Hundreds of Australians in a support program for severe mental health issues are falling through the cracks of the national disability insurance scheme, renewing fears that the landmark reform is leaving gaps in psychosocial services.



The federal government is preparing to slowly cut its funding to a widely used support and recovery service for people severely impacted by mental illness, known as the personal helpers and mentors (Phams) program.

The funding is being withdrawn on the assumption that those now in the program will be eligible for the NDIS and can use that money to pay for Phams or a similar support. But early data shows that is not occurring.

Eight hundred of the program’s participants were expected to move to the NDIS last financial year. Almost three-quarters, or about 586, did not end up with NDIS funding, according to a newly published Senate estimates response from the Department of Social Services.

About 231 were deemed ineligible for the scheme, owing to their age, residency, or because they did not meet disability requirements.

A further 158 Phams clients withdrew their access requests, while 162 declined to move to the NDIS, and 35 had not returned their access request form.

The Community Mental Health Australia’s executive director, Amanda Bresnan, said the early figures were alarming.



At last count, there were about 20,337 participants in the program who would need to be moved to NDIS funding by 2019-20. If the trend continued, Bresnan said, thousands of Australians could be left without support.

She said the government appeared to be unprepared for the problems of transitioning the program’s participants to the NDIS. “That, for us, is a really big mistake that’s been made,” she said.

“We need to actually understand it because we need to be prepared for those people who are found ineligible. What do they need? What does that support look like? To not have considered that, that’s a big failing.”

A Department of Social Services spokeswoman said those not eligible for the NDIS would “continue to receive similar levels of support” through other federal programs while longer-term arrangements were finalised.

“The government provided $80m to target services for people with mental illness outside the NDIS in the 2017-18 budget,” she said.



“The government has also funded a number of sector development fund projects to provide additional support for vulnerable people to better engage with the NDIS.”

Bresnan said it was still unclear how the government would achieve continuity of care for all those in the Phams program.

She said the federal government had to now quickly work out what would happen to people falling through the cracks of the NDIS.

“We’ve got this brinkmanship where no one is wanting to take responsibility, yet this massive scheme is rolling on,” she said.

“This is the point at which you need to address the issues and get it right so that people won’t fall off the edge of a cliff and have nothing to support them.”

It’s not the first time concerns have been raised about the NDIS’s ability to offer support to those with a psychosocial disability. Late last year Guardian Australia revealed that individuals with severe mental illness were routinely being denied funding support under the NDIS.

At full operation, the scheme is only designed to support 12% to 13% of those experiencing severe mental illness. NDIS-funded supports are designed to complement the existing mental health system, not replace it.

The national disability insurance agency has released details of a tailored pathway to access the NDIS for people with a psychosocial disability. The pathway is expected to help address issues accessing the scheme.

Leading mental health experts say psychosocial disabilities have been treated as an afterthought in the scheme, rushed in at the last moment.

Bresnan said the NDIA was now turning its attention many of the problems with psychosocial support.