Updates What’s expected in 2021 The NDIS Act 2013 will be revised next year and there will be some substantial changes. Access LACs to start screening people at planning meetings so some people get sent for eligibility reassessments. This means they could lose their NDIS. Participants will be forced to do Independent Assessments if they are reassessed for eligibility Planning Process This will be top-down instead of bottom-up. Participants will not get to have planning meetings anymore. Participants to do standardised Independent Assessments which will be the main thing that counts in what sort of plan and funding received. Goals Goals will no longer be counted in making the plan and funding. So, people with the same basic conditions will get the same funding, even if they have totally different goals and things they want to do. NDIS want to measure how participants meet their goals, so they will face pressure to meet their goals and have goals that can be met. NDIA is considering paying Support Coordinators rates based on whether their clients meet goals or not. No annual plan reviews anymore, and if funding needs to be changed there needs to be a Change of Circumstances review. This means it will be harder to change funding if it is unsuitable. Participants might have to do an Independent
8
Assessment if they ask for a plan to be reviewed. This could discourage people from asking for reviews. We don’t know what AAT rights participants will have once annual reviews are eliminated. Plans will not be built using Reasonable and Necessary anymore. Instead there will be funding based on the IAs. Plans will no longer have Core and Capacity Building. Instead, there will be 2 new categories — Flexible, and Fixed. Fixed will contain items where the funding can only be used for that item. Independent Assessments (IAs) will be forced on everyone except those who can get an exemption. IAs will be conducted by businesses contracted by the NDIS. The IAs were recommended by the Productivity Commission in 2011 to make sure participant plans were not too generous. Participants will have to do a set number of standardised tests and have 20 minutes to provide individual information and 20 minutes of observational assessment. The whole assessment including writing the report will take 1 to 4 hours. Participants will have less chance of getting funded for full OT functional assessments because the NDIS says they already provide “free” assessments.
Exemptions to IAs are not a reviewable decision. So, if the NDIS says you can't get an exemption you can't ask for a review to get someone else to look at that decision. Independent Assessment results cannot be re-
BigDog Support Services Magazine
