Budget surplus built on underspending on NDIS

The government will reach its promised budget surplus by delaying National Disability Insurance Scheme support to tens of thousands of people with a disability.

The government will reach its promised budget surplus by delaying National Disability Insurance Scheme support to tens of thousands of people with a disability.

The budget forecasts a massive $1.6 billion underspend on the program next financial year as 25 per cent fewer people than projected are signed up to the scheme.

This comes on top of another $3.4 billion underspend in the current financial year.

Kirsten Deane Director of Every Australian Counts says in the six years since the scheme began the government has underspent $6 billion on the scheme.

Introduced in 2014 the scheme was partially funded by a hike in the Medicare levy from 1.5% to 2% of taxable income but instead of the money going to help people with a disability the government is using it to reduce its deficit.

“These funds were tagged for the NDIS, they should be spent on the NDIS,” said Every Australian Counts director Kirsten Deane.

Disability support groups want the NDIS money quarantined each year so if it can’t be spent in the year it is allocated it is rolled into the next year.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison denies the government is underspending on the NDIS. Picture: Getty Images

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Parliament it was “a blatant and ugly untruth” the government was underspending on the program.

“It’s fully funded under this government, 100 per cent fully funded,” he said.

Families and Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher told Parliament there was “record funding” for the scheme.

However, Budget paper number 1 says : “Payments related to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which are expected to decrease in net terms by $1,6 billion in 2019-20, largely reflecting the lower than expected transition of participants to the NDIS”.

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The NDIS has underspent its budget every year since its inception because there are not enough staff to process new entrants to the scheme.

The original projections were that 10,000 staff would be employed to run the scheme, but a staffing cap means there are only around 3000 people employed by the National Disability Insurance Agency.

While local community groups are contracted to write up plans for disabled people these plans then need to be approved by the NDIA which can take months to deal with them.

The plans then need to be reviewed on a regular basis leading to further delay.

Every Australian Counts director Kirsten Deane with her daughter Sophie who has just been approved for an NDIS package.

Those lucky enough to get a plan approved struggle with delays spending the money because of tortuous bureaucratic delays of up to two years approving equipment like wheelchairs.

There are 250,000 people enrolled in the NDIS in January but that was 25 per cent behind the agreed targets said Ms Deane.

Eventually 460,000 Australians are expected to benefit from the scheme.

Labor’s spokeswoman on social services Linda Burney and shadow treasurer Chris Bowen claimed the Morrison Government had “shamefully” built almost a quarter of their projected budget surplus on underspends in the NDIS.

“This is a disgrace, not an achievement,” Ms Burney said.

Labor has pledged to remove the staffing cap on the NDIA a move it says will speed up the approval of NDIS plans over time.

Originally published as Budget surplus built on underspending on NDIS