Effectiveness of individual funding approaches for disability support

This report, by the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), examined the effectiveness of approaches to individual funding of disability support. The study was commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and aimed to inform policy to improve the provision of disability support. The project examined the effectiveness of individual funding with regard to the following questions: What is the impact of the individual funding approach on costs of support and outcomes for the person? What characteristics of individual funding approaches improve effectiveness? Characteristics may relate to funds-holding, brokerage, case management, administration, monitoring, quality control, population supply and demand management, and service integration. The research used a mixed method design. Following a literature review, preliminary secondary data analysis was conducted on the Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA) National Minimum Data Set to build a demographic profile of people with disabilities who have individual funding in Australia. Interviews were conducted with policy officials from all states and territories in Australia regarding the jurisdictional application of individual funding. Case studies were conducted with 10 disability service providers in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, involving interviews with people with disabilities, families and staff. Finally, questionnaires for people with disabilities and service providers were distributed to case study and additional questionnaire sites to supplement the interview data collected. A comprehensive explanation of the methodology is included in Appendix A.