Senate Estimates Update: Integrity, Evidence and the Future of NDIS Plan Management

On Thursday 29 October 2026, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) appeared before the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee as part of Supplementary Budget Estimates. 

The NDIA, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing all appeared together. Senators asked about scheme growth, plan reassessments, Thriving Kids and fraud. 

They also asked about plan management. 

If you use a plan manager, here's what was said, what's changing and what it means for you. 
You can read the official Senate Estimates transcript and the daily hearing summary.

No. 

You can keep using your current plan manager under today's rules. Nothing said at Estimates changes how your plan works today. 

It is, though, a good moment to think about what you should expect from the plan manager handling your funding. 

Integrity was a major theme of the hearing. 

In her opening statement, the Minister for the NDIS, Senator Jenny McAllister, said: "Every dollar that is taken by fraud is a dollar that is taken from someone who needs it." She told the committee the government had committed more than $800 million to uplift NDIS integrity in this budget. 

NDIA Deputy CEO John Dardo gave an update on enforcement: 

• There have been 27 successful prosecutions since the Fraud Fusion Taskforce began in November 2022 (as at 30 September 2026). 
• Over 6,000 providers have been removed from being able to claim from the scheme. 

He also said prosecutions alone are not the answer. "Prosecutions themselves will never stop fraud in a system," he said. He called for "much better systems that control the claiming process". 

These statements and figures are attributed to the 29 October 2026 Senate Estimates hearing

The Committee Chair said plan management is an important part of the scheme but has also been "one of the main vectors of fraud". The Chair asked officials to explain why. 

Mr Dardo described the market: 

• About 3,000 entities are registered for plan management. About 1,300 were active in the last three months. 
• Plan managers receive a fee of about $104 per participant per month. 
• Almost 1,100 plan managers earn less than $100,000 a year in plan management fees. 

He said that when a plan manager earns this little, "either it's not a big, well resourced, well systematised business or it's a business that is doing lots of other things". When a plan manager also provides services to the same participants, he said that "potentially creates a conflict of interest". 

He also said the technology behind plan management "wasn't put in at the beginning of the scheme". 

The most striking point was about evidence: 

"Plan management claims have zero evidence that is visible to us at the time of claiming." 

He told the committee that, in some sampled audits, more than 50 per cent of the plan managers audited did not have evidence for all the claims they submitted. 

Important: This doesn't mean every plan manager is doing the wrong thing. NDIS Commissioner Ms Glanville told the committee "there are great providers". Audit findings and risk flags are tools for targeting checks. They aren't findings of fraud against any particular business. 

Source: Parliament of Australia, Senate Estimates transcript, 29 October 2026

The NDIA outlined where plan management is heading. Mr Dardo said the agency will: 

• Pay money "to the end destination, not into a plan manager bank account". 
• Require plan managers' systems "to talk to our systems so that evidence is collected during claiming". 
• Make sure plan managers are capable of "knowing your client and having controls in place" over claim integrity. 

NDIA CEO Mr Head said this "will be given effect through the plan management panel arrangements". 

The NDIS Commission said it now applies greater scrutiny to plan managers entering the market. That includes identity validation for everyone engaged or employed by a plan manager. 

According to the NDIA's published timeline, the new plan management panel is due to begin on 1 October 2027, followed by a six-month transition period. These dates may change. You can follow updates on the NDIS changes to plan management page. 

Think of your plan manager like the checkpoint between your NDIS funding and the providers you pay. The checkpoint needs good people, but it also needs good systems. 

Based on the themes raised at Estimates, here are three things worth asking about. 

1. Scale and resourcing 

Mr Dardo pointed to a long tail of very small plan managers. Many of them may not have the resources to build strong systems. 

A larger, well-resourced plan manager is more likely to have dedicated teams for compliance, technology and customer support. That matters when requirements keep rising. 

2. Good technology 

The NDIA wants plan managers' systems to connect with its own, and it wants evidence to travel with every claim. 

Ask whether your plan manager: 

• Keeps a clear record of every invoice it receives. 
• Lets you see and approve invoices before they're paid. 
• Gives you an up-to-date view of your budgets and spending. 

3. An integrity layer built in 

Integrity shouldn't rely on someone spotting a problem months later. 

Look for a plan manager that checks invoices against NDIS rules before they're paid and has fraud detection built into its systems. It should also be clear about how it handles conflicts of interest. 

At Kismet Healthcare, we believe participants should be able to see exactly where their funding is going. 

We combine experienced plan managers with our own technology. With Kismet, you can:  

• Review and approve invoices before they're paid. 
• Track your spending and budgets in our app and online portal. 
• Receive alerts when a budget is running low. 

Specialised NDIS fraud detection is built into our proprietary technology to help protect your funding. 

We're not saying size alone makes a good plan manager. But the hearing made clear that scale, systems and integrity controls are where the scheme is heading. We're investing in all three. 

If you'd like to understand how Kismet works, our team is happy to talk you through it. 

For most participants, there's nothing urgent to do. You can: 

1. Keep using your current plan manager if you're happy with their service. 
2. Ask your plan manager how it checks invoices and protects your funding. 
3. Ask how it's preparing for the NDIA's plan management changes. 
4. Check that you can easily see and understand your invoices and spending. 
5. Watch for official updates from the NDIA. 

If something on your statement doesn't look right, raise it with your plan manager. You can also make a tip-off to the NDIA. 

We'll keep you updated as more information becomes available.