NDIS Rollout Challenges and Concerns

This assignment delves into the complexities surrounding the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) rollout in Australia. It scrutinizes various problems encountered during implementation, focusing on their impact on service delivery and the overall well-being of participants. The analysis draws upon a range of sources including news articles, academic publications, and government reports to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges facing the NDIS.

Running head: HUMAN SERVICES RESEARCH
Human Services Research
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The National Disability Insurance Scheme, introduced in 2013, in the Australian economy, has
been aimed to target the disability burden of the country, which have been increasing with the
increase in the population of the country. The NDIS, though being rolled out across the country
in the recent period, had both positive as well as negative implications in the overall societal
welfare in the country. The scheme has gained substantial negative feedbacks, especially from
those who are directly linked to the scheme. This has been mainly due to the problems of lack of
coordination, lack of transparency, inadequate resources, improper distribution of facilities and
technical inabilities. With proper build up of efficient workforce and sufficient resources and
clever implementation of the coordination strategies, these issues can be resolved to a
considerable extent in the country.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
NDIS: Findings................................................................................................................................2
The NDIS.....................................................................................................................................2
Funding of NDIS.........................................................................................................................3
Structure and Policy Framework underpinning the NDIS...............................................................4
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
a) Lack of adequate provision of service:....................................................................................5
b) Absence of adequate well trained work force:........................................................................5
c) Problems in website and properties:........................................................................................6
d) Lack of transparency...............................................................................................................6
e) Withdrawing of many service providers.................................................................................6
Solutions..........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................7
Implementation................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Disability, by the term itself, means the presence of a physical condition or a mental
condition, which causes limitation in the movements, activities or in the senses of a person. This
is an acute problem globally as nearly 19% of the population of the world suffers some kind of
disability and of these disabled population, 2% to 4% also experience difficulties in daily
functioning. In a rough estimation, it can be said that nearly 48.9 million people in the world
have some kind of disability (Salomon et al., 2012).
Like any other country, disability is a big issue of concern in Australia also. Though
being one of the primary developed countries and economic power in the global scenario,
Australia has to deal with the problem of disability as nearly 4.2 million people in the country
battles some kind or other form of disability, which amounts to nearly 18.5% of the total
population of the country (Fawcett & Plath, 2012). The country has worked considerably in this
aspect and has launched one of the most elaborate welfare schemes in this aspect in 2013, which
is known as the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The assignment tries to shed light on the scheme, its prospects and the issues rising the
implementation and success of the scheme. It also tries to find the solutions for the concerning
issues, keeping in consideration the economic, political and social framework of the country
(World Health Organization 2012).
NDIS: Findings
The NDIS:

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The concept of shifting the disability care from institutionalism to community care was
present in the economy of the country from as early as in 1970s and many steps have been taken
by the government of the country in this respect, time and again. However, the Australian
government in 2013 established the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the scheme started
being rolled out nationwide from 1st July, 2016. The scheme, administered and monitored by the
National Disability Insurance Agency, Australia, has seen significant response from the residents
of the country, with the constant increase in the demand for aid (Soldatic et al., 2014). Among
the services most demanded under this aspect were the community supports and the job services.
By July 2015, the number of supported people rose to 20,000, with the target of the scheme
being set to provide support to around 410,000 people in the country. The annual budget of this
highly ambitious scheme is $700 million specifically for disability accommodation, which will
be required to support 28,000 people for whom high support is needed and the total budget for
the same is estimated at AUD 22 billion annually (Baker, 2012).
Funding of NDIS
The costs of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in Australia are borne by the
Federal Government of the country as well as the individual state governments, which commit to
fall under the domain of this scheme. The first state of the country, which fully committed to
fund the scheme, was the New South Wales (2012) along with the federal government. Gradually
other states started coming under the purviews of the scheme, though not all state had the
provision to share the costs of implementing the scheme, as they had high shares of debt. With
time both the contributions of the states as well as the Commonwealth of the country in this

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aspect kept on rising [See Appendix 1], as demand for disability aid kept on increasing in the
country.
Structure and Policy Framework underpinning the NDIS
The basic goal of the NDIS, based on which the entire framework of the scheme has been
designed, is to help people with different abilities to live a quality life without feeling incapable
or ostracized, by empowering them according to their needs. For this, the scheme has made tie
ups with numerous service providers in the country, working in this arena of care giving. These
service providers, who tie up with the government regarding this scheme, are required to provide
their support to the individuals in need, at a price which is decided by the mutual agreement of
the governing authorities and the service providers, the prices being set at a rate which is
generally lower than the market equilibrium prices of the same. The basic policy framework
underpinning the scheme keeps into consideration the following things:
 Empowering and supporting the participants
 Ensure quality
 Provide consistency
 Address issues cropping up in their implementation
 Enabling appropriate monitoring of the responses, both from the demand side as well as
from the supply side providers

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Discussion
The National Disability Insurance Scheme was implemented with the idea of providing
services to all the disabled people in the country. However, in spite of receiving positive
responses from many of the residents of the country as a concrete social welfare measure, has
however faced severe criticisms on several grounds of implementation and monitoring,
especially by a section of those who were supposed to be directly benefitted from the scheme.
The National Disability Scheme has, in the recent years faced significant problems in
implementation and service provision in the different genres of the disability support for the
residents of the country. The main issues faced by the participants, both in the demand side as
well as in the supply side, falling under the domain of this scheme are discussed in the following
sections:
a) Lack of adequate provision of service:
One of the primary problems, which the scheme is facing, which have the intensity to
plague the entire system and nullify the entire welfare objective of the scheme is that there
remains an acute shortage of service providers. This in its turn is hampering the welfare of the
people who are I dire need of such support as the services are not reaching on time or at all to
many of the participants. There have been reports of various instances where it took weeks for a
wheelchair to reach to a disabled person, even after repeated application or where the service
giver assigned to a consumer with high needs did not reach at all (Duckett & Willcox, 2015).
b) Absence of adequate well trained work force:
The scheme, which has been rolled out for the entire country, was not equipped
sufficiently to meet the needs of the people across the country. This is because it takes a huge

