NDIS payment problems largely resolved, government says

Payment success rate has reached 96 per cent

Social services minister Christian Porter says that the IT issues affecting payments to participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme have largely been resolved.

The success rate for payments to providers and participants has increased from 70 per cent to a 96 per cent, according to the minister.

Problems with implementing the NDIS MyPlace Portal had left some participants in the scheme unpaid for weeks

According to the government, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) had difficulty implementing the payment portal as the NDIS trial ended and the fully fledged scheme begun.

The government earlier this month commissioned a PricewaterhouseCoopers review of the MyPlace Portal. Porter said he expects to receive the review shortly.

“Based on initial advice from PwC, as well as a short-lived technical issue experienced by bulk service providers, there was also an issue around the adequacy of information provided to users of the payment portal which led to errors in inputting necessary information. That situation is improving rapidly and significantly,” said a statement released today by the minister.

“While the NDIA diverted resources to resolve the early IT issues as quickly as possible, there was a flow on effect of a slowdown in the rate of plan approvals for the large number of people deemed eligible for the scheme.”

The government last year earmarked $143 million over four years for IT systems to help deliver the NDIS.

The NDIS previously relied on an interim ICT platform managed by the Department of Social Services designed to support 30,000 people during the trial period. The full NDIS program will support will support more than 460,000 people in 2019-20.

Queensland’s minister for disability services, Coralee O'Rourke, today launched an attack on Porter over the handling of the problems.

“The NDIS began rolling out in Queensland and Australia on July 1, and we have already seen how life changing the scheme can be for people with disability and their loved ones,” O'Rourke said.

“Unfortunately, we have also seen an IT system that has been plagued with problems across the country, at this crucial time for people transitioning to the NDIS. I am extremely concerned Queenslanders with disability may be affected by delays as a result of another Turnbull government IT debacle.

“Just like the disaster we saw on Census night, the Turnbull government’s IT system has failed Queenslanders once again, and this is simply not good enough.”

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