NSW Children Risk Losing Disability Support Under NDIS Changes

Sydney — Children aged nine and older with low to moderate disability support needs in New South Wales (NSW) risk losing access to essential services when changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) take effect on 1 January 2028, Wesley Mission has warned.

The warning was presented to a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People, with the organisation calling for funded services to bridge the gap between early childhood support and assistance available to older children.

Wesley Mission Managing Director of Community Services, Bay Warburton, said the planned Thriving Kids programme for children aged eight and under was welcome, but warned that there was no funded next phase for those who continued to need assistance as they grew older.

“A child should be blowing out candles on their ninth birthday, not watching the support they rely on disappear,” Warburton said.

He said children making progress through existing support programmes could face disruption if suitable services were unavailable when they became ineligible for particular forms of assistance.

The parliamentary committee had previously recommended funded transition pathways for children turning nine.

However, the NSW Government did not support the recommendation, instead indicating that families would receive information about available pathways, according to Wesley Mission.

Warburton said information alone would not help families if the services they needed were not available.

“You cannot refer a family to a service that has not been funded,” he said.

The organisation is urging the NSW Government to begin designing and funding foundational support services for school-aged children in 2027, allowing them to be operational before the NDIS changes take effect.

It is also calling for social and community participation support to be protected for people who lose NDIS funding or cannot access the scheme, alongside funded navigation services to help families maintain continuity of care.

Wesley Mission further wants the government to estimate and publish the number of people likely to fall outside both the Thriving Kids programme and the reformed NDIS, including their locations and support requirements.

The organisation warned that people who lose NDIS-funded social and community assistance could face isolation if alternative services were not established.

“Being able to leave the house, make friends and be part of your community is not a luxury. For many people with disability, it is a lifeline,” Warburton said.

He said the impact of the reforms should be assessed by whether people continued receiving the assistance they needed, rather than by the number of people leaving the NDIS.

Wesley Mission also warned that reducing support could place additional pressure on schools, hospitals and crisis services if families were unable to access help elsewhere.

The inquiry heard how the proposed changes could affect a 12-year-old boy in the Blue Mountains who is receiving assistance from Wesley Mission to return to school and rebuild his connection with education.

Wesley Mission Operations Manager, William Van Trump, said withdrawing that support could reverse the progress the child had made.

“We are helping this young boy get back into the classroom and rebuild his connection with school. Take away that support and we risk undoing his progress,” Van Trump told the inquiry.