‘One-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work’: Plan to save the NDIS billions

Billions of dollars in disability payments could be funnelled to struggling children through daycare programs under a plan to ease the financial strain of the nation’s insurance scheme while ushering in a new era of early intervention.

Taxpayers would save $12.1 billion over the next decade if 10 per cent of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) payments were set aside for people not currently on the scheme – including children needing temporary support – and the current model of individual support plans was reserved for Australians with life-long disabilities, a report says.

Melbourne mother Angelique May-Bennett hopes her youngest daughter will be eligible for support via Australia’s early intervention overhaul. Credit: Chris Hopkins

It can take years of waiting and one-on-one specialist appointments to gain support under current NDIS procedures. Removing some of that red tape and allowing children with autism and developmental difficulties – and their parents – to receive support directly at childcare and primary schools would be more effective and cheaper, according to the Grattan Institute report.

This new era of the disability scheme, known as “foundational supports”, could be funded using the existing NDIS envelope, the think tank’s report says, and should be brought in over the next five years if the new-look system is to pile the least amount of pressure on federal and state budgets.

Governments could save an additional $34 billion over 10 years by not needing to find extra money for the new disability system.

Foundational supports were meant to roll out on Tuesday under the original deadline set by previous NDIS minister Bill Shorten. However, that start date has been pushed back to at least December as the states and federal government negotiate details.

Grattan Institute disability program director Samuel Bennett said the NDIS had transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people but had grown “too big, too fast”.

“Something needs to be done,” Bennett said.

“Time has shown a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. What children and families really need is evidence-based early intervention – preferably available where the child already lives, learns and plays – rather than navigating this bureaucratic nightmare that is today’s NDIS.”

Bennett said it was important to lay out a joint road map for NDIS sustainability and better support for Australians with developmental delays and psychosocial disabilities given the current fiscal environment.

“Our core argument is that there’s enough money in the system. The current issue is how it is spent.”

After delivering back-to-back budget surpluses, Treasurer Jim Chalmers unveiled a $27.6 billion deficit in May, a figure expected to jump to $42.1 billion by July next year. The NDIS cost the federal government more than $42 billion last year. That annual bill is expected to rise to $92.7 billion by the middle of 2034.

Angelique May-Bennett, from Melbourne’s northern suburbs, has two daughters who are neurodivergent.

She said her oldest daughter excelled at co-ordination and social participation after she qualified under the scheme for group dance and gymnastic classes.

However, she said those qualifications had since been removed and her youngest daughter does not meet the current threshold for NDIS payments.

“We are hoping the foundational supports will fill that gap,” May-Bennett said. “My husband’s now working two jobs to make ends meet. It’s really, really tight. But we’re OK. What about everyone that can’t do that?”

Sydney author and stay-at-home father Colin Armstrong, whose daughter, Milly, lives with autism and an intellectual disability, said he hoped the government rolled out foundational supports as soon as possible.

Colin Armstrong, with his daughter Milly, who benefited from supported playgroups when she was a preschooler.Credit: Janie Barrett

He said Milly and the whole family benefited from Saturday play groups when she was between the ages of two and six, and that she was “so full of joy” whenever she was around children just like her.

Armstrong added that something that isn’t discussed a lot is the significantly lower life expectancy of children with intellectual disabilities.

“This kind of foundational support aims to give the child – however long their life is – the most joy, love and support as possible. It’s a shared responsibility between parents and policymakers to make that happen.”

Sylvana Mahmic, the chief executive of Plumtree Children’s Services in Sydney’s inner west, said she had seen firsthand how children’s and parents’ lives could be changed via peer support.

“Professionals are here today, gone tomorrow. Families are there for many, many years.”

Multiple disability advocacy groups – such as Inclusion Australia, and Children and Young People with Disability Australia – have called for clear timelines, adequate funding and a say in the co-design of foundational supports.

Health Minister Mark Butler said negotiations with the states on foundational supports were ongoing and would be finalised as soon as possible.

“The first work on foundational supports is children under the age of nine with mild to moderate developmental delay or autism,” Butler said.

“The second big piece of work for foundational supports has been identified as those Australians with ongoing, usually quite severe, psychosocial disability who are not getting any support right now.

“We’ll take the time to read and consider the [Grattan] report.”

A spokesperson for the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which runs the NDIS, said the agency was focused on ensuring the scheme was stronger for future generations.

“The scheme is ahead of schedule to meet sustainability targets as reforms help participants spend to their budget and integrity measures deliver results.”

Earlier this month, the NDIA announced a plan to cut payments to physiotherapists, dietitians and podiatrists in a bid to drive down costs to typical market rates.

The Australian Physiotherapy Association and others have implored the NDIA to pause the cuts to price limits and travel expenses, which are due to come into effect from Tuesday.

This masthead also revealed this month that one in 10 young Australian children were using the NDIS, up from 8 per cent two years ago.

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