Last week, NDIS needs assessments became mainstream news, thanks to Kate Lyons’ reporting in The Guardian: “NDIS plans will be computer-generated, with human involvement dramatically cut under sweeping overhaul“.
A few people were confused by what’s happening and reached out with questions.
Your right to know:
Before big NDIS changes are rolled out, everyone affected:
- has a right to know what’s happening; and
- should be given an opportunity to share their views with the Government and the NDIA.
The challenge:
Legal-policy details and jargon make it hard to get to the bottom of what’s happening without losing sight of the big picture.
Context:
Much of the new system is already baked into the NDIS Act:
- In October 2024, the Act was amended.
- Lots of changes were made to Part 2 of Chapter 3 the Act.
- This Part is about participant plans.
- The amendments introduced a new planning framework.
- Over time, the Government wants all participants to transition to new framework plans.
New framework plans
- The new planning framework is based on a needs assessment.
- The needs assessment must be undertaken using an assessment tool.
- The needs assessment will generate a needs assessment report.
- The needs assessment report will be:
- factored into a method; and
- used to calculate a participant’s reasonable and necessary budget.
- A participant’s total funding amounts for their reasonable and necessary budget:
- will be made up of flexible funding and stated supports; and
- must be worked out by applying:
- information in the needs assessment report; and
- the method.
Each of the bold words has – or will have – a specific legal meaning.
State of play:
The NDIA has announced that it:
- wants to start transitioning participants aged 16 years and older to new framework plans from mid-2026;
- has bought a licence for a tool, known as the Instrument for Classification and Assessment of Support Needs version 6 (I-CAN), which it plans to modify; and
- will train and accredit employed public servants as assessors to assess participants as part of the new planning framework.
What the Government told participants and the disability community to expect
In a Further Revised Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill that amended the NDIS Act in 2024 to make these changes, the Government explained that needs assessments will:
- “assess a person holistically, looking at all their disability support needs, consistent with recommendations of the [2023 Independent NDIS Review]”; and
- be “undertaken on a whole person basis”; and
- result in assessment reports that:
- contain “all relevant and appropriate information about a participant and their disability”; and
- can be used with each participant to “calculate a participant’s reasonable and necessary budget” that reflects the “range” of the participant’s support needs.
In the same document, the Government committed to “ensuring that the design and implementation of these changes will include extensive consultation and co-design with the disability community” (emphasis added).
Why are so many people concerned?
- People are worried and frustrated about several aspects of the proposal, including:
- the sufficiency of consultation and co-design;
- whether assessments will assess people holistically on a whole-person basis;
- the assessment tool;
- the assessors’ skills, qualifications, training, supervision, and accountability to participants;
- how assessments will be administered in practice;
- whether assessment reports will include enough detail to generate therapy management plans without allied health providers having to do additional work; and
- method details, including the potential role of AI/algorithms in calculating budgets.
- There’s a lot we still don’t know. For example:
- how the I-CAN tool will be modified and tested so it’s fit for purpose;
- assessor accreditation and experience criteria, training and supervision requirements, and conflict of interest/oversight controls*;
- we don’t have drafts of the NDIS Rules that will:
- set out the information that must be included in needs assessment reports; and
- specify the method that must be used to work out total funding amounts; and
- we don’t know which NDIA decisions will be reviewable by the Administrative Review Tribunal and the Courts:
- media reports suggest review rights will be more limited than for old framework plans, and may be limited to ordering that a new assessment be conducted using the same tool;
- we don’t know how rules about varying and replacing participants’ plans in Division 4 of Part 2 of Chapter 3 of the Act will work in practice.
Speak Up:
If you’re concerned about the new needs assessment system or process, you’re not alone. Every Australian Counts is hosting a community forum on 12 December for people to share their thoughts (see links below to register).
Go deeper:
New tool to deliver simpler pathway to disability supports | NDIS
*A note on assessors: The Act is silent on assessor identity, qualifications or experience. At this stage, it does not look like assessors will be allied health professionals, meaning they will not be subject to allied health regulations, professional Codes of Ethics requirements, professional standards, or even the NDIS Code of Conduct with respect to participants. Open questions include whether assessors will have professional duties of care to participants, and how will they handle conflicts between their duties of good faith and fidelity to their employer (probably the NDIA) and their ethical responsibilities to participants. An interesting question is whether they can be sued personally, e.g. for negligence, conflicts of interest, or other acts that wrong participants, and whether they can be subpoenaed to testify before the ART or Courts to account for their actions.