NDIS FAQ
What is the NDIS?
The National Disability Insurance Scheme is a government initiative implemented to provide financial assistance to hundreds of thousands of Australians with a significant and permanent disability and their families and carers.
The NDIS is designed to assist people with disabilities to live more independently. The NDIS will provide $41.9 billion to over 500,000 Australians who have permanent and significant disability in 2023/24, growing to $89.4 billion by 2031/32.
What is a NDIS Participant?
A ‘Participant’ is a person with a disability who has been accepted into the National Disability Insurance Scheme and receives funding to purchase supports and services that will help them achieve their goals.
What is a NDIS Provider?
A ‘provider’ is a person or business, registered with the NDIS to offer support and services to a Participant.
What is SDA?
Some Participants in the NDIS will receive funding for SDA. SDA stands for ‘Specialised Disability Accommodation’ and is a system created under the NDIS for people with high support housing needs to ensure they are able to live independently and also receive support they require whilst at home in specially designed or adapted homes to help deliver their support needs. The funding for SDA housing has been allocated to allow these Participants to live seamlessly in society, relieving pressure on nursing homes and aged care facilities as well as families who have been supporting their loved ones in the family home but are finding
it increasingly difficult to do so in homes that are inadequately designed to suitably house Participants with very high support needs.
What is SIL?
Supported Independent Living (SIL) is help or supervision with daily tasks to help a Participant live as independently as possible, while building skills.
What is the difference between SDA & SIL?
Supported Independent Living (SIL) is funding
for the support or supervision of daily tasks
to live independently. Specialist Disability Accommodation
(SDA), is the ‘bricks and mortar’
component – funding for housing for people
with a disability who have severe functional
impairment or highly complex support needs
that require specialist housing alternatives.
Can you have SDA without SIL?
The NDIS recognise most people who need SIL are able to live in an ordinary home that is already available and does not need modification. Most people who will have SIL approved as a reasonable and necessary support in their plan will not need SDA.
What is RRC?
This is a Reasonable Rental Contribution (RRC) paid by the tenant, capped at 25% of the base rate of the Disability Support Pension and 100% of any Commonwealth Rental Assistance scheme. This is the same for the participant no matter where they live; it is approximately $10,911 p/a per Participant.
How do I receive my payments from a SDA Investment Property?
The SDA payment from the NDIS is a standardised annual amount calculated based on the dwellings location, size and level of accessibility.
This is on a per Participant basis. As for all NDIS support, Registered Providers can make a claim for SDA payment after that support has been delivered or provided. Standard claiming frequency for SDA is monthly, however the frequency can be flexible as long as it is in arrears. Owners should be paid monthly, in arrears from the SDA.
Each Participant’s payment is made up of 3 parts • Reasonable Rent Contribution (RRC): (25% of base disability supplement) • 100% Commonwealth Rent Assistance • NDIS SDA Payment (Refer to the NDIS SDA Payments Schedule in this eBook)
Who qualifies for SDA Funding and Accommodation?
The NDIS provides the SDA funding for people whose disability or ongoing very high support needs require special accommodation which enables them to receive housing, care and onsite support by their career. There are 4 levels of NDIS SDA homes each designed for a different level of disability and care:
• Improved Livability
• Fully Accessible
• Robust
• High Physical Support.
What is the Shortage Of Suitable Housing for NDIS Participants requiring SDA?
There is a huge shortage of suitable accommodation currently available for NDIS participants. A detailed study of the undersupply of NDIS housing in 2020 by The Summer Foundation noted, there were 17,500 existing SDANDIS FAQs
residents (pre-NDIS) however, only a minor number of these residents were in dedicated SDA homes. And with more than 28,000 SDA places required across Australia, the estimated undersupply of SDA places was over 7,700. Two years on, and this shortfall has undoubtedly increased.
Is the SDA Funding Here to Stay?
Yes. The SDA funding under the NDIS is a legislated commitment of Australia’s Commonwealth, State and Territory governments. The legislative framework for providing SDA to participants under the NDIS, including the criteria for when a participant will have SDA included in their NDIS plan, the dwellings that
can be used for SDA and the payments that will be paid to providers of SDA are set out in:
(i) the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (the NDIS Act) and the NDIS Rules under the Act, including the NDIS (Specialist Disability Accommodation) Rules 2020 (SDA Rules) and the NDIS (Specialist Disability Accommodation Conditions) Rule 2018 (SDA NDIS Q&SC Rule), which incorporate the NDIS (Specialist Disability Accommodation Conditions) Amendment Rules 2020;
(ii) this NDIS Pricing Arrangements for SDA; and
(iii) the general NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits.
2. This NDIS Pricing Arrangements for SDA isreferred to as the SDA Price Guide in the SDARules and contains further detail regardingthe Design Categories and Building Types describedin the SDA Rules.
3. This NDIS Pricing Arrangements for SDA also sets out the price limits for particular SDA types and locations, including allowances for features.
This legislation provides the foundation for government’s long-term and firm commitment to SDA funding under the NDIS. Beyond the legislative commitment, SDA funding enables eligible Participants to achieve better outcomes while representing value for money for the NDIS, saving the government and
taxpayers a lot of money otherwise spent on accommodating the Participants themselves.
Can the Govt cut or reduce the NDIS payments mid-way through the 20-year term?
There’s a bipartisan agreement that’s been
signed off by all the parties in Canberra – the
scheme has a 20 year timeframe of NDIS Certification.
All the States and Territories also are
unified in this program to ensure federal funding
goes where it’s supposed to go.
Why is there a Government initiative?
The SDA policy is an ambitious initiative requiring $5billion to build housing. Government cannot achieve this and thus launched the $700million a year NDIS Scheme to create an investor and user driven market. Empowering people with disability to decide where they live and who they live with.
The package of support includes annual funding to pay for the cost of their housing where the Participant has a separate amount in their package to
pay for their attendant care support needs to live independently in our communities. It is anticipate that the SDA pricing and frame-work for New Builds will continue for 20 years, after which your property will revert to the Existing Build pricing.
