2023-24 Budget: Key initiatives for the NDIS and Aged Care

May 10th 2023

The federal government’s 2023-24 budget, handed down on 9 May, includes significant investments in the disability and aged care sector.

Let’s look at the highlights.

$910 million over four years for the NDIS

The Government is investing a total of $910 million over four years from 2023-24 to improve the NDIS and support people with disability.

This includes a $732.9 million investment to lift the NDIA’s capability, capacity and systems to better support participants.

“We have listened to the concerns of the community and recognise that genuine change is required to deliver a Scheme that works for people with disability,” said NDIS Minister Bill Shorten in his statement.

Capability: $429.5 million investment in the NDIA’s workforce capability and systems
Better planning: $73.4 million to better support participants to manage their plan within budget
Flexibility: $63.8 million to take a lifetime approach to ensure plans are more transparent and flexible for life events
Independent living: $56.4 million to strengthen supported independent living decisions, including by introducing a home and living panel to improve consistency across decisions and updating guidelines for planners
Evidence-based supports: $29.3 million to support the quality and effectiveness of services and improve oversight of services
Blended payment trial: $24.6 million to work with participants and providers to trial blended payment models, to increase incentives for providers to innovate service delivery and improve outcomes
First Nations and remote communities: $7.6 million to pilot approaches to partner with communities to improve access to supports in remote and First Nations communities
Fraud: $48.3 million to crack down on fraud and non-compliant payments in the Scheme

Sustainability Framework

Minister Shorten also announced that the National Cabinet has committed to an NDIS Financial Sustainability Framework.

The Framework will provide an annual growth target in the total costs of the Scheme of no more than 8 percent by 1 July 2026, with further moderation of growth as the Scheme matures.

Funding for the Scheme is expected to double between 2022–23 and 2030–31.

15% pay rise for aged care workers

The Government is allocating $11.3 billion to support the Fair Work Commission’s decision to provide an interim increase of 15 percent to award wages for many aged care workers.

This is the largest ever wage increase for aged care, with more than 250,000 workers set to benefit from this decision in the new financial year.

International students working in the aged care sector are also exempted from the capped fortnightly work hour limit until 31 December 2023.

Aged Care Budget initiatives

In addition to a wage increase for workforce, the Budget also supports the following initiatives:

Improve provider regulation through a new regulatory model, to be reflected in a new Aged Care Act. The Budget includes $81.9 million to develop and implement this new Act to support sector reform.
Establish a new Aged Care Taskforce to review aged care funding arrangements and develop options to make the system fair and equitable for all Australians
Develop the final design of the Support at Home program, postponed to commence on 1 July 2025, allowing for further refinement of the program’s design. (We have written about this in a previous post.)
Invest $166.8 million to provide an additional 9,500 home care packages.
Put older people at the centre of residential aged care, assigning care places to people.
Introduce new initiatives for GPs to provide care to residents through My Medicare.
Ensure long term sustainability for the aged care system, with providers monitored for financial risk and viability
Improve access to high quality aged care for First Nations elders and boost provider support and worker training to build care capacity. This includes $52.1 million to increase the funding available to aged care providers in very remote areas and $1.7 million to appoint an interim First Nations Aged Care Commissioner.