The Disability Sector Brief, November 2025
- ARC Disability Services inc.
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Thriving Kids – Advisory Group Announced October 1st.
The Federal Government recently announced that they would contribute $2bn over 5 years commencing July 2026 to Thriving Kids. There isn’t a lot of detail available yet but the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has announced the members of the new Thriving Kids Advisory Group, which will guide the development of foundational supports for children across Australia.
More details about Thriving Kids and the membership of the advisory group can be found here: Thriving Kids | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Foundational Supports
There hasn’t been too much new information about foundational supports recently.
As a recap there are two types of foundational supports. Firstly general supports, which includes information and advice, peer support and capacity building. Secondly targeted supports which would be for people with disability support needs that aren’t eligible for the NDIS. Foundational supports were originally scheduled to start back in July 2025. A new date for their commencement has yet to be announced.
Further detail can be found at the site below.
A new planning framework will be introduced from mid-2026 for NDIS participants 16 and over.
In summary people will undergo a needs assessment organised by the NDIA. The NDIA will use the I-CAN assessment tool. The needs assessment will be turned into an assessment report. From there a budget will be developed. The NDIA say that the new assessment plans will enable people to spend their budget more flexibly than before. The NDIA will organise the assessments, but it is not yet clear who will administer them.
You can read about the new planning framework in more detail via the link.
You can also find out more about the I_CAN assessment tool here:
Changes to NDIS funding periods.
Since May this year different funding periods have been introduced to new and reassessed plans. The funding periods are usually set for three months. This will be gradually introduced for all participants. The NDIA have done this to make sure funds are available at regular intervals, giving participants flexibility and to help manage their budgets. The total amount of funding in a participant’s plan won’t change the amount of funding , only when the funding is available.
You can find more information here: Changes to NDIS funding periods | NDIS
The Voice of Queenslanders with Disability Report
The third release of the Voice of Queenslanders with Disability report is now available. Information has been collected from a group of people with disability, their families and carers and the organisations that support them to understand experiences and quality of life across different areas, such as housing, health, and community support. They asked people with disability about their direct experiences. For carers, family members, and organisational representatives, they asked for their observations about the experiences of people with disability as well as some of their own experiences. Follow the link for the full report.
Image credit: <a href=https://storyset.com/online>Online illustraThe Dtions by Storyset</a>
Comments