A significantly strengthened National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission banned a record number of dodgy providers and received a historic number of complaints about NDIS supports and services last financial year, bolstered by a funding boost from the Albanese Government.
Minister for the NDIS and Government Services Bill Shorten has today released the NDIS Commission's Corporate Plan 2024-25, which reveals the Commission received a record number of complaints and reportable incidents in the last financial year.
"The only reason we are seeing these complaints emerge is because Labor has invested in the Commission, doubling its workforce and fixing its archaic phone and IT systems," Minister Shorten said.
Under the Albanese Government, the Commission has run a number of campaigns to alert NDIS participants on how to make a complaint, including campaigns on fair pricing with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, opening new social media channels to support participants, place-based campaigns across rural in regional Australia, and own motion inquiries, which have all generated significant numbers of complaints.
In 2023-24 there were 111,345 complaints and reportable incidents - a 78.2 per cent increase in complaints and a 47.3 per cent increase in reportable incidents.
Other NDIS Commission data shows that the number of complaints received in April to June 2024 was 8303 - a significant increase on the 1812 received in the same period in 2022 under the previous Coalition government.
The Commission also issued a more than 25 per cent increase in banning orders in the first six months of this year compared to the same time last year - with 62 orders imposed from January to June this year on providers and workers doing the wrong thing.
The Commission has been boosted by significant investment by the Albanese Government, including $142.6 million in 2023 to expand staffing and resources, and $160 million this year for critical new technology systems.
"The Commission is now set up to properly regulate NDIS providers and support participants to access safe and quality services," Minister Shorten said.
"The boost in complaints and banning orders comes after this Labor Government significantly invested in the Commission, effectively doubling the watchdog's workforce.
"This has given the NDIS sector more confidence in the ability of the Commission to address complaints and better support participants.
"But most importantly, it has given people with disability and their fellow Australians faith that they have somewhere to voice their serious concerns and experiences on the Scheme."
The Commission is being equipped with new critical technology systems required to gather intelligence and collect and analyse data to protect both participants and the Scheme itself through the Data and Regulatory Transformation (DART) Program.
The Commission has also started its IT transformation in its Contact Centre where it has recently upgraded its telephone system to enable all calls to be triaged.
Under the old legacy system of our predecessors, there was no ability to triage calls, people were cut off after seven minutes and only 40 per cent of inbound call were answered.
The number of calls handled from participants, providers and other stakeholders has now doubled with the new system.
"The NDIS Commission plays an important role in promoting the delivery of quality supports and services to people with disability under the NDIS, as well as protecting the future sustainability of the Scheme," Minister Shorten said.
"Since its establishment six years ago, the NDIS Commission has grown from 'start-up' into the national regulator of more than 19,000 registered providers, more than 180,000 unregistered providers and more than a million screened workers.
"Under the leadership of newly appointed Commissioner, Louise Glanville, and Associate Commissioner, Natalie Wade, the national regulator is now well-equipped to deliver this important program of work.
"This increased emphasis on enforcement and holding NDIS providers to account will enable the NDIS Commission to more effectively address serious non-compliance and lift the quality and safety of NDIS services and supports for all participants."
The 2024-2025 Corporate Plan has been published on the NDIS Commission website.
