Online marketplace of unregistered NDIS services prompts call for better regulation

Amid concerns the NDIS could blow out to $90bn a year by the end of the decade, popular Facebook pages are linking participants to everything from fishing camps to Lego-based therapy.

Exclusive: Dungeons & Dragons gaming nights and Lego-based therapy are just some of the services being advertised in an emerging online marketplace for NDIS participants to spend their taxpayer funds on, as ­experts warn these pop-up businesses are not adequately vetted and risk blowing out the scheme which some say is becoming a “honey pot”.

With concerns the cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme could blow out to $90bn a year by the end of the decade, The Daily Telegraph can reveal popular pages on Facebook are linking participants to everything from cleaners and dog groomers to fishing camps and Lego-based therapy.

The pages, which have no official affiliation to the expanding scheme, also offer NDIS 4WD weekends, luxury accommodation, ski trips and excursions to the movies. Several people also promote Dungeons & Dragons gaming nights on the pages, with one post claiming it was run by a “therapeutic host”.

The Facebook pages also include posts from NDIS participants seeking services, including one requesting “hug therapy” and another requesting a “couple of handymen” to help paint a home.

The overwhelming majority of the businesses advertising on these pages are not officially NDIS-registered.

A sole-trader advertising NDIS fishing trips for $65 a day. Source: Facebook

Another unregistered provider offering Lego-based therapy. Source: Facebook

Australia Institute policy director Fiona Macdonald told The Daily Telegraph the NDIS aimed to empower people with disabilities to find the services they want themselves. But Dr Macdonald warned the scheme had “very little” regulation on companies offering services.

“Without that, a whole lot of people have gone into the disability sector who have little idea what they are doing and can’t provide appropriate levels of support,” she said.

“People with very few skills and training have been able to come into the NDIS and command a payment … I have spoken to people working in the disability sector who have no idea how to respond to an emergency, address problems around safety, or deal with the specific behavioural aspects of a person they are supporting.”

Another business offered Dungeon and Dragons sessions to help NDIS participants “improve resilience” and “increase empathy”. Source: Facebook

The Dungeons & Dragons sessions are being advertised for $65 an hour, Lego therapy is about $160 per session, while short-term respite in luxury accommodation can fetch up to $2000 a night. Depending on an NDIS ­participants’ package, they are entitled to a certain allocation of money for community ­participation and recreational activities.

However, NDIS business registration is not compulsory and more than 80 per cent of people receiving funding from the scheme are able to seek their own services and activities by dealing directly with sole-traders.

While this was designed to empower members of the disability community, experts have warned it also allows someone to get an ABN, create a website and begin making money off the NDIS without having to prove they are a credible and safe organisation.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten is under pressure to close loopholes and increase regulation of service providers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“This is a big reason why the cost blowout is occurring,” a leading member of the sector, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Telegraph. “The sole-traders and pop-up businesses are not monitored to the same level as the registered providers.”

Sydney psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed said: “The NDIS will go down as the most irresponsible use of taxpayer funds in Australian history.

“There are no guardrails.

“As a doctor, I need to argue that my treatments and services have merit and are based on science.

“For the NDIS, any Tom, Dick and Harry can set up shop, dip into the honey pot and offer all sorts of services.”

An NDIS adventure business offering camping and Four Wheel Driving.

Participants can pay for the 4WD adventure using the scheme.

Up to 93 per cent of the 183,000 businesses earning money off the NDIS are unregistered.

A spokesman for NDIS Minister Bill Shorten pointed to his previous comments about unregistered providers.

“Unregistered providers ­operate with little to no ­visibility of what they provide or even if they deliver the ­services they charge for,” they said.

A key recommendation of the NDIS Review in December was for “all businesses to have some form of registration”.

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