Federal government accused of campaign to slash disability funding under the NDIS

Severely autistic children and cerebral palsy sufferers have unexpectedly had their NDIS payments slashed — with Labor laying blame to the federal government.

The Morrison Government has been accused of a campaign to slash funding to the disabled after the NDIS cut the funding plans of dozens of people.

Figures collated by the office Labor’s spokesman on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten, list more than 50 cases in which the NDIS has cut recipients funding.

The majority of the cases were for children diagnosed with autism, with in many cases payments reduced by more than 50 per cent.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government has been accused of making cuts to the NDIS. Picture: Dan Peled

Mr Shorten said the government needed to come clean on the cuts accusing the government of waging an undeclared campaign to save money.

“Millions of dollars have been cut from NDIS plans in recent months without explanation, with some participants seeing hundreds of thousands of dollars wiped from individual plans overnight,” he said,

“Having failed to slash the NDIS through the front door, the Morrison Government is embarking on an undeclared program to roll back funding, including severely autistic children and people with cerebral palsy.”

The Herald Sun raised several cases with the NDIA that had been highlighted by Mr Shorten including:

— A 20-year-old QLD man QLD with multiple severe, complex disabilities, including cerebral palsy who had his funding cut by $300,000

— An 11-year-old boy in WA with autism, ADHD and other disabilities who has had his funds by 92 per cent from $96,732 to $8,000

—A NSW man who asked for increased support after he had his leg amputated and had three strokes, resulting in a brain injury but instead had $40,000 slashed from his plan

—A 10-year-old WA boy with autism and ADD whose parents were forced to got to the AAT four times before receiving support

— A QLD woman with cerebral palsy, spastic quadriplegia and epilepsy had her plan cut by $80,000, with no notice

Shadow Minister government services and the NDIS, Bill Shorten. Picture: Gary Ramage.

In response to the first two cases an NDIA spokeswoman said it had been in contract with the families but did not dispute the assertions.

In the case of the NSW amputee it said it was “important to note the inclusion of high value capital supports — for example assistive technology (AT) — may have been included in a participant’s earlier plans and do not require an annual replacement.”

In the case of the WA boy whose parents went four times to the AAT a spokeswoman said “where a participant believes a decision made about them is wrong, the NDIA fully respects their right for review.”

It said it was unable to comment on the case of the QLD cerebral palsy sufferer whose funding was cut because the case was under review.

Minister the National Disability Insurance Scheme Linda Reynolds said 84 per cent of NDIS recipients are satisfied with the planning and approval process.

“Let me be very clear there are no cuts to the NDIS and it is very cynical and cruel to suggest otherwise,” she said.

“The internal review within the NDIA is effective with only 1 per cent of recipients seeking review by the AAT and as model litigant the NDIA settles a majority of AAT cases by mediation in favour of the claimant.’

She said when Labor established the NDIS it made the correct decision that decisions on participant support were made independently of the Minister of the day.

“It avoids the risk of political involvement in complex insurance decisions,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the NDIS said there were a number of reasons why individual participant plans may increase or decrease.

“When a plan is comparatively lower than the previous year it could be for a number of reasons, including higher upfront funding for equipment, transitioning to a more stable phase of support, or increased independence based on earlier interventions,” she said.

“There are no cuts to the NDIS, demonstrated by provision for an additional $17 billion in funding over 4 years in the last two Budgets.”