Introduction
People with disability who need support can use specialist disability services, mainstream services, and/or be supported by informal carers. They may also receive financial assistance to help with daily activities (see Income support for more information on financial assistance).
This section focuses on one part of this broader, and interacting, system of supports – specialist disability support services funded or provided by government.
Specialist disability support services are now largely provided through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Most, but not all, National Disability Agreement (NDA) services, and the people using them, have transitioned to the NDIS. For information on services provided under the NDA, please refer to the archived versions of this report.
In 2019–20, support was provided to people with disability under the NDIS and other disability-specific services. In that year, government expenditure on disability was $18.7 billion. This includes $16.0 billion provided to the NDIS; the remaining $2.7 billion in 2019–20 was for disability-specific services provided outside the NDIS (SCRGSP 2020, 2021).
This section provides information on:
- eligibility for and service provision in the NDIS
- met and unmet need for formal services (from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC)).
What are specialist disability support services?
Specialist disability support services help people with disability participate fully in daily life. They may supplement other support a person receives, such as that provided by mainstream services, the community and/or informal carers.
Disability support services may include:
- assistive technology (for example, wheelchairs, hearing aids, voice-recognition computer software)
- case management
- early childhood intervention services
- life skills development
- specialist accommodation and home modifications
- support to live in the community (for example, personal care and domestic assistance)
- support to participate in community activities
- respite care
- employment services.
Specialist disability support services are primarily aimed at people aged under 65, but support is also available to eligible people aged 65 and over.
The NDIS is designed to provide Australians with permanent and significant disability with the reasonable and necessary support needed to participate in everyday life.
About the National Disability Insurance Scheme
The NDIS is a fundamental shift in the way Australians with significant and permanent disability access supports. It is founded in insurance principles to provide eligible Australians who have a permanent and significant disability, with the reasonable and necessary supports they need (NDIA 2020a).
The NDIS was introduced in trial sites in 2013, and has been progressively rolled out across Australia from July 2016. From 1 July 2020, the NDIS has been made available to all eligible Australians, no matter where they live (NDIA 2020b). The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) estimates that, by 30 June 2025, the NDIS will provide around 670,000 Australians (634,000 aged under 65) with funding for supports and services (NDIA 2021a). People with disability are directly funded under the NDIS, as distinct from the previous system of block funding to agencies and community organisations that provided disability support services under the National Disability Agreement (NDIA 2020a).
National Disability Insurance Agency
Data in this section are largely sourced from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). Any data not referenced on this page are sourced from Data tables for this report.
Active participants
At 31 March 2022, there were around 519,000 active NDIS participants with approved plans (with an additional 11,200 children supported by the early childhood approach) (NDIA 2022).
Of active NDIS participants as at 31 March 2022:
- 4 in 10 (41% or 215,000) were aged 14 or under
- more than 3 in 5 (62% or 319,000) were male (excluding gender stated as ‘other’)
- 8.7% (or 37,300) identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (excluding 88,600 with Indigenous status not stated)
- 79% lived in major cities or towns with population over 50,000, and 8.0% lived in towns with population below 5,000 or in remote or very remote areas
- the most common disability groups were autism (34%), intellectual disability (18%, including those with Down syndrome) and psychosocial disability (11%)
- 26% had a low level of function, 46% had a medium level of function and 28% had a high level of function, in terms of level of disability
- 2,700 were younger people in residential aged care (aged under 65) (NDIA 2022).
See NDIS quarterly reports for the latest data.
How is remoteness defined?
The remoteness categories used in this section are based on the Modified Monash Model 2019 which classifies locations into 7 categories from major cities to very remote (NDIA 2022). The classifications are based on the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard – Remoteness Areas framework and utilise Census data. For more information see Modified Monash Model.
Eligibility
At 31 December 2020, 85% (or 469,000) of applicants to the NDIS were ever eligible for access (NDIA 2021b).
What does ever eligible mean?
Ever eligible is a count of people who have ever gained access to the NDIS. It includes people who have now had their access ceased or revoked. Access can be ceased or revoked for a number of reasons including: death, no longer meeting the scheme’s eligibility criteria, or self-elected exit.
This section reports on variations in eligibility for NDIS supports across various population groups. While there may be multiple possible reasons behind these differences, this report does not attribute these differences to any particular reason, nor does it make any inferences about causation.
Eligibility varies by age and gender. At 31 December 2020, around half (52% or 245,000) of applicants who were ever eligible are aged 18 and under:
- 26% (or 122,000) aged 6 and under
- 19% (or 91,500) aged 7–14
- 6.8% (or 31,700) aged 15–18 (NDIA 2021b).
The majority of eligible applicants were males, although the proportion of females increased with age:
- 70% (or 148,000) aged 14 and under (excluding gender ‘not stated’) of those ever eligible were males
- 52% (or 32,200) aged 55–64 were males (Figure NDIS.1) (NDIA 2021b).