The Road to NDIS: Lessons from England about Assessment and Planning
This paper was published in 2012, when Australia was undertaking the design and implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), to reform the way disability support is understood and funded.
In England, there has been a growing public focus on individualised funding arrangements since the mid-1990s; progress has been fast, there have been many important achievements and there have also been mistakes. This paper explores what the governments of Australia might learn about the English experience, to help ensure the NDIS gets the best possible start. In particular, this paper explores what might be learned from the English experience in relation to the design and implementation of approaches to assessment and planning; these represent the acid test of the relationship between the system and the person and the basis on which the person might access resource assistance. While the system can be expected to evolve over time and learn from its experiences - implying the initial mechanisms for assessment and planning will themselves evolve - it is important to start with the assessment and planning arrangements that best reflect the principles the NDIS seeks to live by. These principles include personal control and choice.