What’s changed this quarter in Australia’s NDIS market?
The growth and adoption of the NDIS by service providers and participants has once again increased. As at 30 June 2018, there were 183,965 Australians being supported by the NDIS, representing a 13 per cent growth on previous quarter. Of the 54,802 participants or almost 1 in 3, are new to the scheme and had not previously received State/Territory or Commonwealth support before the NDIS.
So what does this mean for the service providers? In the June quarter there were 15,141 providers registered. In the September 2018 quarter there are now 16,268 providers registered across Australia - a 17 per cent increase on last quarter. The largest growth was seen in Queensland up by 21%, and Victoria up by 13%. It is obvious providers are getting ready for the NDIS roll-out in July 2019 by joining the scheme now to take advantage of the increasing numbers of participants that will qualify for funding.
As in previous quarters Therapeutic Supports is the largest registration group, making up a huge 52% of all providers in Victoria and 50% in New South Wales. We have analysed the numbers for you and created a map of the market below.
Interestingly 24% of participants who received a plan in the quarter, compared with 21% in previous quarters, are self-managing or partly self-managing their plans.
According to the COAG report “there was $7.7 billion in committed supports in 2017-18, with $4.9 billion paid to participants. Utilisation was at 64%. The proportion of utilisation reflects the increased amount of first plans approved in the quarter. Experience shows that as participants experience their second and third plans, utilisation tends to increase.”
This under-spending opens the way for service providers to expand their services, market and advertise their organisations to a broader audience and to offer new supports. If you are considering renewing and extending your services into any of the specialist registration groups that require Modules 1-5, then you will need special policies and processes for your certification audit.
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