Presbyterian Support Northern (PSN) is calling for greater clarity around funding and improved access to information as part of its submission to Government on the Disability Support System.
The Government has been consulting with the disability sector on how to improve Disability Support Services (DSS), which suffer persistent and unresolved issues. For example, ageing business practices, weak assurance, audit and monitoring functions, and at-risk legacy IT systems.
It is seeking feedback on two topic areas:
- Improving the way the needs of disabled people are assessed, and how support is allocated
- Accessing flexible funding, and how it can be used.
PSN’s feedback is based around managing the expectations of what people can get and when.
In terms of improving the way disabled people are assessed, PSN submits that:
- NASC assessments be more open and clearer on what support can be provided and where the funding will come from.
- Disabled people and their supporters get clear information on what support is available and how they can access it, before they have their needs assessed. This will give them an opportunity to identify what they require and plan accordingly.
- There needs to be better support for parents who have unmet needs related to housing, medical emergencies, finances and ageing.
- Assessments should occur every year for disabled people with high and complex needs as their cicumstances change more quickly. For disabled people with few needs, assessments should be every two years.
- Disabled people should be able to advise their NASC about their increased needs for conditions that deteriorate, eg, Parkinson’s Disease.
- There needs to be assurance that any services that are required for disabled people are actually available for them to access and that easy to understand information is available.
Regarding accessing flexible funding, and how it can be used, PSN submits that:
- Disabled people and their supporters receive guidance on what funding is available and how they can access support. A list of what is available would be helpful to help guide their choice.
- People need clear information on how they can use their funding. For example, greater clarity on what choices flexible funding allows regarding choice of support workers, respite opportunities and local community support. The current rules are very difficult to interpret leading to a lack of a clear conclusion on what is possible.
- Better advice is needed on what is not covered by funding as current rules are difficult to interpret. Also, more support is needed to help people navigate through Government departments.
- Everyone should have the right to try flexible funding - it allows disabled people to access a larger range of opportunities than traditional service providers have available.
- Disabled people should be helped to understand the system that is available before they commit to a plan. This saves time, effort and frustration later on. Life can change quickly for people and plans need to be able to reflect these changes.
- It is important that families and other carers are happy with the opportunities that flexible funding allows.
- A person should be able to use flexible funding to purhase services that reduce their future support needs, eg, purchasing physiotherapy treatment to help keep mobile and out of a wheelchair.
- It is important for disabled people and their carers to have access to information about what is possible with flexible funding and how that relates to what they require before they commit to flexible funding.
The Government’s community consultation ended on 24 March 2025. It will consider feedback and use it to help make decisions to stabilise disability support services before considering further work to strength those supports into the future.