Federal Budget 2023 and the NDIS

As many parents and carers are too well aware, The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been under considerable strain in recent years, with numerous reports highlighting significant issues with the system. In Tuesday evening’s Federal Budget, the government announced a funding commitment of $910 million over four years for initiatives aimed at getting the NDIS back on track and providing greater support to those in need. This figure includes $732.9 million which will be  used to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of the NDIS uplifting capability, capacity and systems to better support participants including:

1. Capability: $429.5 million investment in the NDIA’s workforce capability and systems resulting in better consistency and equity in decision-making for access and planning decisions for NDIS participants
2. Better planning: $73.4 million to better support participants to manage their plan within budget, including assistance from the NDIA during the year and holding plan managers, support coordinators and providers to account
3. Flexibility: $63.8 million to take a lifetime approach to ensure plans are more transparent and flexible for life events
4. Independent living: $56.4 million to strengthen supported independent living decisions, including by introducing a home and living panel with highly trained staff to improve consistency across decisions and updating guidelines for planners to improve participants’ ability to live independently
5. Evidence-based supports: $29.3 million to support the quality and effectiveness of services provided to participants, through improving oversight of services and increasing take up of evidence-based supports
6. Blended payment trial: $24.6 million to work with participants and providers to trial blended payment models, to increase incentives for providers to innovate service delivery and improve outcomes
7. First Nations and remote communities: $7.6 million to pilot approaches to partner with communities to improve access to supports in remote and First Nations communities
8. Fraud: $48.3 million to crack down on fraud and non-compliant payments in the Scheme and to develop a business case for new IT platforms and systems to detect and prevent fraud and non-compliant payments

For parents and carers of children receiving NDIS plans, these Budget updates provide some hope that the system will become more responsive and efficient in meeting their needs. However, there are still many challenges that need to be addressed in order to ensure that the NDIS is truly delivering on its promise of support and empowerment for people with disabilities and their families. The outcome of the NDIS review into the design, operations and sustainability of the NDIS which is currently underway and due later in October this year will hopefully provide more clarity on the how the NDIS will look in the coming years.