The NDIA’s annual pricing review has been completed and the 2023/24 Pricing Arrangement and Pricing Limits (PAPL) document has been released! There have been some important pricing changes that will take effect from 1 July 2023. This article details these updates and what they mean for participants and providers.
Price limits for supports provided by disability support workers will receive an increase of 5.3% that takes into account:
- The Fair Work Commission’s increase to minimum award wages by 5.75%. This increase has been met in full by the NDIA to workers employed under the relevant award, meaning providers don’t need to cover it themselves. This change will also cover level 1 support coordination (support connection).
- An extension of the temporary loading for a further 12 months at 1%, which sees a drop from 2% last year. This arrangement will end on 1 July 2024.
- Inclusion of paid family and domestic violence leave of 0.1% which reflects the new National Employment Standards entitlements for workers.
- Passing on the full increase in superannuation guarantee charge of 0.5%.
You can read the updated Disability Support Worker (DSW) cost model in its entirety here.
Therapy supports
After extensive market analysis and consultation, there have been no changes made to the pricing arrangements and limits for therapy supports. The NDIA says extensive benchmarking analysis reveals the current NDIS price limit of $193.99 is above the full average hourly cost that most therapy professionals charge. This may not be reflective of what participants believe, many of whom find it difficult to find allied health and therapy services. Further, many therapists choose to remain unregistered because the NDIA price cap doesn’t cover the costs to become registered.
Support Coordination and Plan Management supports
- Level 1 support connection will be indexed in keeping with the NDIS’ DSW cost model.
- There will be no adjustment made to the pricing for support coordination level 2 and 3 (support coordination and specialist support coordination) or plan management. From our perspective, this is a disappointing outcome.
These updates give rise to concerns around the future and role of level 1 support connection by increasing its price but not levels 2 and 3? We are looking forward to learning the outcome of the greater NDIS review or from the NDIA around what this price freeze means.
Other important updates
- The price limit for other supports will be increased by 4.36% from 1 July 2023.
- The Temporary Transformation Payment (TTP) loading will drop from 3% to 1.5% as expected and cease from 1 July 2024.
- It was confirmed that providers delivering group and centre based activities need to use either transitional pricing or apportioned pricing. This update confirms that a provider has to use the same approach for all group supports.
- The NDIA has also released the outcomes of its Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) Pricing Review 2022-23 and new benchmark price changes for SDA will take effect from 1 July 2023.
- The full 94 pages of the Annual Pricing Review, giving context and reasons for all these changes, is available to read here.
This year’s price review will have a significant impact on the operations of many providers. What is a concern is the uncertainty of the future funding and support to support coordination, specialist support coordination and plan management. The final NDIS Review report and recommendations will hopefully reveal different cost models and support for our sector. You can download the full 2023/24 Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits documents here.
Image: Egor – stock.adobe.com
