seems limiting and unnecessary – largely restating what the participants already know. It is not a strengths-based approach to discussing the participant’s particular challenges and support needs. The language used by the NDIS, as highlighted in submissions made to the Inquiry into the NDIS, can be clinical, medicalised, and othering rather than strengths-based. The words ‘impairment notice’ seem to reinforce this idea.
As these changes come into effect and further clarification is provided, the Centre will provide further updates on how these changes will impact our sector.
More information can be found on the NDIS website
A draft list of the NDIS supports can be found here.
