Australian Government calls time on ‘wedding tax,’ so people with disability will no longer be paying jacked up prices for essential services, supports and equipment.
The rule changes will boost the power of the NDIS Commission to take compliance action and ban providers from the NDIS market. The ACCC will also be given additional resources to identify and act on consumer law matters that may arise from conduct of NDIS providers.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said the measure aims to prevent suppliers unreasonably charging NDIS participants more for a product or service than non-NDIS participants that is key to the government’s efforts to reduce waste and combat fraud.
“We are cracking down on unreasonable pricing practices to ensure every possible dollar in the NDIS is being used to support people with disability,” he said. “We know that NDIS participants are often paying higher prices for disability products, supports and services because they receive them through their NDIS plan. I encourage participants and their support networks to connect with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission through the dedicated email if they want to talk about an unreasonable price difference issue.”
A multi-agency taskforce comprising the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and the National Disability Insurance Agency is being formed, intended to strengthen the NDIS Act 2013 and NDIS Rules, that people with disability and the community will be consulted on.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has released additional fact sheets and videos to help explain recent updates to the NDIS Code of Conduct Provider and Worker Guidance as it relates to price difference.
The updated guidance will ensure NDIS participants and providers have information about consumer rights, prices for NDIS products, services and supports, and the requirement for NDIS providers to act with honesty, transparency and integrity. It also explains that when selling a NDIS business, a seller should not falsely make claims that participants and their plans are a guaranteed source of income or make statements inferring that participants or their NDIS plans are commodities or assets for sale.
The Commission has also launched a dedicated email address for participants and others to contact about price differentiation of NDIS products, supports and services, at: pricehelp@ndiscommission.gov.au.
Read about the recent changes to the NDIS Code of Conduct Guidance on the