Today, Minister Mark Butler, Minister for Disability & NDIS and Minister for Health & Ageing, announced the next stage of the NDIS and Aged Care Reforms in a significant pre-budget announcement at the National Press Club in Canberra.

OTA is on the ground at the National Press Club today, with our CEO Sam Hunter ensuring OTs are firmly in the frame as NDIS reform takes centre stage.

OTA is pleased that some reforms respond to long standing concerns, particularly the delayed roll out of New Framework Planning and changes to Support at Home. However, broader NDIS settings point to a tightening of the scheme, with likely consequences for participant access and essential occupational therapy supports.

In his speech, Minister Butler outlined the next stage of reform for the NDIS across four pillars - addressing fraud, slowing cost increases , clearer eligibility requirements , and delivering quality services and support.

These reforms will reduce NDIS participant numbers from around 760,000 to approximately 600,000 by the end of the decade. As a result, spending on the NDIS is expected to grow by an average of around 2 per cent per year as key design features are reset, before returning to 5 per cent growth from 2030.

Details of the NDIS announcement include:

• Legislation will be introduced to address key drivers of scheme and plan inflation. This will include new measures to limit unscheduled plan reassessments, which currently affect around one in five plans each year and contribute to average plan value increases of 20 per cent.
• Spending on social and community participation will be reset to last year’s levels, reducing average plan expenditure from approximately $31,000 to $26,000 over two years.
• The rollout of the New Framework Planning will now begin on 1 April next year, instead of July this year.
• A $200 million Inclusive Communities Fund will be established to rebuild genuine community participation opportunities outside individualised supports.
• Spending on plan management and support coordination will be reduced by 30 per cent, with the open market replaced by a shortlist of approved providers.
• Diagnosis based access lists will be replaced with standardised, evidence based functional capacity assessments.
• Mandatory provider registration will be expanded for higher risk activities, including personal care, daily living supports, and closed settings.
• A new digital payments system will be introduced, providing the NDIA with real time visibility over all provider claims.

The Minister also outlined changes to Aged Care:

• A new funding model will support the construction of an additional 5,000 aged care beds each year.
• An investment of $200 million will deliver 20 new Specialist Dementia Care Units and expand the Hospital to Aged Care Dementia Support Program.
• A further $1 billion will make essential supports (showering, continence management and dressing) free under the Support at Home program.
• The private health insurance rebate for people aged 65 and over will be returned to the standard rate, with the resulting savings redirected into the aged care system.

Next Steps & Key Dates:

• Tighter assessment of reasonable and necessary supports for new entrants, plan reassessment for existing participants and plan renewal changes will be progressively implemented from 1 February 2027.
• Participants will start to transition to new framework planning from 1 April 2027.
• Changes to the boundaries between the NDIS and mainstream systems will apply to prospective participants from 1 January 2028, with current participants reassessed over a transition period.
• Participant supports budgets for social, civic and community participation supports and capacity building daily activities will be progressively adjusted from 1 October 2026.
• Consultation on commissioning home and living supports will begin in July 2026.
• The new plan management approach will be implemented from 1 October 2027, beginning with a 6-month transition period.
• The newly commissioned support coordination function will begin from 1 July 2028.
• Reforms to strengthen powers for the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and NDIA will be introduced over the next 18 months.
• Expansion of provider registration will commence from July 2027, with full implementation by the end of 2030.
• Uplift to NDIS claims and payments systems will begin from July 2026 and will be rolled out by the end of 2030.

OTA welcomes confirmation that the New Framework Planning rollout will now commence on 1 April next year instead of 1 July this year, addressing a key concern we had raised with the Australian Government.

OTA also welcomes the Australian Government’s decision to reclassify showering, dressing and managing incontinence as ‘clinical care’ under the Support at Home Program, calling the extra $1 billion investment a win for the dignity of older Australians. We are pleased to see the Government’s investment of $3 billion into Aged Care, delivering more aged care beds and dementia care units for older Australians.

However, OTA is concerned that the Australian Government’s proposed 2 per cent average growth path for the NDIS through to 2030 points to a substantial tightening of the scheme. This is likely to make access harder and reduce supports in a way that affects both participants and the occupational therapy services they rely on. OTA supports reform to improve scheme integrity and sustainability, but vital occupational therapy services must not be cut as part of this process.

We will urgently seek to understand the proposed legislative changes and proposed standardised evidence based assessments in detail, and how these proposed changes may impact the profession.

OTA will now review the reforms in greater detail and consult with its members before finalising its full response. We’ll be holding an OTA Members Forum about the next stage of the NDIS Reforms and the annual pricing decisions as soon as those pricing decisions are announced.

Until then, we encourage members to get in touch with us with the key questions you would like further information or discussion at the upcoming Member Forum – email policy@otaus.com.au