A price warning home care shouldn’t ignore
The average Not For Profit NDIS provider now has less than three weeks’ cash on hand.
Australia’s Not For Profit disability providers are reporting deepening financial losses as a six-year freeze on NDIS price caps pushes organisations into the red – and out of the sector.
Figures released by Ability Roundtable, Australia’s largest national platform supporting NDIS providers, show Not For Profits recorded a median operating loss of nearly 4% last financial year. This follows four consecutive years of 2% losses, bringing the total median decline to 12% across five years.
The average Not For Profit NDIS provider now has less than three weeks’ cash on hand.
Exits mount as losses deepen
The deteriorating economics have triggered a wave of exits, including Centacare Brisbane, Anglicare WA, Momentum Collective, MS Society SA and Annecto. Bedford – considered too large to fail – survived only through a $38 million joint State and Federal bailout.
Ability Roundtable attributes the financial collapse to a six-year freeze on the hourly rate the NDIA pays for support and therapies. Prices have not been indexed for inflation.
NDIA cost modelling set the hourly price at $70.23, but Ability Roundtable research found the real cost to providers was $77.24 – around 10% higher. Losses are projected to worsen this financial year after the NDIA cut the hourly price for certain therapies in June 2025.
Garry Simpson, Chief Operating Officer of Ability Roundtable, said the system had already tipped over.
“Our assessment suggests the Not For Profit disability sector is not close to market failure – it’s in failure right now,” he said.
The trend serves as a clear warning for Support at Home providers, which will face Government-imposed price caps from 1 July 2026.
