How people band together to take advantage of NDIS claims

Australians are getting around the NDIS rules of what is claimable amid an $8b blowout, a News Corp investigation has found.

Families registered with the National Disability Insurance Scheme are coaching each other in private Facebook groups on how to access taxpayer funded ski lessons, Apple Watches, vinyl floorboards and even “respite in a hotel room, with a book, quiet time and a glass of wine”.

With the Federal Government announcing a $8 billion blowout in the NDIS budget this week, a special News Corp investigation has uncovered how those using the scheme are getting around the rules of what is claimable.

On one social media page with almost 60,000 members, one anonymous poster wanted to know if her NDIS respite plan allowed her to book a night away on her own, without the need of a support worker.

A question regarding skiing lessons.

Responses detailed how it could be possible.

“Respite for me is in a hotel, with a book, some quiet time and a glass of wine!,” she wrote.

“I am able to do things on my own and independent. So why is it that I go through an agency to organise everything for me I need a support worker to take me and stay there?,” she asked.

She was told it would be accepted, with receipts, if her plan meant she needed “time away from people”.

Another woman wanted to know if she and her husband would be entitled to claim ski lessons for themselves on an upcoming family holiday with their daughter as they would “equip us to support her”.

A woman wanted to know about how to book some time away by herself.

She was told how it could work.

Group members commonly replied most things would be approved if there was some to a disability and that it aligned with prearranged goals.

One man wanted to know it if were “reasonable and necessary” for him to buy vinyl planks himself but “have my funding pay the labour to have them laid”.

“I want to rip up around 50m2 of carpet and lay vinyl planks,” he wrote. “This is something I would easily have done myself pre injury”.

He was told what to ask his NDIS contact who would then do a one page report and “quick assessment” for it to be approved.

One woman asked for advice from anyone who has “successfully acquired an Apple Watch through NDIS funding”.

“My son could really benefit from getting one but I can’t afford to buy it myself,” she wrote.

People told her she needed to get a support worker to say it was needed for the “fall detection feature” and one would be approved.

A mum wanted help to pay her son’s basketball fees and was told it could be justified under “social and community participation”

Another person wrote seeking advice from anyone who has “bought a light box for lightbox therapy using their NDIS funds”.

“My psych thinks it will be beneficial for me to use a lightbox in winter to lift my mood,” she wrote.

Ski lessons can be included as long as they are part of an approved plan for the NDIS participants.

One anonymous member wrote asking if anyone “has successfully had sex work/escort service included in their NDIS plan and if so how did you go about that?”.

“What kind of supporting documentation was needed?,” they asked, although the post was quickly deleted.

While another wanted to know how to score free driving lessons for her daughter, writing “our daughter just won’t go out with us for lessons, only an instructor!”.

A man replied saying: “They paid for the driving OT to take me out and do my assessment to see if I would need any conditions added to my licence”.

One woman took to the site to defend herself and others from those questioning the use of NDIS funding to purchase everyday items.

“So often I read negative posts discouraging people from purchasing things when in fact almost everything is potentially on the table,” the woman wrote.

“It’s all about how one argues the need and can demonstrate the functional change, benefit or improvement that the purchase will make.

“I’ve had all manner of things approved from shoes, Tupperware and electrical appliances to gym equipment without it needing to be “disability specific’ as long as you can present a solid explanation,” she wrote.

One person suggested “anything was on the table” to be claimed for.

Dr Martin Laverty, CEO of disability services company Aruma said the NDIS urgently needs to settle who is eligible and what they can claim for.

“We need to ensure we are providing reasonable and necessary supports that are effective. The reason I’m using the word reasonable and necessary [is that’s] the definition in the legislation as to what the NDIS is meant to fund,” Dr Laverty said.

Dr Laverty said the legislation was vague “on exactly what the NDIS should fund”.

“If the review settles, who is the NDIS for and what are they eligible for [then] scheme sustainability can be assured into the future,” he said.

The Morrison Government received a report into the scheme that found “eligibility and entitlement is vague” before the last election.

“And therefore you’ve got a system that isn’t certain about who should be admitted and what they’re entitled to. So it’s no surprise there might be questions on what NDIS funds are spent to. We have to get it back to fulfilment of people’s goals and ensuring that the supports are effective,” Dr Laverty said.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said he wasn’t going to “jump to judgment” without knowing the backstories and individual circumstances of people.

“One observation that I can make, is after speaking to thousands of Australians about the NDIS, that there is so much red tape that people sometimes compare notes on how to deal with mind numbing, pointless bureaucracy,” Mr Shorten said.

“Dealing with the NDIS should not be a second full time job for participants, their families or carers,” he said.

‘WE FEEL VERY LUCKY’

Louise Beard doesn’t know where she would be without the NDIS.

She and her husband Stephen Mallyon noticed their son Charlie was developing slowly for his age. They both knew because the earlier intervention occurs, the better outcomes there will be so they sought out specialist help for him.

Until they were approved into the NDIS they were spending hundreds of dollars on treatments.

“Of course, many families wouldn’t be able to do that. And by absolute no means are we … but it was our priority to do that for our son,” Ms Beard said.

She said being on the NDIS meant they could be less “worried financially about life and go above and beyond and start researching alternative therapies and other things for him that weren’t possible before”.

Ms Beard said in just the short time they have been navigating the scheme, they could see the system was not always straightforward to use.

Stephen Mallyon and Louise Beard with their children Lucy, 4, and Charlie, 2, at home in Gladesville, NSW. Picture Ryan Osland

“I can see how some people could do something dodgy,” she said.

“When we spoke with our case manager they give you your amount of money and then they kind of set up the portal for you and they go through it with you,” Ms Beard said.

“They said ‘this where you could upload your receipt’ – that’s easy for me, I’ve got the literacy to do it,” she said.

She said an auditing system could easily be set up to make sure people were doing “the right thing”.

“You should be audited, I think that’s important,” Ms Beard said.

“It would be easy to do the wrong thing – you do hear of terrible stories of people buying things like televisions [when] everything is supposed to be linked back to the disability.

Ms Beard said her family felt very supported.

“We feel very lucky and will be forever grateful.”

Originally published as How people band together to take advantage of NDIS claims