NDIS at ‘real risk’ of full rollout failure, says audit

There is a ‘real risk’ the NDIS will not be able to handle the 460,000 people it is meant to help at full rollout.

The report was commissioned by Social Services Minister Christian Porter. Picture: Colin Murty.

There is a “real risk” that the $22 billion National Disability ­Insurance Scheme will not be able to handle the 460,000 people it is meant to help at full rollout, even after it overcomes a payments ­crisis that has lasted two months.

The damning assessment is made by PricewaterhouseCoopers in an independent audit of the agency’s failure to handle a new computer system, which resulted in thousands of providers and people going without pay or support from July 1.

“In its current state, and even when stabilised in the short term, there is a real risk that the NDIS agency operating model will not be able to cope with approxim­ately 400,000 additional participants and their providers by 2019-20 when the full scheme is expected to be operating,” the ­report says.

The report was commissioned by Social Services Minister Christian Porter and includes the claim that the agency did not ­adequately brief the minister as the technology crisis took hold.

“The (minister) did not receive adequate updates on payment performance so was unable to understand the magnitude of the problem,” the report says.

PwC says the agency’s ­response to “change management” was “immature, absent and/or late in implementation”.

The review found the decision to push ahead with the new computer system was made despite the fact there were “multiple amber and some red” flags.

In the lead-up to the launch of the NDIS on July 1, it was revealed the agency was at “mission critical” status in relation to a number of key milestones, even though it publicly denied there were any problems ahead of the launch.

The subsequent computer problems have resulted in some people not getting access to the full range of support they need and some businesses are still owed tens of thousands of dollars.

At a fiery Disability Reform Council meeting yesterday, state and territory ministers excoriated Mr Porter for failing to adequately resource the scheme, claiming that its problems were not the fault of the agency but due to a lack of money.

“I’ve discussed the findings with my state and territory colleagues, and governments will be working closely ... to help the agency set up the required systems so we don’t encounter simil­ar problems in other areas of the rollout,” Mr Porter said.

“The review shows there was no single system failure, rather the frustrating ICT issues arose from a series of compounding events, linked to deficiencies in the agency’s governance, operations, change management and communication.

“As at 31 August, more than 15,000 people had been deemed eligible for the scheme since 1 July 2016, with more than 4000 people in the planning process and more than 1600 people with approved plans.

“The NDIS is a large and complex reform, and I don’t think that anyone should underestimate the importance of what the agency has delivered so far, or the scale of task ahead.”

Class action lawyers have been speaking to affected people about a possible case against the agency on the grounds of lost time and support.

The report recommended the government “review the resourcing model for full-scheme tran­s­ition” and actually implement a “service-delivery operating model” which includes performance benchmarks that have so far been absent from the NDIS agency.

The computer system was farmed out to the Department of Human Services because the NDIS agency was seen as not having the “required commercial acumen in technology and complex transformation management”.