Workpower opposes Bill to reduce access to structured supports (Provider advocacy)

Submission 2517

10 July 2026

Committee Secretary

Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs

PO Box 6100

Parliament House

Canberra ACT 2600

Re: National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS

for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Dear Committee Secretary,

Workpower welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission on the National

Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future

Generations) Bill 2026.

Workpower strongly opposes the Bill in its current form.

While Workpower supports a sustainable National Disability Insurance Scheme

(NDIS), we are concerned that the Bill may reduce access to the structured, goal based supports that help people with disability build skills, increase independence, participate in their communities and move towards employment.

For more than 30 years, Workpower has supported people with disability across Western Australia to realise their potential. Our services are designed around important areas of life: School, Learn, Work and Life. Through these services, customers build confidence, develop practical skills, gain work experience, participate in their communities and work towards greater independence.

The NDIS must be sustainable, but sustainability cannot be achieved by reducing supports that deliver clear outcomes for people with disability, families, communities and government.

Workpower’s position

Workpower recommends that the Bill not proceed in its current form.

At a minimum, the Bill should be substantially amended following genuine consultation and co-design with people with disability, families, carers, providers and the broader disability community.

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Any reform to the NDIS must protect:

• access to structured capacity-building supports

• social and community participation that is linked to goals and outcomes

• employment pathways for people with disability

• participant choice and control

• trusted relationships between customers, families and providers

• review and appeal rights

• regional access to services

• the sustainability of high-quality disability services

• adequate sequencing so that funding reductions do not take effect before alternative supports are operational

• fair pricing that recognises the cost of quality, registered service delivery

1. Structured supports build independence and reduce long-term reliance

Workpower is concerned that the Bill may reduce access to the supports that help people with disability build skills, independence and confidence over time.

For Workpower customers, NDIS supports are not passive activities or optional extras. They are structured programs that help people work towards specific goals.

These goals may include:

• learning to travel more independently

• building confidence in social settings

• practising communication and interpersonal skills

• developing daily living skills

• preparing for work

• gaining work experience

• contributing at home through cooking, planning meals or taking on family roles

• joining community activities with confidence

• building routines that support wellbeing and independence

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These outcomes are important for customers and families. They also support the long-term sustainability of the NDIS by helping people build capacity, reduce reliance on informal care and avoid more intensive supports later.

2. Community participation must be understood as capacity building, not recreation

Workpower is particularly concerned that social and community participation supports may be misunderstood or undervalued in reform discussions.

Some community participation supports across the sector have been criticised as passive activities, such as “shopping trips” or people being kept busy without a clear purpose. Workpower agrees that government investment should deliver meaningful outcomes.

However, this is not how Workpower delivers community and social participation.

Workpower’s approach is structured, goal-based and outcome-focused. Community participation is connected to a customer’s plan, goals and skill development. It is used as a practical setting where people can build confidence, practise communication, develop independence, learn to navigate social situations and contribute to community life.

For example, a customer may participate in a community activity to practise travel skills, build confidence when interacting with others, strengthen decision making, learn to manage money or develop skills that support future employment. Another customer may work on life skills that help them contribute more at home, such as planning meals, shopping for ingredients, cooking safely or taking on a meaningful family role.

This distinction matters.

When delivered well, community participation is not recreation for recreation’s sake. It is a pathway to independence, confidence, connection and contribution.

Workpower is concerned that the proposed reductions to Social, Community and Civic Participation (SCCP) funding apply across the board, regardless of how supports are delivered. This penalises registered providers that are already

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delivering structured, group-based, outcome-focused services with efficient staffing ratios and strong safeguarding obligations.

The Bill should differentiate based on delivery model and quality, rather than applying blanket reductions to an entire support category.

3. Government investment should support providers that deliver measurable outcomes

Workpower supports reform that improves the quality, integrity and value of NDIS services. Government has a responsibility to ensure NDIS funding is used well.

However, reducing or narrowing access to community participation and capacity-building supports risks penalising providers that are already delivering structured, purposeful and outcome-focused services.

