A new report shows the alarming impacts of hidden changes at the NDIS, which are creating invisible barriers and growing inequity for some of Australia’s most vulnerable people.
The Access Denied: Psychosocial Disability and the NDIS report comes from the Australian Psychosocial Alliance (APA) – a national alliance of leading mental health support organisations including Mind Australia and One Door Mental Health.
Access Denied draws on first-hand insights from consumers, participants, carers and others involved in the system, as well as NDIS statistics and APA organisational data. Key findings of the report reveal:
- NDIS application approval rates for people with psychosocial disability have plummeted by 62% within the last five years
- Just 25% of applications were approved for this group (according to most recent data), compared with 66% of such applications at the start of the 2020-2021 financial year
- A poor understanding of psychosocial disability and the impacts of mental ill-health within the NDIA
- Prohibitive costs associated with applications, and
- Suggestions from non-medically qualified assessors to try inappropriate treatments.
The report also estimates that thousands of Australians who should be eligible for support are being excluded, with opaque changes and inconsistencies in National Disability Insurance Agency processes creating logistical, cost and communication barriers, leading to inequitable outcomes.
Mind Australia Acting CEO Nicola Ballenden says it is time for the federal government and the NDIA to recognise and respond to this problem, because the impact on people with psychosocial disability is inequitable and unfair.
“This report demonstrates that people with psychosocial disability are being disproportionately impacted. It documents the human cost inflicted by these bureaucratic barriers,” Ms Ballenden said.
“From speaking with Mind and One Door service users and staff, we know all too well the devastating impact behind these statistics.
“People are having their health, their wellbeing, and their access to supports denied. It’s time for this to change.”
The APA is calling for the federal government to resolve the pressing issues of psychosocial disability access to the NDIS, create a psychosocial disability pathway within the NDIS, improve the NDIA’s psychosocial disability capability, and ensure greater expert oversight, prioritising lived experience representation.
The full report, Access Denied: Psychosocial Disability and the NDIS, can be accessed here.