NDIS cuts: Labor to fast-track new dispute resolution system, Bill Shorten says

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has told ACM, publisher of this newspaper, the government was accelerating the introduction of an "alternative dispute resolution" regime for participants whose plans were slashed after annual reviews.

ACM this week revealed more than 220 participants were having their funding cut by 20 per cent or more every day in the final months of the Morrison government, a figure one leading disability advocate described as "unimaginable".

The surge in reports of plans cuts coincided with a massive increase in the number of participants fighting to have their funding restored in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Labor went to the election vowing to introduce new system designed to shield participants from "unfair" cuts, hoping that would result in fewer cases being challenged in the tribunal.

A backlog of about 5000 cases had built up before the election, with taxpayers forking out tens of millions to fund government lawyers to fight the appeals.

Under the main pillar of Labor's plan, decisions to cut plans by 20 per cent or more would be referred for an "expert review".

ACM understands the new system could include more than just the expert review feature, with the government keen to co-design the model with sector stakeholders.

Mr Shorten would not put a date on when the system would be up and running, but stressed it was a priority.

"I have accelerated the establishment of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme so that NDIS participants are having their reviews and appeals determined and finalised quickly," Mr Shorten told ACM.

"People with disability and their families were rightly frustrated at the onerous red tape they have to get through just to get their plans approved or amended."

An incoming government brief prepared for Mr Shorten suggested the agency believed the new review system could increase its workload, saying "staffing implications" of the process would need to be considered in "settling the overall agency resourcing".

In the brief, which ACM obtained under freedom of information, department officials recommended "higher-qualified" agency delegates conduct the expert reviews.