A better approach is to strengthen expectations around quality and outcomes.

The NDIS should support providers to demonstrate how services help people with disability build skills, increase independence and work towards their goals. This would allow government to distinguish between passive, activity-based supports and structured supports that deliver real value.

Workpower believes the Scheme should invest in services that help people with disability:

• build independence
• increase confidence
• develop work and life skills
• participate safely in the community
• reduce isolation
• strengthen family and social connections
• move towards employment where this is a goal
• contribute at home, at work and in the community This approach delivers better outcomes for participants and better value for government.

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However, quality comes at a cost. Registered providers carry additional obligations, including compliance, training, quality systems, safeguarding and workforce requirements. Pricing reform should recognise these costs, rather than simply discounting unregistered providers while expecting registered providers to absorb the difference. If the Government wants quality, it must fund quality.

4. Capacity-building supports are a long-term investment Workpower strongly supports capacity-building supports because they help people with disability develop skills that can be used throughout life.

Through Workpower’s Learn, Work and Life programs, customers can build practical skills for home, work and community settings. This includes everyday life skills, work readiness, social skills, confidence, communication, teamwork, travel training, digital skills and pathways to employment.

These supports can reduce long-term reliance by helping people do more for themselves, make choices with confidence and participate more fully in everyday life.

Reducing access to capacity-building supports may create short-term savings, but it risks increasing long-term costs. Without the right supports, people may become more isolated, families may face greater pressure and customers may lose opportunities to build independence and employment pathways.

5. Employment supports must be protected Employment is a central part of Workpower’s purpose and service model.

Workpower supports people with disability to explore employment pathways, build workplace skills, gain work experience and participate in paid work. Employment supports are not only about earning income. They help people build confidence, independence, routine, social connection and a stronger sense of contribution.

For some customers, employment may begin through school transition supports, work learning programs, volunteering, work experience, supported employment or other structured pathways. These steps are often gradual and require consistent support over time.

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The Bill must not reduce access to the supports that help people with disability prepare for work, find work, keep work and continue building their skills.

Protecting employment pathways is good for participants, families, employers, communities and government.

Workpower is concerned that the proposed 10% reduction to capacity-building supports could affect employment-related funding lines, including Finding a Job, Keeping a Job, school-leaver employment pathways and skills development.

We also note that many participants benefit from transition pathways. This includes moving from full-time employment into a sustainable mix of work and community participation, or vice versa. These transitions depend on stable SCCP and capacity-building funding. If that funding is cut, transition pathways become unviable and participants are left with fewer options.

The Bill should explicitly protect employment-related capacity building from funding reductions and recognise that transition pathways between employment and community participation are legitimate and should be supported, not undermined.

Many Workpower customers are now ageing and approaching retirement. For people with intellectual disability, retirement is not a single event. It is a gradual transition that must be carefully planned and supported.

Workpower uses a blend of employment and community participation to support this transition. Customers may reduce their work hours over time while increasing their involvement in community programs. This approach maintains routine, purpose and social connection during a period of significant change.

Critically, it also protects the continuity of friendships. Many people with intellectual disability have built long-standing relationships with colleagues, support workers and peers through their participation in Workpower programs. A sudden shift from employment to an unfamiliar community setting, or no setting at all, risks severing these relationships and increasing isolation.

The Bill’s proposed reductions to SCCP funding threaten the viability of this transition model. If community participation funding is cut before people have

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completed their transition from employment, they may be left without meaningful activity, social connection or support.

Retirement transitions for people with intellectual disability should be recognised as a legitimate use of both employment and community participation funding. Blended models that support gradual change and protect relationships must be preserved.

6. Families and carers should not be expected to absorb reduced supports

Workpower is concerned that reduced NDIS supports would place greater pressure on families and carers.

Many families already provide significant unpaid support. If structured NDIS supports are reduced, families may be expected to fill the gap. This can increase stress, reduce workforce participation and place pressure on family relationships.

Workpower’s services help customers build independence in practical and meaningful ways. When customers learn to travel more independently, contribute at home, participate in community life or build employment skills, families benefit too.

