Wait times for accessing the national disability scheme have blown out to nearly two months while its backlog of internal reviews has grown to almost 5000, new figures reveal.
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The National Disability Insurance Agency, the agency tasked with handling the government's National Disability Insurance Scheme, has been criticised for wait times averaging 53 days while internal reviews for decisions made have neared 5000.
The Community and Public Sector Union, which supplied the figures current as of the first week of May, has slammed the agency's heads for towing the government line on workforce sustainability, which it alleges has led to vulnerable Australians being neglected from a scheme designed to support them.
National deputy secretary Beth Vincent-Pietsch said the agency could solve its large backlog and waiting times by hiring more staff but was constrained by the government's controversial staffing cap policy.
It meant the disability agency has relied on a large labour hire workforce, which it says has been pushed past its limits.
"The combination of the NDIA's internal KPIs and the government's unworkable staffing cap is causing critical issues for the scheme," Ms Vincent-Pietsch said.
"The agency has forced unrealistic KPIs on to an already exhausted and overstretched workforce.
"It is very clear to our members that the NDIA management is more interested in pumping through the numbers than it is about the participant outcomes or plans."
The growing backlog of cases and waiting times, the union alleged, had had a detrimental effect on the agency's staff.
The government needed to address the problem by removing the staffing cap and allowing for the agency to hire enough workers to take on the task, Ms Vincent-Pietsch said.
"NDIA management is towing the government line on sustainability and cost cutting rather than providing genuine support for people with disability, and this is taking a physical and emotional toll on the workers who want participants to thrive, not just survive," she said.
"The staffing cap on the NDIA means that this government is outsourcing its responsibility for NDIA participants to labour hire companies and their shareholders.
"The government must lift the ASL Cap of the NDIA to ensure that the agency have the resources it needs to meet community expectation."
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A recent census of the agency released in February revealed nearly a third of employees felt their workloads were well above their capacity - a figure 9 per cent above the public sector average.
The union's survey last year found more than 80 per cent of the nearly 1000 agency respondents reported feeling excessive stress, which had adverse impacts on their mental health.
"I wake up in the night worrying about participants not having what they need or that I may have made a mistake or cut a corner to get things done faster," a respondent told the union.
The agency has also faced recent fire for controversial proposals that would see the scheme begin using independent assessments for applicants in a move that has angered experts, advocates and the opposition.
Mr Hoffman said he deeply regretted how the proposals had been handled.
"I understand and acknowledge that the proposals we are discussing here have caused real fear, concern and upset in the disability community," he said in early May.
"I deeply regret that our genuine attempts at communication and consultation have evidently not to date been sufficient or appropriate."
NDIS Minister Senator Linda Reynolds confirmed last week the independent assessments would still go ahead in "some form".
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