New NDIS Funding Rules Will Limit Flexibility for Thousands of WA Participants

A major change to the National Disability Insurance Scheme affects the way thousands of Western Australians access their disability support. Most participants are now receiving their funding in quarterly instalments. The changes impacts all new plans created from May this year and is already being felt across the sector as support providers adjust to tighter funding windows and reduced flexibility.

HERA’s Operations Lead, Alison Palmer said the move was designed to prevent participants from exhausting their budgets too early in their plan. But she warned it could create new challenges for both participants and providers.

“Most support funding is now only being released on a quarterly basis,” she said.

“The intent is to prevent overspend and stop funds running out before the plan ends, but it does change how we deliver support.”

The changes will affect anyone receiving a new plan. Participants with existing plans will not be impacted until they undergo a review, meaning thousands of people will transition onto the quarterly structure over the next few months.

Participants receiving new plans are the most affected, as they may find that the hours they rely on cannot be delivered in ways that best meet their needs.

​Alison said the move is particularly difficult for people who require more support at the start of a plan, which is a period when needs often spike.

“This makes it harder to provide participant centred and flexible support”, Alison said. 

“If someone needs extra help at the beginning of a plan, we are limited by the number of hours allowed within the funding period.”

The quarterly release of funds will restrict how services are scheduled, with support teams needing to carefully spread hours across each period. Though funds can be rolled over from one quarter to the next, there is typically very little or nothing remaining by that stage.

Even when annual budgets remain the same, providers can be limited to delivering only the amount allocated for that quarter, reducing the ability to scale up support when needed, especially in the first quarter of the plan period.
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Participants who are unsure how the changes affect their existing supports have been urged to seek advice early.  HERA recommends contacting their Support Coordinator to confirm how individual plans are structured under the new model.