These supports should be recognised as investments in both individual independence and family sustainability.

7. Choice, control and trusted relationships must remain central Choice and control are core principles of the NDIS. They must remain central to any reform.

Workpower customers and families rely on trusted relationships with providers and support teams. These relationships help create consistency, safety and confidence. They also allow providers to understand a customer’s goals, strengths, communication style and support needs.

This is particularly important when customers are building skills over time. Progress often comes through repetition, encouragement and support from people who know the customer well.

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Reform must protect the ability of people with disability and families to choose providers that understand their goals and deliver supports in a way that works for them.

8. Review rights and transparent decision-making must be protected Workpower is concerned about any measures that may weaken transparency, review rights or procedural fairness.

Participants and families must receive clear explanations for decisions that affect access, funding and supports. They must also have accessible pathways to review decisions.

Any assessment of a person’s support needs must consider their individual goals, circumstances, functional capacity and long-term development. It must also recognise that building skills does not mean a person no longer needs support.

A person may become more independent because the right supports are in place. Reform should not create a disincentive for progress by removing supports when they are helping a person achieve their goals.

Workpower is also concerned that the Bill gives the Minister broad powers to make “support determinations”, which are rules that define which supports are fundable and at what level, without a vote in Parliament. Some of these instruments cannot be overturned by Parliament, even if they cause significant harm.

Combined with expanded automated decision-making and weakened appeal rights, this creates systemic risk. If something goes wrong, it could affect thousands of people before problems become visible.

All support determinations made under the Bill should be subject to parliamentary disallowance so that large-scale funding changes can be reviewed and overturned if they cause harm.

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9. Regional access must be recognised Workpower provides services across metropolitan and regional Western Australia. Regional customers can face additional barriers, including travel distances, limited service options and workforce shortages.

Any reform to the NDIS must recognise these realities. A one-size-fits-all approach may disadvantage people with disability who already have fewer choices and fewer local supports.

Changes to planning, funding or claiming rules must be tested against their impact on regional customers, families and providers.

10. Reform must be co-designed with people with disability and quality providers

Workpower is concerned that the Bill has progressed without adequate consultation and meaningful co-design with people with disability, families, carers and providers.

NDIS reform must be shaped by the people who use and deliver the Scheme. This includes people with disability, their families, providers delivering structured and outcome-focused supports, and communities across metropolitan and regional areas.

The legislative process should be slowed to allow for proper consultation, accessible information and genuine co-design.

11. The proposed Inclusive Communities Fund does not provide sufficient protection for people with high support needs

Workpower does not support the proposed establishment of the Inclusive Communities Fund in its current form.

The proposed $200 million grant program is intended to rebuild and strengthen community-based supports for NDIS participants. However, there is insufficient detail about how the fund would be designed, administered or made accessible across metropolitan, regional and remote communities.

This lack of detail prevents people with disability, families, providers and community organisations from properly assessing whether the fund would meet

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the needs of people with disability who require significant support to participate in community activities.

Many people with disability, particularly those with high support needs, cannot independently access community programs. They may require trained support workers to assist with transport, communication, personal care, behaviour support, decision-making, safety and participation in activities.

Providing grants to thousands of community organisations across Australia does not, by itself, ensure inclusion. Unless funding includes the skilled supports required for people to attend and participate, the proposed model risks creating programs that are available in theory but inaccessible in practice.

There is also a risk that shifting responsibility to community organisations could fragment supports and weaken the trusted relationships that participants have developed with experienced disability service providers. Community organisations may not have the workforce, disability expertise, safeguarding systems or resources required to support people with complex or high support needs.

Any community-based funding model must ensure that people with disability are not expected to independently navigate, access or participate in programs without the supports they require.

