The Impact of the NDIS on the amount of Choice regarding where Supports are obtained – Evidence from Large Scale Surveys
4.6.1 What do NDIS participants think about where supports are obtained?
Overall, the estimates of the impact of the NDIS on the amount of choice people with disability have over where they get their supports, are qualitatively very similar to those presented above on the choice they have over what supports they get.
As observed previously with say over supports, a greater proportion of the NDIS participants report having a lot of choice regarding where they get their supports compared to the comparison group (36 per cent and 16 per cent respectively, Figure 4.12).
Figure 4.12 Person with disability: Amount of choice about where people with disability get their supports by treatment status (Comparison and Trial wave 1, Adults)
Further analyses examining estimated impacts of the NDIS on choice of where supports are obtained corroborate the above observation and suggest an even greater impact of the NDIS on this outcome (Appendix Table A4.18). Using the binary measure of this outcome, NDIS participants were 114 per cent more likely to report having a lot of choice regarding where to obtain their supports compared to those not in the NDIS.
The impact of the NDIS on choice about where supports are obtained was also estimated according to the NDIS participants’ disability type. Table 4.1 shows, for each disability type, the estimated impact of the NDIS on the NDIS participants. We do not observe significant differences in the estimates of the impact of the NDIS across disability.
Table 4.1 Person with disability: Amount of choice about where they get their supports - Conditional average treatment effects by disability type (Trial, Adults)
Note: We remind the reader that an estimated impact (expressed as a percentage) of 100 per cent indicates that, based on the NDIS participants’ survey answers, they are estimated to be twice as likely to report having a lot of choice under the NDIS than they would have if they had not been rolled out into the NDIS.
4.6.2 What do carers think about where supports are obtained?
Impact analyses were also conducted for the impact of the NDIS on the amount of choice carers have over where supports are obtained. As with the previous outcome (carer say over supports) estimation results are provided for both the binary and continuous measures of choice. Distinctions are made between carers of adults and children with disability.
The estimation results of the impact of the NDIS on carer choice over where supports are obtained for the binary outcome indicator are reported in Appendix Tables A4.19 and A4.20. For the carers of adults (Appendix Table A4.19), the estimate of the impact of the NDIS is much smaller than the corresponding estimate obtained directly from people with disability themselves (45 per cent compared to 114 per cent). This discrepancy suggests that adult people with disability and their carers diverge in terms of their assessment of the amount of choice they have over where supports are obtained. A similar discrepancy was not observed in the analyses relating to say over what supports are received. The impact of the NDIS on choice over where supports are obtained was somewhat smaller for carers of children (about 36 per cent, Appendix Table A4.20).
Using the continuous measure of family and carer satisfaction with the amount of choice about where people with disability get their supports, the estimated impact of the NDIS was comparable to that obtained for the previous outcome (satisfaction with the amount of say about what supports the people with disability get). The estimated impact of the NDIS was 14 per cent for the carers of adults and eight per cent for the carers of children (Appendix Tables A4.21 and A4.22 in the appendices).
NDIS participants were not found to benefit equally from the NDIS with regards to this outcome; the impact of the NDIS on choice over where supports are obtained varied across participants’ disability type. Carers of adult NDIS participants with a mental/psychosocial disability were far less likely to report having a lot of choice over their supports compared to overall (13 per cent and 45 per cent respectively, Figure A4.19 in Appendix). Using a continuous measure for choice, the estimated impact of the NDIS on carers of adult people with mental/psychosocial disability was eight per cent (Figure 4.13) and 10 per cent for carers of children with mental/psychosocial disability (Figure 4.14).
Figure 4.13 Carers: Amount of choice about where the person with disability gets supports - Conditional average treatment effects by disability (Trial Adults, continuous measure)
Figure 4.14 Carers: Amount of choice about where the person with disability gets supports - Conditional average treatment effects by disability (Trial, Age 0 -15, continuous measure)
