NDIS Mission Critical: April Edition

Federal Budget

The Federal government handed down the 2025-26 Budget last week. It includes:

$364.5m over 5 years to reform the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) program. From 2029-30, the program will get $150.9m annually.
$151m over four years for the NDIA’s Crack Down on Fraud program. From 2029-30, this program will be funded at $43.8m per year.
$17.1m over 4 years for Accessible Australia Initiative (replacing the Changing Places Initiative).
$7.3m to extend supplementary funding for Legal Aid and NDIS appeals advocacy providers.
$42.3m over the next five years to deliver the National Autism Strategy and implement the Strategy’s Action Plan.
$11m over four years to increase the Disability Australian Apprentice Wage Support subsidy.
$2.4m in 2025–26 to extend the Care Together Program.

Non-compete clauses on the horizon

The government has announced that from 2027 it will take action to stop non‑compete clauses preventing workers from switching to better, higher‑paying jobs. Treasury’s Competition Review heard that minimum wage workers are being sued or threatened with legal action for changing jobs to a competitor or starting their own business. This is said to drag down wages and reduce job mobility. The ban on non-compete clauses will apply to workers earning less than the high-income threshold in the Fair Work Act, currently set at $175,000.

The government says it will also close loopholes that allow businesses to use anti-poaching agreements to block staff from being hired by competitors. The government says it is considering further non‑solicitation clauses for clients and co‑workers, as well as non‑compete clauses for high‑income workers. There will be further consultation on the policy detail, exemptions, penalties and transition arrangements.

Learn more: Cracking down on non-compete clauses to boost wages and productivity.

DSC Annual NDIS Conference

DSC’s Annual NDIS Conference is set to take place in Melbourne and online on May 20-21 2025. Join us to hear from key speakers, including the NDIS Minister, Shadow Minister, NDIS Commissioners, and other prominent speakers. This year’s key themes include:

NDIS reform
The disability ecosystem
Quality and safeguarding
The future of NDIS 2.0

Early bird tickets are available now and sponsorship opportunities are still available.

Learn more: DSC Annual NDIS Conference

New NDIS Rules

The Department of Social Services (DSS) has introduced two new NDIS Rules: one relates to plan variations and assessments, and the other concerns the management of NDIS funds.

The Plan Variation and Reassessment Rules clarify the circumstances under which the NDIA can:

vary a plan in response to a crisis or emergency
make minor variations to a plan including adding new supports, increasing funding levels and budget top ups
change the plan reassessment date
undertake a plan reassessment at the request of a participant or on their own initiative.

The Management of Funding Rules provide more details about when the NDIA can reject a participant or plan nominee’s request to self or plan-manage their funding. The Rules provide more guidance for the NDIA in determining:

if the person managing the budget is likely to spend the funding in accordance with the plan and on NDIS supports
whether self-management poses an unreasonable risk to the participant
whether the participant can use a plan manager.

Learn more:
New Management of Funding Rule
New Rules: Plan Variation and Reassessment

New criminal underpayment laws

Starting on January 1, 2025, new laws came into effect that make intentional underpayment a criminal offence. The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) now has the authority to investigate and refer suspected underpayment offences for prosecution.

An employer may commit a criminal offence if they are required to pay an employee (such as wages or leave) or make payments on behalf of an employee (such as superannuation or salary sacrifice contributions) and intentionally fail to make those payments. To ensure compliance, providers can:

use the Code and the FWO’s Guide to paying employees correctly and the Code to check employees are being paid correctly
use the FWO’s new cooperation agreements guide to learn more about the Cooperation agreement process, including how to request to enter one with the FWO
use the FWO’s free tools and resources, including their calculators to check pay rates
learn more about criminal prosecution.

These criminal offence provisions do not apply to all entitlements for certain employees.

Learn more:

Changes to casual employment rules

As of 26 February 2025, eligible casual employees can submit written notice to their employer requesting a transition to full-time or part-time employment under the new employee choice pathway. To be eligible, the casual employee must have been employed for at least 6 months (12 months if employed by a small business) and believe they no longer meet the requirements of the casual employee definition. Employers can only refuse this notice for specific reasons. The Fair Work Ombudsman has created various templates to assist employees in making this request and to help employers comply with the new regulations.

