NDIS reforms aim to make the scheme fairer.
When the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was established in 2013, one of its driving aims was to make disability services and support systems fairer.
However, our new research shows significant inequalities remain, with some groups finding it much harder than others to be deemed eligible and access a funding plan.
Recent NDIS reforms in part aim to address inequity, and to manage costs.
So, what can we do to ensure these reforms don’t further embed existing inequalities? Here’s what we found.
Inequalities in scheme access
To receive funding from the NDIS, participants are required to demonstrate their eligibility.
We wanted to explore whether decisions about eligibility were leading to inequalities in who could access and use NDIS funding.
Our study looked at the individual NDIS applications of 485,676 people aged seven or older, made between 2016 and 2022, to see if they were deemed eligible.
We then compared differences in eligibility rates between groups, considering:
- age (applicants 55 or older versus those under 55)
- gender (women and girls versus other applicants)
- socioeconomic disadvantage (those from the poorest 30% of areas versus all other areas).
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