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amount of preparation, recruitment and training of an able workforce and proper dissemination
of services following a robust and planned framework, to make the scheme a success in such a
big domain of operations. However, a huge lack is being experienced in this aspect as in many
cases the service provider assigned to support a person, instead of helping the person has been
seen to aggravate the sufferings of the same (Abc.net.au, 2017).
c) Problems in website and properties:
Another big hurdle on the path of the working of the scheme is the problems which h are
faced due to the glitches in the website of the scheme. Nearly 3000 to 4000 service providers
faced the problems of accessing the site due to IT related problems, which have restricted the
inclusion of any new providers till the resolution of the problem. The twenty four hour support
line also remains inaccessible most of the times (Abc.net.au, 2017).
d) Lack of transparency
The scheme is plagued with the problem of lack of transparency from the very beginning,
as there remains significant disparity regarding the allocation of funds and services across the
countries. The participants and service providers, who have questioned about the transparency
and implementation of the scheme has been barred from access of the site (O’Connor, 2014).
e) Withdrawing of many service providers
The above-mentioned problems regarding the implementation of the scheme, clubbed
with the disparity in the prices that the service providers receive, has led to the withdrawal of
many of the service providers to withdraw their services from the market. However, the price
disparities are not that big a problem as are the lack of efficient workers and the lack of
transparency in the system (Jan, Essue & Leeder, 2012).

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Solutions
The problems identified in the system can be solved with the help of potential set of
solutions, which comprises of the following:
 Building up of adequate work force and facilities to make provision for the increasing
demand for disability aids in the country
 Transparency on part of the governing authorities which can be maintained with the help
of an unbiased monitoring team with the objective of maintaining clear records of every
activities taken under the scheme
 Speeding up the provision of services and emphasizing on the parity between the demand
among the consumers and the type of service which the schemes target to provide, so as
to increase the success of the scheme (Biddle et al., 2012).
 Proper co-ordinations among the different aspects of the scheme which may help in
reducing the magnitude of discrepancy problems massively
Conclusion
The above section shows the extent of problems that has been cropping up in the NDIS in
Australia, much of which can be attributed to the lack of coordination, insufficient labor and
capital resources and inefficient allocations of the same. Proper coordination and maintenance of
transparency can help in mitigating the problem to considerable extent.
Recommendation
The primary steps that can be adopted by the authorities to rule out the existing problems
are workforce build up and maintenance of transparency and coordination across regions as well

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as in different aspects under the scheme, thereby making the service pro-consumer without
hampering the service providers.
Implementation
It becomes the responsibility of the federal as well as the state governments to collaborate
and collectively put effort in constructing a robust framework for the implementations of the
above-discussed problem solving mechanisms, so as to make the scheme a success in the
country. The service providers also need to come forward on humanitarian ground, which may
decrease the tensions between them and the policy makers, thereby making the rolling out of the
scheme wholesome and efficient.

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References
Abc.net.au. (2017). NDIS rollout plagued with problems, FOI documents reveal. ABC News.
Retrieved 3 November 2017, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-12/ndis-rollout-
plagued-with-problems-foi-documents-reveal/8346892
Abc.net.au. (2017). 'We have grave concerns': Trouble ahead for the NDIS?. ABC News.
Retrieved 3 November 2017, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-03/ndis-there-
could-be-trouble-ahead-after-problems-in-act/8157662
Baker, A. (2012). The New Leviathan: A National Disability Insurance Scheme. Sydney: Centre
for Independent Studies.
Biddle, N., Al-Yaman, F., Gourley, M., Gray, M., Bray, J. R., Brady, B., ... & Montaigne, M.
(2012). Indigenous Australians and the National Disability Insurance Scheme: the extent
and nature of disability, measurement issues and service delivery models. Canberra,
Commonwealth of Australia.
Duckett, S., & Willcox, S. (2015). The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5). Oxford
University Press.
Fawcett, B., & Plath, D. (2012). A national disability insurance scheme: What social work has to
offer. British Journal of Social Work, 44(3), 747-762.
Jan, S., Essue, B. M., & Leeder, S. R. (2012). Falling through the cracks: the hidden economic
burden of chronic illness and disability on Australian households. Med J Aust, 196(1), 29-
31.

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Ncoa.gov.au. (2017). 9.2 The National Disability Insurance Scheme. Ncoa.gov.au. Retrieved 3
November 2017, from http://www.ncoa.gov.au/report/appendix-vol-1/9-2-national-
disability-insurance-scheme.html
O’Connor, M. (2014). The National Disability Insurance Scheme and people with mild
intellectual disability: Potential pitfalls for consideration. Research and Practice in
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 1(1), 17-23.
Salomon, J. A., Vos, T., Hogan, D. R., Gagnon, M., Naghavi, M., Mokdad, A., ... & Farje, M. R.
(2012). Common values in assessing health outcomes from disease and injury: disability
weights measurement study for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The
Lancet, 380(9859), 2129-2143.
Soldatic, K., van Toorn, G., Dowse, L., & Muir, K. (2014). Intellectual disability and complex
intersections: Marginalisation under the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Research
and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 1(1), 6-16.
World Health Organization. (2012). World Health Day 2012: ageing and health: toolkit for event
organizers.

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Appendix 1
Figure 1: Projected spending of the Commonwealth and the State on the National Disability
Insurance Scheme in Australia
(Source: Ncoa.gov.au, 2017)