In The Media | 7 November 2016

NDIS problems continue despite costly investigation

The federal government has spent more than $400,000 on analysing risks and problems with the National Disability Insurance Scheme over the past three months, according to documents obtained under freedom of information laws.

The documents show the Department of Social Services spent $355,000 on a report by PwC Australia into the scheme’s IT system that caused widespread disruption to payments when it was introduced in July.

A further $66,000 was spent on an independent review by senior public servant Robyn Kruk into the readiness of the NDIS for the transition to full roll out across Australia. The review was distributed to a meeting of state and territory ministers in September but has not been publicly released.

A DSS spokeswoman confirmed the accuracy of the figures.

The National Disability Insurance Agency, which administers the scheme, received more than 2000 complaints about the IT system in the first two months of the program’s roll out, the documents show.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald