The latest quarterly report shows that while more people continue to join the scheme, costs are falling below projections.
Clearer and tighter rules around the use of what National Disability Insurance Scheme funding can and cannot be used for appears to be bearing fruit for the federal government’s multi-billion-dollar initiative.
The latest quarterly report on the performance and operations of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) for the three months from 1 October 2024 to 31 December 2024 shows that while the number of participants joining the scheme continues to grow, costs are falling below projections.
More than 692,000 Australians are receiving disability-related supports from the NDIS, with more than 19,000 new participants joining the Scheme during this quarter.
The report shows total scheme expenses for the six months to December 2024 were $22.9 billion, $390 million below the June 2024 projection from Annual Financial Sustainability Report (AFSR).
The AFSR projections showed the NDIA is on track to gradually meet National Cabinet’s NDIS growth target: from 12% in 2024–25 to 8.4% in 2025–26, reaching 8% by 2026–27. Data as of December 2024 has the year-on-year growth rate at 11.9%, slightly lower than the growth rate of 12% projected in the AFSR.
These reforms are expected to reduce projected NDIS expenses by $19.3 billion over the four years to 30 June 2028.
“Recent reforms have ensured the NDIA is getting better at managing plan growth, by providing clarity on what NDIS funding can and cannot be used for and ensuring every NDIS dollar goes towards participant outcomes,” the report states.
“While new legislation establishes a platform for much of this important work, the NDIA has been implementing other measures designed to strengthen the NDIS and provide a better experience for all participants and their families.
This includes improving planning processes, leading to more consistent decision making; proactively contacting participants who are at risk of their plan funds running out; and continuing to progress payment integrity initiatives through the Crack Down on Fraud program.
The report revealed the AFSR projections build on the positive trends in NDIS cost stabilisation including a “considerable improvement in scheme expenses for the 12 months to 30 June, to be approximately $600 million less than the 2024–25 Budget estimate”, and fewer participants at risk of overspending their plans.
“These results show that we are improving the financial sustainability of the NDIS to not only deliver a fairer and more consistent NDIS for participants, but ensure the NDIS is here to stay in the future,” the report says.
The December quarter was an important period for the agency and followed the passing of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No.1) Bill by Parliament in August 2024. Those new laws for the NDIS took effect from 3 October 2024.
Related
The legislation changes were designed to improve the NDIS for all participants, while protecting its long-term sustainability. The NDIA’s CEO Rebecca Falkingham said the agency was confident it would deliver the 8% growth target by 2026-27.
To date the stabilisation of cost growth has primarily been achieved through reducing plan inflation and reducing the risk of overspending of plan budgets.
Ms Falkingham said the NDIS was a key part of the Australian community.
“We are continuing our work with people with disability to ensure the NDIS is delivering the best outcomes possible for participants, while improving the sustainability of the world-leading scheme,” she said.
“We know there is more work to do to further strengthen the NDIS – we are absolutely committed to continuing to do this in partnership with the disability community.”
The report listed a number of key areas of improvement in the December quarter including:
- The establishment of a First Nations Reference Group. Members will convene from this month. The reference group will comprise only First Nations peoples with disability and will report to the Independent Advisory Council (IAC) and NDIA Board with independent advice on NDIS and reform issues affecting First Nations peoples.
- Improvements in the timeframes for approving first plans and reducing the backlog of unscheduled reassessments. Over 23 system updates were made to the new computer system, aligning with the legislative changes from 3 October 2024. Internal review completion times have improved, with 74% of complaints being closed within 21 days, up from 54% in the previous quarter. The NDIA added more than 300 staff to frontline service delivery teams, in addition to the 500 staff added last quarter, to reduce waiting times and better support participants. The National Contact Centre (NCC) improved its performance, with an average speed of answering calls and a customer satisfaction rate of 93%, exceeding the 90% target. The NCC also added 93 staff trained in handling delegate processes, reducing referrals. Hospital discharge processes saw an improvement, with the average discharge time reduced to 21 days from 30 days in March 2023. Additionally, the number of participants under 65 in aged care reduced from 911 to 811, excluding those meeting exceptional circumstances criteria.
- Ongoing activities through the Crack Down on Fraud (CdoF). In November 2024, the Australian government announced a further $110.4 million investment in the CDoF program. The funding boost follows an initial $83.9 million investment made earlier in 2024, designed to improve the NDIA’s ability to better detect and prevent the exploitation of participants and the NDIS. The additional funding will enable the CDoF program to implement a new fraud case management system that will interact with other enforcement agencies; build new IT systems to connect with other agencies, providers and banks so transactions can be actioned faster with fewer errors; improve the systems that assess, process and pay over 400,000 NDIS claims per day; improve identity proofing systems to increase safety and privacy; and improve the NDIS mobile app and online interfaces.
- The Fraud Fusion Taskforce (FFT) continued its activities to find and stop fraud in the NDIS and other government programs. Since it was established in November 2022, the FFT has launched more than 500 investigations and referred 50 people to court. The NDIA has also identified more than 15,000 NDIS participants who may have been impacted by fraudulent providers and supported thousands to transition to safer arrangements, including by changing providers. In the December quarter the NDIS introduced a number of changes to the system to support this, including requesting mandatory evidence for claims, improving the NDIS portal, app logins and myGov authentication, and a new integrity management system.
NDIS quarterly reports are available here.