NDIS Access: A Snapshot Isn’t Enough

MIFA has made a submission to the Australian Government’s consultation on changes to how functional capacity will be evidenced and measured for access to the NDIS.

At the centre of MIFA’s submission is a critical concern: a static assessment cannot adequately capture the episodic and fluctuating nature of psychosocial conditions.

A person may present very differently across time. Someone who appears functionally capable during an assessment may be significantly impacted at another point. MIFA argues that this variability needs to be recognised in the way NDIS access decisions are made not used as evidence that someone’s impairment is not permanent or that ongoing support is unnecessary.

MIFA is calling for the Functional Capacity Assessment framework to be genuinely co-designed with people with lived experience and community mental health providers; designed to account for episodic and fluctuating presentation; and supported by evidence requirements that recognise treatment complexity, barriers to accessing mental health care, and the realities of living in regional, rural and remote Australia.

The submission also argues that these changes cannot be considered in isolation from cuts to Social, Civic and Community Participation funding and existing gaps in psychosocial supports outside the NDIS.

Read MIFA’s full submission and five recommendations below.