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Notes on the data: National Disability Insurance Scheme
National Disability Insurance Scheme participants, June 2023
Policy context: The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) takes a lifetime approach, investing early in people with disability and children with developmental delay to improve their outcomes later in life. Every person living with a disability has different needs and the NDIS provides funds to provide participants with the supports needed for their disability and help working towards their goals [1].
The NDIS, with over 610,000 at 30 June 2023 active participants, also connects anyone with disability to services in their community. This includes connections to doctors, community groups, sporting clubs, support groups, libraries and schools, as well as providing information about what support is provided by each state and territory government [1].
More detail as to the types of funding and support are available from https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/creating-your-plan/plan-budget-and-rules.
The rate of participation in the NDIS rises steeply from birth and peaks between the ages of 5 and 7. At 30 June 2023, there were 99,395 children younger than 7 with an NDIS plan, and a further 14,556 accessing early connections [2]. The number of NDIS participants then declines steadily at age 35, before rising gradually by age 64 [2]. Overall, over half of all NDIS participants were aged 18 years or under [2].
The NDIS workforce is diverse, covering disability support workers, allied health workers and other workers working across a variety of settings. In 2021-22 there were around 325,000 workers supporting NDIS participants, their families and carers [3].
Reference
- National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). National Disability Insurance Scheme [Internet]. URL: https://www.ndis.gov.au/, accessed 20 October 2022.
- National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). National Disability Insurance Scheme [Internet]. URL: https://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/publications/quarterly-reports/archived-quarterly-reports-2022-23, accessed on 08 Feb 2024.
- Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Working together to deliver the NDIS - Independent Review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme: Final Report, October 2023, p.191.
Notes: These data form part of the information in the Social Health Atlas of people living with disability and their access to services. This data set is of participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme; the associated data sets comprise modelled estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2018 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers; and data from the 2021 Census (of the number of people providing unpaid assistance to people with a disability and the number of people with a profound or severe disability, by broad age group and whether they are living in long-term residential accommodation, or in households).
Population Health Area (PHA), Local Government Area (LGA), Primary Health Network (PHN), Quintiles and Remoteness Area were derived from NDIS participants’ data coded to the Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2).
Data are not shown for areas with 20 or fewer NDIS participants.
Indicator detail
The data presented are the number of NDIS participants active as at 30 June 2022.
Geography: Data available by Population Health Area, Local Government Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage of area and Quintiles within PHNs, and Remoteness Area
Numerator: Number of active NDIS participants
Denominator: Total estimated resident population
Detail of analysis: Indirectly age-standardised rate per 100 population; and/or indirectly age-standardised ratio, based on the Australian standard
Source: Compiled by PHIDU based on data from the National Disability Insurance Agency, June 2023 and ABS estimated resident population, 30 June 2022 (population data at June 2023 not available at the time of publication).
