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

This includes issues that affect participants.

Members shared reports about these issues with the NDIA.

People from the NDIA also shared their response to some of these issues.

Reference Group members talked about the NDIA’s changes to short-term respite services.

Short-term respite services look after people with disability for a short amount of time.

This is so carers can have a break.

Members said respite services can help First Nations participants connect to their families.

This includes First Nations participants and families who live in different areas.

But the changes to short-term respite will mean families have to spend time apart.

This has made First Nations participants and families feel stressed.

Members asked the NDIA to create NDIS plans that support participants to have a good life.

An NDIS plan has information about:

• a participant and their goals
• what supports a participant needs
• what the NDIS will pay for.

For example, NDIS plans that better include short-term respite services.

Reference Group members said that people are worried about funding periods.

Funding periods tell a participant:

• how long their funding needs to last
• when they can start using more funding.

Funding is money from an NDIS plan that pays for the supports a participant needs.

Members said participants need to be able to use their NDIS plans and funding in different ways.

A 3-month funding period means participants can only use a small amount of funding.

This doesn’t give participants much choice about how they use their funding.

For example, a participant might not be able to use a service if they don’t have enough money in their funding period.

Members also said the NDIA has changed the way some participants manage their NDIS plan.

For example, some participants used to manage their NDIS plan on their own.

But now the NDIA manages their NDIS plan for them.

Participants are feeling stressed because they don’t know why this has changed.

Reference Group members said First Nations communities have to wait a long time for some NDIS services.

Some First Nations people also feel like providers make participants pay too much for a service.

Providers support people with disability by delivering a service.

Members think this happens because some First Nations people don’t know a lot about the NDIS.

This can make it harder for First Nations people to know if a provider is being fair.

Reference Group members said people are worried about the NDIS portal.

People want to know if the NDIS portal records changes to someone’s personal information.

For example, information about where someone lives.

Members want the NDIA to be more culturally safe when it records this information.

Reference Group members said people are worried about some providers leaving the NDIS.

This includes providers who don’t work for the government.

Some of these providers are leaving when they can’t afford to deliver their services.

This is because they’re not getting paid enough money from the NDIS.

These providers have asked the NDIA to improve the way they make decisions about funding.

This would make sure providers get paid enough money to deliver their services.

Reference Group members said wait times for the NDIA’s call centre have gotten better.

Participants are happy that the NDIA has worked to improve this.