NDIA releases South Australian Market Position Statement

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) today released the Market Position Statement (MPS) for South Australia to inform current and prospective providers, and market stakeholders of the opportunities the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will create in South Australia in the coming years.

NDIA Chief Executive Officer David Bowen said that the growth in demand for disability supports in South Australia, which is expected to double to approximately $1.5 billion by 2019, will require the disability support workforce to grow by around 80 per cent in South Australia.

“It is expected that there will be up to 2050 full time equivalent (FTE) new jobs created in Northern Adelaide, up to 1100 FTE in Southern Adelaide and up to 950 FTE in Western Adelaide.”

“We anticipate the actual number of jobs created across regions as a result of the NDIS will actually be significantly more than the FTE estimates given the prevalence of part time and casual workers in the disability support workforce,” Mr Bowen said.

It is also expected that there will be significant workforce growth opportunities in regional areas.

“The NDIS will ultimately support more than 32,000 people with disability in South Australia, which means the market for disability supports will effectively double in the next three years, injecting about $760 million dollars into the local economy,” Mr Bowen said.

“This significant growth will mean increased demand for quality, value-for-money services, new products and technologies, increased jobs and strong economic growth right across the state.”

The required growth in supply, for both the number of participants and the value of supports, will be highest in Yorke, Mid North (217 per cent increase in participants and 400 per cent increase in funded supports).

Several other regional areas will see funded supports increase by more than 100 per cent, including Eyre, Western (150 per cent increase); Limestone Coast (200 per cent increase); Murray, Mallee (167 per cent increase) and Barossa, Light, Lower North (200 per cent increase).

“With almost a third of NDIS participants in South Australia expected to reside outside of Adelaide, we acknowledge there will be challenges in providing supports to participants in remote and very remote areas,” Mr Bowen said.

“The NDIA aims to facilitate a vibrant and competitive supply of supports in order to maximise the potential benefits and respond to the choice and control for people with disabilities.

“We’re continuing to work with current and potential providers to understand their business models, aspirations and any potential barriers to their operations under the NDIS.

“Developing the market will take time, but we’ve already seen it start to respond and grow – since 31 December 2013, the number of registered NDIS providers in South Australia has increased from 175 to 444 at the end of March 2016, more than doubling in just over two years.”

Market Position Statements for other jurisdictions will be published in the coming months.