Four months into the launch of the NDIS, Senator Mitch Fifield, the Federal Minister responsible for the Scheme, admitted that demand and cost had exceeded expectations.
At a recent address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Senator Fifield, Assistant Minister for Social Services said that after the first three months of the NDIS launch, there were 921 people in the Scheme with completed plans.
“Although there are a substantial number of plans in progress, the bilateral agreements with the States had a target of 2,208 for that period,” Senator Fifield said. “So the number of participants is under half of what was anticipated at this stage.”
While the plans are taking longer to develop than anticipated, the number of people registering interest in participating in the Scheme is almost 50% greater than what was expected for this period.
In addition, plan costs so far have been exceeding modelled average costs by around 30%.
“What this means in dollar terms is that instead of coming out at the expected average package cost of $34,969, as based on the work of the Productivity Commission, they are currently costing $46,290 for the first quarter,” Senator Fifield said.