Before proceeding with the Inclusive Communities Fund, the Government should provide clear details about:

• how people with high and complex support needs will be supported to access programs

• whether funding will cover the support workers required for meaningful participation

• how services will be made available across metropolitan, regional and remote communities

• the accessibility, safeguarding and workforce standards that funded organisations must meet

• how continuity of support and trusted provider relationships will be protected

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• how the fund will complement, rather than replace, individualised NDIS supports

Without these safeguards, the Inclusive Communities Fund risks excluding the people who require the greatest level of support to participate in community life.

12. Funding reductions must not proceed before alternatives are in place

The Bill proposes significant reductions to Social, Community and Civic Participation funding starting as early as October 2026.

At the same time, the Government has announced a $200 million Inclusive Communities Fund to build mainstream community capacity to include people with disability.

However, there is no detail about how the Fund will work. There is no information about which organisations will be funded, what services will be available, where they will be available or when they will commence. The funding cuts are scheduled to begin before any community alternatives are in place.

This creates a real risk that participants will lose access to supports with nowhere else to go. Reducing NDIS funding does not reduce disability-related need. It simply shifts costs onto individuals, families and already stretched community services.

SCCP funding reductions should be delayed until community alternatives are operational and have been independently evaluated. The Government should be required to publish evidence that community capacity exists before reducing individual funding.

Workpower’s recommendations

Workpower recommends that the Committee:

1. Reject the Bill in its current form or require substantial amendments before it proceeds.

2. Slow the legislative process and undertake genuine co-design with people with disability, families, carers, providers and the broader disability community.

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3. Protect social and community participation supports that are linked to customer goals, skill development and measurable outcomes.

4. Distinguish between passive, activity-based supports and structured, outcome-focused programs that build independence and capacity.

5. Exempt group-based community participation delivered by registered providers from blanket SCCP funding reductions, recognising that these services already operate at efficient ratios and meet quality and safeguarding obligations.

6. Protect capacity-building supports that help people with disability develop life skills, confidence, social skills, employment skills and independence.

7. Protect employment pathways for people with disability, including school transition, work readiness, work experience, supported employment and ongoing workplace supports.

8. Explicitly protect employment-related capacity building, including Finding a Job, Keeping a Job and skills development, from funding reductions.

9. Recognise transition pathways between employment and community participation as legitimate and fundable, including retirement transitions for ageing participants, ensuring people can move sustainably between work and other life goals without losing access to supports, routines or established relationships.

10. Preserve participant choice and control, including the right to choose trusted providers and support arrangements.

11. Ensure government investment is directed towards quality services that deliver clear outcomes for participants and long-term value for the Scheme.

12. Protect review and appeal rights, including by providing clear reasons for decisions and accessible review pathways, and ensure that all support determinations made under the Bill are subject to parliamentary disallowance.

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13. Strengthen independent oversight of automated decision-making within the NDIA.

14. Recognise the additional access barriers faced by regional participants and providers.

15. Ensure any fraud, quality or integrity measures target poor practice without reducing participants’ access to effective supports.

16. Undertake transparent modelling of the downstream costs of reducing structured supports, including impacts on families, employment, health, housing and crisis systems.

17. Delay SCCP funding reductions until the $200 million Inclusive Communities Fund is operational, with published eligibility criteria, details of funded organisations, an independent evaluation of community readiness and evidence that mainstream community capacity exists.

18. Apply differentiated pricing that recognises the true cost of registered, quality service delivery, including compliance, training, safeguarding and workforce obligations.

Conclusion

Workpower supports a strong, fair and sustainable NDIS.

However, the future of the Scheme cannot be secured by reducing access to the structured supports that help people with disability build skills, increase independence, participate in their communities and move towards employment.

Community and social participation should not be dismissed as low-value activity. When delivered well, it is a powerful pathway to confidence, contribution and independence.

Funding reductions must not proceed before community alternatives are in place, tested and proven to work. Registered providers delivering quality, structured supports should not be penalised by blanket cuts designed to address problems elsewhere in the system.

Workpower urges the Committee to reject the Bill in its current form and recommend a slower, more transparent and genuinely co-designed reform

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process that protects high-quality, outcome-focused supports for people with disability.

Yours sincerely,

Lee Broomhall

Chief Executive Officer

Workpower