NDIS expected to bring 1,000 new jobs to the ACT
NDIS expected to bring 1,000 new jobs to the ACT – will they come from aged care?
Released by the Federal Government, the NDIA Market Position Statement (MPS) has said the expansion of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will fuel job growth in the next three years, creating 1,000 new jobs in the disability sector valued at $160 million a year, or $160,000 per job.
The statement forecasts the disability support sector will be worth a huge $350M by 2019, with the number of ACT participants to reach 6900.
“Most importantly, an additional 1800 local residents living with a permanent and significant disability will receive funded supports – a 35 per cent increase,” Minister for Social Services Christian Porter said.
“In Southern New South Wales, there are expected to be 4100 people supported by 2019 – a 52 per cent increase in the number of people supported in the region,” he added.
“Local jobs in Southern New South Wales in the sector are also expected to double from 700 to 1450 with the disability market in the area expected to grow from $100 million to $200 million a year.”
The ACT currently has 5,000 people enrolled in the scheme which was introduced across Australia in July this year, despite widely reported IT problems with its MyPlace portal that resulted in some people not receiving their allocated funding.
But with disability providers already finding it hard to hire suitable staff, will we see more aged care workers looking to move into the disability market?
We asked the Department of Social Services about how the Government planned to source enough workers to meet the predicted job growth.
A spokesperson said the disability support workforce is expected to more than double as the NDIS is introduced, but a 2014 report commissioned by the Department of Social Services found that disability workforce numbers should meet the projected demand if the workforce growth rates continued.
They also stated that the Commonwealth’s Sector Development Fund has allocated over $37 million to help NDIS providers grow their workforce. However, it was the responsibility of employers to recruit and train “suitably qualified staff”.
