National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) spending will be A$1 billion lower than the federal Budget forecast, according to NDIS Minister Bill Shorten today.
Projected NDIS expenses will be $210.3 billion between June 2024 and June 2028, according to a new Annual Financial Sustainability Report. This would be $1 billion lower than the same period in the 2024-25 budget.
“Ensuring Scheme sustainability was never about cutting participant’s plans,” said Shorten. “What we have done is got much, much better at managing plan growth and ensuring every dollar is getting to the people for whom it was intended.”
“While there is a lot of work to go, this is significant proof that the Scheme growth and expenditure is stabilising and reducing where it needs to.”
The NDIS’ growth is expected to drop to 12% over 2024-2025, down from 19% in 2023-2024.
The Government’s eventual growth target is 8%.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is also issuing a record number of fines for the 2023-2024 period. The total will reach $4 million, six times higher than the previous year.
Complaints and reportable incidents were up 78% from the previous year, according to the NDIS’ annual report. The commission has issued more banning orders and compliance notices, and revoked more registrations than in the previous year.
“While most providers do their best to deliver quality supports and services to NDIS participants, fines, penalties and other compliance action are necessary deterrents for other providers who intentionally and repeatedly do the wrong thing,” Shorten said.