NB: The data in this article is from the quarter of July- September 2019.

In the excitement of the Minister’s announcement a couple of weeks ago, you might have missed the humble release of the latest quarterly report. Well the truth is there is nothing humble about quarterly reports. They are like watching the NDIS show through rose tinted glasses. But, regardless, they always teach us something new about the state of the Scheme. So without further ado, this quarters top takeaways are:

Things are speeding up

The waiting times for access and Planning decisions have started to get a bit embarrassing for the NDIA. So they have put the petal to the metal, with everything at the Agency HQ now happening in fast forward mode. The results are that this quarter:

Waiting times for children under six seeking access to the Scheme have halved.

The number of children waiting 50 days or more for their first Plan has decreased from 3,314 to 1,686.

As of September 2019, access decisions have been processed in an average of 12 days. This compares favourably to June this year, when they were taking an average of 30 days. Apparently, the delays were caused by a fault in the ICT system. Which is a bit convenient, since the computer can’t even defend itself! But these faults have now been remedied, and extra staff have been diverted to access decisions.

First Plans are also taking less time to be approved after an access decision has been made. The wait was 88 days in September, compared to 133 in June. Still arguably too long but at least it is moving in the right direction.

So, to give credit where credit is due: