NDIS 'failing' some of the very people it was set up to protect

Lucy Muggeridge, a 31-year-old with an intellectual disability, was once envisioned as a success story for Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Living in a Queensland Housing Department home, she receives one-on-one care from support workers and enjoys simple activities like watching television and tending her garden. Her parents, Melissa and Brad, were initially "elated" when the NDIS rolled out in 2016, believing it would ensure Lucy's safety and well-being.

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This is it. We've hit the jackpot. I felt that it was going to be a wonderful thing for us.

However, a decade later, the family's hope has turned to fear. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) recently ruled that one-on-one care for Lucy was not "value for money." Instead, her NDIS plan now funds her to share support workers with another tenant in the home she has lived in for 13 years. This decision directly compromises the dedicated care she has received.

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What we're about to see in Lucy's circumstance is she could be worse off under the NDIS than the life she lived before it was established.

Disability support provider Aruma has been stepping in to fill the gap, continuing to provide Lucy with one-on-one care and even subsidizing her support to ensure she has two workers when in the community. Aruma's chief executive, Martin Laverty, who was involved in the NDIS's establishment, stated that the scheme was designed for individuals like Lucy, aiming to ensure "safe and happy lives." He expressed concern that Lucy might be worse off under the NDIS than before its inception, calling it a failure for the very person it was meant to serve.

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The NDIS is failing Lucy, the very person for whom the scheme was designed.

Laverty warned that Lucy's situation is not isolated, with similar issues occurring across the sector. Aruma is currently subsidizing care for "dozens of families," and thousands of NDIS participants reportedly receive similar support from charities due to insufficient funding. He cautioned that if Aruma were to fully fund all such participants, the organization would face bankruptcy, highlighting a systemic problem within the NDIS's current operational framework.

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This is happening across the sector and it's happening in advance of reforms that the government has flagged to change participants' plans even further in the years ahead.