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Update February 2019: The new pricing tier is now in effect. Read more about it here.
The NDIA will today announce a new pricing tier for self-care, social and recreational support for Participants with "very complex" support needs.
The long overdue new loading will be set at 10.3% and will be effective from February 2019. The Australian has reported that around 10% of Participants will be funded for supports at this level.
Currently, the prices for self-care, social and recreational support fall into two tiers: standard needs and complex needs, with the high intensity rate set 5.5% higher.
This welcome price increase has come off the back of the Independent Pricing Review (IPR)'s recommendations, which found that the existing pricing levels for Participants with complex needs are insufficient to hire appropriately skilled workers or the necessary ongoing training and supervision.
The second part of this recommendation, which we are sure many of you will be wondering about by now, was that the NDIA needed to be clearer on what is meant by "complexity" to ensure more consistent application of pricing tiers in Participant plans.
The IPR's proposed definitions are included below, though it has not been confirmed whether these definitions will be applied.
Many providers of therapeutic supports will still be eagerly awaiting the outcome of the Pricing Review's investigation into prices for therapy. Assistant Minister for Social Services, Sarah Henderson, has said that the new plan for these prices will be released “in the coming months”.
