Lite n’ Easy Submission to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024 [Provisions]

Date:

17 May 2024

Recipient:

Committee Secretary Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600

Lite n’ Easy welcomes the opportunity to comment on the proposed Getting the NDIS Back on Track’ Bill, and agrees to this submission being publicly available.

The NDIS Review has looked comprehensively at the functions of Australia’s disability support system, to put together a practical approach to inform the design of a sustainable disability support ecosystem which puts people with disability at the centre.

As an approved NDIS service provider, Lite n’ Easy is pleased to see progress from Government in advancing the recommendations of the Review, with this amendment which represents a first step in a series of improvements that will be made to the NDIS as a whole.

The Getting the NDIS Back on Track Bill seeks to address challenges in the existing framework of the scheme, including an important reframing to become more person-centred and flexible. We support this approach and agree it will contribute to a stronger and more sustainable system, as long as it continues to protect the choice and supports participants access.

Lite n’ Easy acknowledges the Government has been clear that there is still much work to be done to inform the operationalisation of this most fundamental change, and to that end provides this submission to contribute to this ongoing conversation.

Lite n’ Easy as a NDIS Provider:

• Lite n’ Easy supports some 646,000 active participates receiving NDIS funding.
• Participants able to access funds for meal preparation and delivery via core supports and flexible funding, with over half of NDIS participants opting for a plan managed Lite n’ Easy service,
• Just under a third choosing self-management, and the remainder being agency managed.

The NDIS needs to be a sustainable, viable system to ensure that people with disability can access the care and support they need. Working within the NDIS Framework, we appreciate the importance of a robust system which ensures appropriate funds management, and seeks to prioritise the discharge of NDIS support funds as efficiently to participants as possible. As a provider we are always seeking to maximise the benefit participants receive through using our service.

Change and reform – while welcome and necessary to guarantee the sustainability of the NDIS – creates anxiety for participants. Our priority in this reform process is ensuring that our participants can retain the critical support they need with a sustainable framework for the future.

The NDIS Review and proposed Reforms

Lite n’ Easy is in alignment with the Government and Independent NDIS Review’s aim to restore trust, confidence, and pride in the Scheme and to ensure recipients are empowered and supported.

NDIS services should rightly empower participants to live life independently, and the Review highlighted the need for engagement with markets and support systems to be empowering for participants as well. That is exactly how Lite n’ Easy operates its NDIS service offering, recognising the importance of providing a healthy offering, designed and prepared by dietitians and chefs to ensure recipients nutritional needs are meet, while leaving the fundamental meal choice to the recipients themselves.

Putting choice back into the hands of participants, is foundational to building an inclusive society and Scheme.

Food and nutrition for people with disabilities

The relationship between disability and health conditions is two-way and complex, but broadly speaking cronic health conditions are often associated with some level of disability1.

The AIHW reports that people with disability generally have higher rates of modifiable health risk factors and behaviours (being those factors that can be influenced by a healthier diet for example) than people without disability. However, people with disability often will have more difficulty modifying those risk factors, for example, where extra assistance is needed to achieve a physically active lifestyle, or where medication increases appetite.

Lite n’ Easy supports NDIS participants by providing healthy, nutrition-developed meals. A healthy diet is critical to health, wellbeing, and quality of life. Our offering is inclusive and accessible and provide NDIS participants with meal plans that support their independence and wellbeing.

There is nuance within the NDIS for food and meal preparation, to appropriately support the aspects of meal preparation that a participant reasonably requires without funding the general costs for food that one would be expected to pay for themselves. For this reason, our service is appropriately contributed to by participants, and therefore we do play close attention to ensuring that this service is financially accessible, while retaining quality.

NDIS participants who put their funding towards accessing Lite n’ Easy to support themselves where it is reasonable and necessary must be protected to continue to do this.

Case Study: Myra, 57

Myra developed “Complex Regional Pain”, a rare condition for which there is no single treatment and no cure, which developed rapidly after an accident. Cooking became a very difficult task. Before Lite n’ Easy, Myra’s dinners were very limited to what carers could cook, and were reliant on their scheduling. She also felt that her sense of independence and self-worth suffered greatly.

Whole of Person Funding Will Support Choice and Control

She became a NNDIS participant in 2020 and discovered that Lite n’ Easy was available to her. Myra stated that the meals are very affordable as opposed to having a carer cook for her, and this allows her to better balance her NDIS package budget.

We must not, in the process of reform, make it harder for people to access the support they are entitled to. Change processes relating to assessment and reassessment, as well as funding framework plans which could impact about the services available must be undertaken with consideration of participants.

Whole of person funding will support choice and control

Lite n’ Easy is particularly supportive of the Bill’s intent, and the recommendations of the NDIS Review, that the focus of NDIS funding should be on a ‘whole-of-person’ level. It is important this represents a format through which NDIS funds are channelled appropriately to build the support package a person needs, and that should be reasonably supported under the Scheme.

Lite n’ Easy agrees that this needs-based approach to planning and budget setting is important for the sustainability of the system.

An underpinning of flexible funding will give participants a much higher level of choice and control around identifying and acquiring the supports that best meet their individual needs.

Case Study: David, 53

David is an award-winning artist from Western Australia who lives with Down Syndrome and has support for his family and team of careers. He works tirelessly to help create pathways for other artists with disabilities to take the leap into mainstream exhibition of their work.

David has expressed that previously he had to eat whatever his support workers wanted to cook, but now that Lite n’ Easy is covered under the NDIS plan – he has the freedom to choose what he wants to eat.

Choice and control are at the centre of NDIS Reform. They are also at the centre of Lite n’ Easy’s service provision, which offers over 235 delicious meals, including 70 dinners and a range of flexible meal combinations. This allows participants to select meals based on their preferences while guaranteeing they receive balanced, nutritious meals. Small gains in independence can make a significant difference to a person’s wellbeing, lifestyle and self-worth.

The move to a whole-of-person funding system will theoretically empower participants to spend their funding supports efficiently. Participants who utilise Lite n’Easy identify that they prefer this approach as they have the discretion to choose meals that suit their lifestyle and week, and they are not reliant on carers to eat healthily, even more fundamentally, when they want to. Further, the consistency of meal quality and efficiency it delivers for managing funding are identified by participants as key benefits.

Lite n’ Easy are pleased to see the Government will be developing the new NDIS Rules in consultation with the community. Lite n’ Easy prioritises engagement and feedback from those who use our services to inform our service provision and would welcome opportunities to contribute our insights to the Government’s processes.

Conclusion

Lite n’ Easy welcomes the opportunity to continue to contribute to this important area of reform.

For reform to meet its goal of restoring the NDS to its original intent, making the scheme a better experience for participants, and ensuring it is equitable and sustainable Government, providers and the disability community must work collaboratively. This will ensure we collectively achieve the change we want to see while protecting the important service provisions participants deservedly receive.

Regards,

Nathan Hayman CEO | Lite n’ Easy