While there was support for the scheme across the community and all levels of government, the review found the legislation and rules underpinning the scheme were "unnecessarily rigid and do not allow flexibility". NDIS Minister Stuart Robert said the Morrison government would use the findings to "update and clarify" the legislation and remove barriers to the NDIS, which costs about $22 billion a year to run. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "The review’s findings reaffirmed what we have been hearing from participants, their families and carers and the disability sector – that while many participants have had excellent experiences and are benefiting from the scheme, many others have had frustrations with wait times, complexity of processes and a lack of understanding of their needs," Mr Robert said. The review, undertaken by former finance department secretary David Tune, found it was clear that many of the benefits the NDIS sought to achieve "are yet to be consistently realised".

Participants said the scheme was too complex and difficult to navigate, they experienced lengthy delays and did not understand how the National Disability Insurance Agency made decisions about eligibility. "While there is support for the NDIS across all levels of government and the community, responses to the review often expressed frustration, dissatisfaction and sometimes anger about the way the NDIS has been implemented," the Department of Social Services stated in a summary of the review. "The review made recommendations to improve NDIS processes and remove barriers in the law that make it difficult for the NDIA to effectively support people with a disability." The government has already promised to allow for longer plans for participants, which will enable them to go on accessing support for three years without needing to go through frequent reviews. It has also committed to adopting the recommendation to have a “participant service guarantee”, which will set out basic service standards, from July 1.

Disability support groups have raised concern about the slow transition of people with a psycho-social disability into the NDIS, which requires a person to have a permanent impairment or an impairment likely to be permanent. The independent review is expected to prompt a rethink by the federal government. Credit:SMH The review recommended clarifying what “permanency” means when requesting access to the NDIS, noting the episodic and fluctuating nature of some mental health conditions. The scheme now has more than 310,000 participants, with the government estimating the sector will require at least 90,000 more workers in the next five years. The review noted that reforms already adopted by the NDIA had helped reduce wait times for access decisions from 38 days in the June 2019 quarter to 12 days now.

Loading It was revealed last week that more than 1200 Australians had died waiting to receive a National Disability Insurance Scheme package between July 2016 and September 2019, with wait times ranging between four and seven months. Figures published in Adelaide's The Advertiser found 270 Queenslanders and 170 South Australians were among the 1279 people who died waiting for support over the three-year period, and 65 were children. South Australians had the longest wait in the nation, with wait times sitting at an average of 210 days – months longer than the national average of 121 days for children under six and 152 days for Australians aged seven and above. Labor’s NDIS spokesman Bill Shorten called the wait times “disgraceful”, saying there needed to be more staff and more accountability.