Reference Group members connected with the community to find out about issues that affect them.

This includes issues that affect participants.

Participants are people with disability who take part in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Members shared reports about these issues with the NDIA.

Members said it can also take a long time to get an early childhood assessment for NDIS plans.

Assessments help the NDIA work out:

• how someone’s disability affects their life
• what supports they need.

Reference Group members said some participants are confused about the supports in their NDIS plans.

Members said there are issues with some NDIS planners guessing how many hours of support a participant needs.

An NDIS planner is someone who:

• makes new NDIS plans
• changes NDIS plans.

Some plan managers will just agree with what the NDIS planners say.

A plan manager is someone who helps participants manage money from the NDIS that pays for their support.

This means that some NDIS planners and plan managers aren’t making sure the support hours in an NDIS plan are right.

It’s also very hard to change the support hours in an NDIS plan after the plan manager agrees to them.

Members said some participants are getting less money in their NDIS plans than before.

But participants don’t understand why they are getting less money.

Members said young people should have more supports to choose from when they move to their own home.

Reference Group members are worried that participants don’t know the difference between some letters the NDIA sends them.

This includes the letters that explain:

• why someone’s disability means they can take part in the NDIS

• how the NDIA checks if the support needs of a participant have changed.

Members said they know the NDIA is working to share clearer information.

The NDIA is also running online information sessions for new participants in February and March 2025.