Employees can use: Notifying your employer that you want to change to permanent employment – checklist and notification template to make a notice under the employee choice pathway.
Employers can use: Responding to an employee’s notice to change to permanent employment – checklist and response template to respond to a notice under this pathway.

Visit the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website for more information as well as other changes already in place at Closing Loopholes.

For a visual overview of changes related to the Closing Loopholes legislation and their implementation dates, check out the FWO’s timeline.

Mandatory registration is coming for platform, SIL and support coordination providers

The NDIS Commission is consulting on the transition to mandatory registration for platform providers, Supported Independent Living (SIL) providers, and support coordinators. Surveys on this topic have recently closed. The final provider forum will take place in April, and Insight reports are expected to be released in June 2025. No changes to mandatory registration will happen before July 1, 2025.

Learn more: What will mandatory registration look like for SIL, support coordination and platform providers?

Changes to PRODA Login

As part of the NDIA’s efforts to combat fraud, they are strengthening their identity verification process. Starting in mid-2025, the Provider Digital Access (PRODA) system will be replaced by the Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM), which is a verification service managed by the Australian Tax Office (ATO). All providers who access NDIS portals will need to create an Australian Government-managed identity, known as myID, in order to log in to RAM.

Providers can start preparing now by creating their myID and will be able to set up their RAM account beginning in mid-2025. For more information, download the NDIA’s factsheet.

NDIS Commission Quarterly Report

The NDIS Commission has released its latest Quarterly Performance Report for the October to December 2024 quarter, highlights include:

The total number of registered providers has increased by 7%, reaching a total of 21,387 registered providers for this quarter.
During this period, there were 1,749 new registrations and 363 de-registrations.
The turnaround time for registration decisions post-audit has significantly improved. New applications have seen a decrease from 340 days to 204 days for certification, and from 56 days to 29 days for verification. Registration renewal decisions have also seen a significant reduction in wait times.
A total of 2,059 compliance and enforcement activity outcomes were recorded, which included 1,218 refusals of registration and 597 education activities.
Concerns about provider practices remained the most significant issue for participants, comprising 48% of complaints, followed by allegations of abuse and neglect at 18%.
The number of NDIS participants associated with regulated restricted practice notifications remains relatively unchanged at 2.2%.

The NDIS Commission's Quarterly Performance Report is available on the NDIS Commission website.

Super guarantee increases to 12% on 1 July 2025

The super guarantee will increase from its current 11.5% to 12% on 1 July 2025. Employers are obligated to pay the required super guarantee amount for each worker by the quarterly due date. Organisations can establish whether a worker is eligible for super using the ATO tool, including using the contributions calculator to establish the correct amount to contribute. More details and resources are available on the ATO website.

NSW Portable Long Service Leave

The NSW Government is introducing a new portable long service leave scheme on 1 July 2025. Under the new scheme, those who do eligible work in the community services industry can accrue long service leave across different jobs, employers and contracts. Eligible workers can submit a claim for long service leave after seven years of service even if they've worked for more than one employer, and irrespective of whether they are full-time, part-time or casual. Employers captured under the scheme will be required to register once it commences. You can find more information at the Long Service Corporation website.

Queensland implements mandatory sexual harassment prevention plans

Under Work Health and Safety Regulations a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), such as an employer, must proactively manage the risk of sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment at work. From 1 March 2025, PCBUs in Queensland have an additional requirement to prepare and implement a prevention plan. The obligation applies where a risk of sexual harassment has been identified, and control measures are needed to eliminate or minimise the risk. PCBUs can choose to use their existing systems and processes or a prevention plan template developed by Worksafe Queensland. Find more information, prevention plan templates, examples and communication kits on the Worksafe QLD website.

Got a question for our NDIS experts?

‘Ask DSC’ is our regular newsletter column where we answer audience questions.

We’re turning July into Ask DSC month, where we power through as many of your questions as possible.

We can answer questions on:

The new NDIS Act, policy changes, PACE and the PAPL
Provider viability and business operations
Compliance, quality, and safeguarding
Delivering NDIS supports, including: support coordination, psychosocial recovery coaching, plan management, SDA, SIL, ILO, STA, group services, therapy supports and early intervention.
NDIS planning, eligibility and eligibility reassessments
Report writing and evidence collection
And more!

We can’t answer questions related to:

A participant’s or provider's individual circumstances
Legal or financial advice

Submit your question: Ask DSC