Closing time: 05. 00 Pm, 24 March 2017

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

The NDIS is the new way of providing disability support for Australians under the age of 65 who have permanent and significant disability. It will provide the reasonable and necessary supports they need to enjoy an ordinary life. As an insurance scheme, the NDIS takes a lifetime approach, investing in people with disability early to improve their outcomes later in life. By 2019, the NDIS will support about 460,000 Australians.

The NDIS is co-funded by States and Territories and the Commonwealth and is administered by an independent statutory agency the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The Tasmanian Government is committed to rolling out the NDIS to full scheme in a carefully managed and sustainable way. Existing service users and new participants will enter the scheme progressively as follows:

• 
  from 1 July 2016 the scheme will expand to include young people aged 12-14
  
• 
  from 1 January 2017 the scheme will expand to include people aged 25-28
  
• 
  from 1 July 2017 the scheme will expand to include young people aged 4-11
  
• 
  from 1 January 2018 the scheme will expand to include people aged 29-34
  
• 
  from 1 July 2018 the scheme will expand to include people aged 0-3 and 35-49
  
• 
  from 1 January 2019 the scheme will expand to include people aged 50-64
  
• 
  by 1 July 2019 all eligible Tasmanians aged 0-64 will become NDIS participants
  

It is anticipated that around 10 600 Tasmanians will be in the NDIS by 30 June 2019.

In December 2015 the Prime Minister of Australia and the Premier of Tasmania signed a Bilateral Agreement detailing arrangements for transition to the NDIS. The Tasmanian Operational Plan for transition to full implementation of the NDIS endorsed in April 2016 serves as a roadmap for managing the transition in Tasmania.

These agreements are important reference documents for all four SDF projects and individual project activities must be in alignment with them. Relevant agreement can be accessed through the NDIS Council of Australian Governments website.