Commentary on Stronger Together 2: NCOSS

NSW Council on Social Services (NCOSS) has issued a summary and comment on the recent announcement of funding for the second five years of the NSW Government's Stronger Together initiative for disability services:

The entire Stronger Together 2011-2016 can be viewed here

NCOSS SUMMARY:
Stronger Together 2011-2016 delivers $ 2.02 billion additional investment in disability supports over 5 years 2011-2016, building on the previous 5 years investment of $1.5 billion in today’s dollars. This totals over $5.5 billion for the Stronger Together period 2006-2016 in new disability spending. This does not include inflation or Commonwealth contributions from the National Disability Agreement, which will be additional. The 2011-2016 allocations will create an additional 47,200 support places for people with disability in NSW.
Some new highlights of this Stronger Together 2011-2016 expenditure include:

• Emphasis on person-centred approaches becoming available from 2011/2013 with designated funding. From 1 July 2014, all people using ADHC disability services will have the opportunity to convert their services to individualised funding.
• Closure of large residential centres or disability institutions, with designated funding for most centres. The target date for closures to be finalised is 2017/18.
•  Annual reporting to Parliament on actual vs. planned expenditure as well as progress on the number of places implemented.

Stronger Together 2011-2016 commitments include: 

• $63.1m for 4,700 new therapy and behaviour support places
• $95m for 4,500 new flexible respite places
• $248.4m for 2,800 new Community Participation places
• $107.4m for 2,00 new day program places
• $53m for 380 new intensive family support packages, including 180 packages targeting Aboriginal people and families
• $21.1m for 1,000 flexible funding packages for children with autism
• $77.6m for 3,700 early intervention packages for children and young people
• $62.4m for 300 new Attendant Care places
• $724.8m for 1,750 supported accommodation places, including the 300 supported living places and capital expenditure
• $10m for payroll tax exemptions to employers of people with disability.
• $255.4m towards the closure of government operated and NGO disability institutions
• $25m training and development initiatives to promote workforce and industry capacity
• $5m for Social Impact Bonds to improve early intervention outcomes
• $57.5m for research, development and data initiatives 

NCOSS notes that Stronger Together 2006-2016 will have delivered more new disability support places in the ten years to 2016 than the entire service capacity up to 2005-06 in the areas of:

• Community support
• Respite
• Family support
• Post School Programs
• Attendant Care 

This represents an overall increase of 146% over the entire capacity 2005-06 in disability services.
NCOSS welcomes the commitment of the NSW Government to

• ensure that Stronger Together complies with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• implement the National Disability Strategy towards whole-of-government policies for people with disability
• work with the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments on the National Disability Insurance Scheme as a priority
• work with the Commonwealth on the National Health and Hospital Reform Agreement to secure ongoing support for young people in residential aged care.  

The first phase of Stronger Together had a comprehensive table indicating how much spending would be allocated to which program, benefitting how many people in each year. NCOSS is pleased to see that the second phase 2011-2016 has also included a table with the same details of targets in spending and disability places.

NCOSS: www.ncoss.org.au