Reboot for flawed NDIS systems as agency acts on complaints

The $22bn National Disability Insurance Scheme will be overhauled.

The $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme will be overhauled to rebuild faith in the concept plagued from day one by critical staffing gaps, computer system malfunctions and planning bungles which have left participants confused and angry.

National Disability Insurance Agency chief executive David Bowen yesterday announced “major work” behind the scenes to redesign how the scheme reached 460,000 participants in 2020. Although details are scarce, the reform is expected to move away from Centrelink-style phone planning — revealed by The Australian last year — and back to face-to-face meetings with clients, new or improved IT systems and significant retraining of staff.

“It is now well recognised that before the commencement of transition to full scheme in July 2016, the quality of the NDIA’s internal preparation warranted significant improvement,” Mr Bowen said. “The NDIA’s processes and systems have not resulted in a participant and provider experience during transition that is of the consistently high standards that the NDIA expects.

“While the need to improve processes is not entirely unexpected,` given the ground-breaking nature of the reform, the NDIA recognises the important need to learn from these early experiences and improve and adapt its processes as quickly as possible.” Many system flaws, including a three-month computer failure which left providers and families out of pocket, were revealed in The Australian and are now priorities for the agency.

Phone planning particularly had become a concern as it resulted in escalating complaints, substandard outcomes for people who didn’t have in-person meetings and, last week, warnings from the agency that scammers were targeting the disabled.

The agency said scammers had phoned NDIS participants and threatened to cut their funding if they did not hand over personal details.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter said he told the new board last year, led by chair­woman Helen Nugent, that fixing the participant and provider ­experience must be a top priority. “That such enormous reform faces challenges is hardly surprising,” he told The Australian.

“It would be surprising if there weren’t challenges that arise as we move towards a much larger number of participants entering the scheme. What is important, is we remain committed to assessing, understanding and responding to challenges as they arise.”

Mr Bowen said one of the key elements of the overhaul — designed via workshops with providers, people with disabilities and other stakeholders since April — is a greater focus on the lifetime outcomes of participants.

In insurance-speak, this typically means making sure support is not diminished or clipped in the short term so people will need less of it in the future.

Referring to earlier coverage in this newspaper, Mr Bowen reiterated there was no systemic order to cut the value of participant plans, even though this was the outcome for many families.

“The NDIA wishes to assure participants there is no policy directive to cut the amount of support in plan packages,” he said.