NEWS The NDIS have released some stuff about important things, to get your feedback. These are about some big changes to plan spending flexibility, and about how independent assessments are used to get into the scheme. There are 4 papers, 2 about Early Childhood changes |(some good stuff in there) but I want to talk about the other two: Planning policy for personalised budgets and plan flexibility and Access and eligibility policy with independent assessments https://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/improving-ndis It’s really important that our community read these and give feedback. Here are some of my initial thoughts (plenty more to come, I’m sure)… Things I like:
Everyone will get a personalised budget, and the money will be flexible between support categories (except for some stuff, like SDA and capital equipment and mods etc.)
Independent assessments will mean some people will get access to NDIS quicker, and won’t have to pay for reports beforehand. Things I don’t like:
They are proposing that you only get a month of your budget at a time, and that every year it starts over (although some of the unused budget might rollover into the new year)
Goals don’t affect your personalised budget (I don’t see how this is possible – if your goal is to move out of home, you’ll need a higher budget, surely?)
There’s no way to appeal the results of your independent assessment (but you can appeal the plan budget amount) Things I’m unsure about:
I don’t understand how standardised budgets based on independent assessment will take into account an individual’s unique goals – if I am happy in a 1:6 group program my funding will likely be fine, but if I want to pursue a microenterprise and need a facilitator and some 1:1 support, will I get enough funding through this proposed process?
What if I want to live alone and not with 1:3 support? My “functional impairment” hasn’t changed, but I need more funding in that situation…
How are they going to work “exemptions” to independent assessments – a can of worms!
