Last week saw the final passing of the NDIS Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No 1) 2024 pass into law. While business owners have been busy doing business things, much work has been going on behind the scenes in the six months since the Act was drafted, amended, debated, amended again and then finally passed. For Allied Health Business Owners, there is much that hints at what are likely to be the biggest changes since the NDIS began in 2013. Here at Nacre Consulting we have been working hard to prepare our members for what we are predicting is ahead but for many this news is new and slightly terrifying. Changes to the law are one of the topics that we are covering in our upcoming online Quarterly Accelerator Conference. This particular event is focused on the NDIS changes and support to set goals for your businesses in the months ahead, explained by the fab Todd Winther from Disability Services Consulting. In the meantime, let’s dig in and pull a few of the key points out for you to have a think about.
Some Context
The NDIS Review was completed in 2023 and the teams report was published for us all to read in December of 2023. Among the findings, from what was a pretty decent consultation, was that in order for the Scheme to be sustainable there would need to be a number of changes. Many of these changes were then folded into this legislation and are set be rolled out over the next 5 years.
The Agency is Ready (ish)
In the past few days we have chatted to quite a few of our members who have commented at how quickly the NDIA are already moving, with updates to the website made live almost as soon as the news of the Bill passing was released. It is clear that they have been preparing for this and are ready to hit GO on certain aspects of the new law.
We expect that changes will be staged, and subsequently enacted as Plans are renewed. There has been a commitment that no changes will be made to Plans that are already approved and in place. I’m not sure how this fits with the reportedly high number of six year olds who are currently being asked to imminently prove eligibility outside of their plan dates at the moment.
First Cabs Off the Rank
Thank you to our friends at Disability Services Consulting who ran a webinar the day after the Bill passed through parliament. It looks like there are two key areas that we are set to see change within the next couple of months.
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Spending to Plan
The first focus is looking like it’s going to be for Participants to ensure that they are spending within their Plan budget. ‘No more top ups’ is the language that is being used publicly – I wasn’t sure exactly what this meant but some of our members have mentioned that this could be with regards to early Plan roll overs which effectively act as a Plan top up when funds have been exhausted. Unless there are a clear Change of Circumstances, this is set to stop (sector chatter is telling me that there is already an internal push for this practice to stop leaving Participants in Plan Gap and providers out of pocket).
Remember – or be alert to- the eventual shift to a whole plan budget, where a Participant will receive a whole budget for the year which will not be linked to line items – this will potentially be a whole new level of budgeting support for which could fall to Providers to mitigate risk of budget exhaustion. This will be a good time to figure out what that might look like for your business as you work to ensure that allocated funds stretch across the whole Plan period. No more early roll overs.
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What Is An NDIS Support
The second change that we will see quite soon is the shift to a list of approved NDIS Supports. The Consultation for this is happening right now and is highly contentious. It is understandable that the government want to reel in some of the control over where tax payer money is going but it is hard to reconcile that they have a role in determining what are the right supports for the right people.
Having said that, the definition for therapy and early childhood interventions read as though they are close to unchanged, with the exception of the following statement that gives me chills – ‘Carve Outs That Are Not NDIS Supports’. Watch closely here for a return to directing Participants back to Health, Medicare etc if a Planner decides that their therapy needs are better addressed by another funding stream. This is not stated in the supports list document but we have played this game more than once already.
Another way that the approved supports list could affect the Allied Health community is when trying to purchase low cost ‘mainstream’ items. We don’t know exactly where this will land but it may be that there will be more hoop jumping required to prove that a low-cost mainstream item is better value for money than a specialist item which kind of defeats the purpose. I can see unintended consequences eventuating here, similar to what we saw when the current registration process was designed which ended up pushing the vast majority of the market through an open loophole to the land of ‘why would I put myself through that when I don’t have to’. If it becomes easier to arrange the purchase of the specialist item because it’s on the approved list, even if it’s outrageously priced, this is what will be ordered.
Foundational Supports
Now to the part of the legislation that we think will have the biggest impact on all Allied Health Businesses and organisations who support young children.
We have covered Foundational Supports in our blogs several times in the past and we will talk about it in more detail at our upcoming event. Foundational Supports were a key recommendation from the NDIS Review as a strategy to improve the inclusive environment for a range of people with disabilities, outside of the NDIS. One of these groups is the Early Childhood cohort.
The idea of this support is that for children who are not eligible for an NDIS Plan (and this will include a range of children who currently have been eligible but will likely no longer be) will access state and territory based supports. Much of this support will be provided through Play Group, Early Education settings such as preschool and day care as well as within their own homes.
Please be mindful that many of these children and families will not necessarily need to access ongoing Allied health interventions, they may be accessing supports for a range of ‘at risk’ reasons – it is important to understand that this change is likely to support some children and families outside of the cohort that you currently serve.
However, a number of these kiddies are likely to require some therapeutic intervention. Currently we have no visibility over who these kids will be, who will be funded to deliver it, or what it will look like.
Recently I gratefully attended a Round Table in Canberra where I was invited by Child and Family Supports Alliance (CaFSA) to be a voice for the private sector. This group of passionate people with the very best outcomes in mind have agreed to progress the group to a National Alliance where we will aim to develop a solution to present to government that represents the best outcomes for children and families, maintains access to the skill and expertise across the market and provides the taxpayer with great value and has an inclusion focus as an essential ingredient. No pressure (insert wide eyed emoji here).
I will aim to update what I can on this topic at our upcoming event.
Most importantly for you to know is that if you are an organisation or business who supports young children and their families, you will almost certainly see a drop in referrals of children with NDIS Plans. We are unable to determine how Foundational Supports will be funded – so whether everyone who supports the children who currently have an NDIS Plan and will in future be accessing the Foundational Supports stream will still be able to do so remains to be seen. Have you begun to pivot your business yet?
One final note on this topic – we have also heard multiple reports of the ECEI Partners leaning into the Early Connections pathway as part of their role. Early Connections has always been a support that was supposed to be offered to children not eligible for an NDIS Plan or waiting for one and delivered by the ECEI Partners – but workforce and capacity issues have made it difficult for these NDIS Partners to execute it. At Nacre, we have heard from many places across Australia where Early Connections seems to have a renewed focus. This is NOT a part of Foundational Supports right now but one can see how it will probably fold into that system at some point in the future.
Foundational Supports is slated to roll out in July 2025.
Let’s Take a Breather
There are lots more in this legislation, including changes to eligibility, Needs Assessments and a power shift that very much favours the NDIA. I am going to leave this blog here and let you process this information for now.
If your business operates within the NDIS, it’s time to be alert to opportunities that exist outside of it, remain alert to the changes as they happen, and importantly keep communication open with your teams. Just because you are keeping up with things doesn’t mean that they are and I am hearing many stories of teams looking like deer in headlights as the aftershock of the reality of the new law has made its way across the sector. Leadership is essential right now, and part of that includes keeping your teams informed and calm. You’ve got this.
As an Allied Health business operating within this landscape, it’s crucial to stay informed, adapt, and lead your team through these changes.
To ensure you’re ahead of the curve, join us at our Navigating NDIS for Allied Health Business Brilliance Online Conference on Friday, 20th September 2024. Surround yourself with a community of like-minded business owners who are also gearing up for change. I will be there presenting alongside with a few other industry experts. Can’t wait to see you there!
