Consistent with her commitment to consult broadly on NDIS reforms, Minister Reynolds has released papers on personalised budgets, which include information on how Independent Assessments would be used to develop a draft personalised budget for discussion with a planner.

Members interested in the details of how reforms to the NDIS might proceed are urged to read the papers. They give more information than we have had to-date but do not answer all questions, particularly those relating to the detail of how funding is determined for the 400 profile (an updated and expanded version of the Typical Support Packages).

Three papers are available:

• Personalised Budgets – technical information paper
• Personalised Budgets – information paper for participants, their families and carers
• Easy Read Guide – A new way to work out how much funding you receive in your NDIS plan

In a message in the papers, the NDIA CEO, Martin Hoffmann, apologises for how the proposed reforms have been communicated to-date and commits to greater transparency.

The reasons given for the proposed reforms relate to:

• Participant experience (lowering effort, cost and anxiety for participants and their families and carers)
• Fairness and consistency (make the NDIS fairer by improving consistency of decision-making)
• Flexibility (giving participants more control over the supports they purchase)

A core feature of the proposal for personalised budgets is a move away from negotiating on the need for specific supports to determining an overall budget, much of which could be used flexibly by the participant to achieve their goals.

Participant personalised budgets would be divided into ‘flexible’ and ‘fixed’ (for example, funding for Specialist Disability Accommodation). If introduced, the intention is that personalised budgets would increase the flexibility with which participants could use their funding to pursue their goals.

Changes to legislation are required for both personalised budgets and the use of Independent Assessments. The passage of the required legislation is not a given.

The Agency’s Independent Advisory Council (IAC) will convene forums in June and July to consult on the changes proposed. People can also provide feedback directly to the Agency on any of the proposed reforms.