National Disability Insurance Scheme

This article is about Australia's disability insurance scheme. For the agency overseeing the safety of the scheme, see NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. For the universal health insurance system, see Medicare.

National Disability Insurance Agency
Agency overview
Formed1 July 2013; 11 years ago (2013-07-01)[1]
JurisdictionAustralia
Employees3,495 (2019)[2]
Annual budgetA$35.8 billion (2022–23)[3]
Minister responsible
Agency executive
  • Lisa Studdert, Chief Executive Officer (Acting)[5]
Parent departmentDepartment of Social Services[6]
Websitendis.gov.au

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a scheme of the Australian Government that funds reasonable and necessary supports associated with significant and permanent disability for people under 65 years old.[7][8] The scheme was first introduced in 2013 following the "Make It Real" community campaign and advocacy from disability groups.[8][9] The scheme is administered by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) as part of the Department of Social Services and overseen by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.[8]

The NDIS model allocates funding to an individual, with the individual, their guardian or a private "plan manager" purchasing goods and services from suppliers. The scheme is entirely publicly funded and not means-tested, with recipients not purchasing or contributing to the scheme directly. The NDIS is independent of the Disability Support Pension and any state and territory disability programs, although NDIS navigation services may help individuals access these supports. The NDIS also exclusively funds disability supports, not healthcare-associated costs; these remain publicly funded under Medicare and state and territory government health services.

Legislation was passed in 2024 to reform the NDIS to better manage the cost of the program and the efficacy of supports provided. The package provides around A$500 million to improve regulatory and evidence-based purchasing mechanisms, revise local linkage services, and reform NDIS pricing to improve transparency and predictability. The legislation was introduced in response to the Independent NDIS Review, concerns that some NDIS participants and suppliers were engaging in fraudulent, and an increase in low-value supports being funded by the scheme.[10]

  1. ^ Buckmaster, Luke; Clark, Shannon (13 July 2018). "The National Disability Insurance Scheme: a chronology". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  2. ^ "Annual Report 2018–19". National Disability Insurance Scheme. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  3. ^ "How the NDIS will blow out to $50b (in four charts)". 24 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Ministers for the Department of Social Services". Ministers for the Department of Social Services. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Organisational structure". National Disability Insurance Scheme. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Government Ministers and Departments". National Disability Insurance Scheme. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  7. ^ "About NDIS".
  8. ^ a b c "National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013". 18 October 2023.
  9. ^ McIntyre, Iain (26 April 2023). "People With Disability Australian Protest Timeline". The Commons Social Change Library. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  10. ^ "Getting the NDIS back on track". Department of Social Services. 14 May 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)