"How do you feel about the current state of the disability sector after the changes in 2024 and its readiness for 2025?"
We asked that question on LinkedIn to spark a conversation about the disability sector and how it has been transformed over the last year.
Results varied. 50% of respondents had a more favourable view of the sector, with 20% feeling positive and 30% saying they felt cautiously optimistic. Other results saw 30% of respondents adopt a neutral stance, citing that it’s still too early to say. The remaining 20% of respondents felt concerned about the state of the sector.
The results highlight that there is uncertainty within the sector, particularly as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) undergoes a significant transformation. The release of release of the independent NDIS Review in December 2023 marked the start of a series of changes that shaped the sector throughout 2024.
Let’s recap what has changed and what is yet to come.
One of the most significant changes was legislative reforms. The 2023 NDIS Review recommended a number of reforms in an effort to provide fairer and more inclusive access to supports.
On 3 October 2024, some of these legislative reforms came into effect, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Act 2024 (Amending Act) was set in motion.
The Amending Act addressed some of the recommendations outlined in the 2023 NDIS Review, including immediate actions such as:
On Tuesday, 14 May, the Albanese government announced its budget for the 2024-25 financial year. Major changes came into play, particularly for the NDIS/disability sector.
With mounting pressure to curb spending on the NDIS, participant payments were restrained by $14.4 billion, and automatic top-ups were halted. Instead, the government focused on providing more funding to focus on reforms.
The government will build on the 2023-24 financial year’s budget of $732.9 million, providing more funding in the following areas:
The budget has so far appeared to be relatively successful in slowing down expenditure. On 1 November, projections for the new Annual Financial Sustainability Report (AFSR) showed that the Scheme is set to be $1 billion lower than forecast in the 2024-45 budget.
Despite early indications of success, the budget raised concerns for many, particularly NDIS participants. Most concerns included participants losing out due to exhausted funding and longer wait times for much-needed services and supports.
In keeping with the financial aspects of the sector, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) developed the Conflicts of Interest Position Statement. The statement outlines the expectations of registered and unregistered providers to ensure the provider market remains fair and competitive.
All providers must:
One of the biggest changes to the sector is the definition of supports. More specifically, as of 3 October 2024, the NDIS only provides funding for supports listed under the NDIS.
The NDIS has guidelines on what NDIS Support entails and what constitutes replacement support. The NDIS will only fund “reasonable” and “necessary” supports, which must relate to the impairments and meet the disability or early intervention requirements.
Despite this updated list's aim to provide more clarity, it has led to grey areas and more questions. Both people with disability and service providers have called for a clearer picture and further consultation to ensure everyone is receiving the supports they need.
New NDIS plans (starting from 3 October 2024) must meet the updated requirements.
All plans must now have:
In other words, the plan will outline the total funding available and participants cannot spend more funding than what is allocated in their plans.
Plans will also be in effect for 12 months, i.e., they will be reviewed and renewed annually. However, plan variations can be made without the need to create a new one.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) can change the plan management type if participants need help managing their plans. This can occur if the NDIA believes there is a risk of misuse of funding.
Due to this, there has been lots of speculation about the reasoning behind funding and plan changes. Many concerns have also been raised about the validity of these changes, particularly what happens to people once their funds have been exhausted.
Insights from the NDIS Review found that the NDIA expressed the difficulty in assessing the quality and safety of providers, particularly unregistered ones.
As a result, all disability service providers will now be required to register with the NDIS to continue to provide supports to people with disability.
The compliance requirements for each provider will be determined by the risk and complexity of supports they provide.
An eligibility reassessment is when the NDIA reviews if an existing participant is still eligible for the NDIS or if their support needs have changed.
It’s important to know that these are not new; eligibility assessments/reassessments have been standard practice in the NDIS. However, legislative changes now grant the NDIA power to request specific information from participants, such as:
Participants have 90 days to provide the information with extensions available. However, these amendments have been met without criticism.
Insights from Every Australian Counts—the campaign that fought for the introduction of the NDIS—found that the NDIA completes over 1,200 eligibility reassessments weekly. Out of these, 48% are having their NDIS access revoked.
Additionally, Every Australian Counts heard that many of the participants receiving reassessment letters are only given 28 days’ notice to provide additional evidence—despite NDIS legislation stating they are allowed 90 days.
The key recommendations from the 2023 NDIS Review have not all been implemented. Here are some changes to expect in 2025.
One of the biggest changes set to come into effect is the transition from support coordination to navigation.
A support coordinator is a type of provider who can help NDIS participants understand and use the supports in their NDIS plan. During the consultative period, many people with disability expressed their concerns that finding their way around the NDIS was a little challenging—despite the availability of support coordinators, plan managers, Liaison Officers, and partners in the community.
The Review suggested using navigators to plug in the gaps in understanding the NDIS and its processes/services.
There would be two types of navigators:
The details of this have yet to be finalised, but the NDIS hopes that the introduction of navigators can reduce the caseload of support coordinators and further empower people with disability.
The Review called for a fairer, more consistent approach to housing and living supports. The aim is to ensure participants with similar needs and circumstances should receive similar funding.
It’s still unclear how this will come into effect. The NDIS suggests that participants will need to undergo an assessment to determine their support needs, as is the case with any required supports.
The NDIS seeks to offer more connected supports for the following::
On Thursday, 5 September, Bill Shorten, Minister for the NDIS and Government Services, announced his retirement from politics.
Mr Shorten played a key role in developing the NDIS when it came into effect over a decade ago. He has acted as shadow Minister for the scheme since 2019 and was officially appointed Minister for the NDIS in 2022.
Mr Shorten will retire in February 2025, and his successor has yet to be appointed. The next NDIS Minister will inherit the implementation of the remaining NDIS Review recommendations, which will be a huge task.
The delayed appointment of a new NDIS Minister fuels the uncertainty faced by the disability community. It’s clear that the next Minister needs to be a port in a storm, able to expertly juggle the scheme’s financial sustainability while also ironing out the changes to come.
Uncertainty: this remains the prevalent theme across the sector.
Insights and news from the sector tell us that people in the disability community are uncertain and in the dark about what the changes will mean, especially because of the lack of explicit rules. As we look ahead to 2025, we hope people in the disability community are given more transparent outlines and an assurance of improvements to the NDIS.
As we look ahead to 2025, let’s review what has changed within the Aged Care sector what remains to come
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On 3 October 2024, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) saw a number of changes come into effect.
