The National Disability Insurance Agency says $28.5 million funding announced last week to keep the Ability Links program running another year is locked in to the federal budget and not a campaign promise.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"The NDIA can confirm the amounts referenced are budgeted," an NDIA spokesperson said.
However, an additional $11.6 million committed by NSW Disability Services Minister Ray Williams is contingent on the Coalition remaining in power after Saturday's state election.
The Newcastle Herald asked NSW Labor last week if it would match the Coalition commitment but has not received a response.
The Herald reported last week that the NSW Department of Family and Community Services planned to stop funding the $55 million Ability Links program on June 30, leaving its 400 staff and tens of thousands of clients in limbo.
Mr Williams announced the following day that the NSW and federal governments would commit a total of at least $40.1 million in 2019-20 to keep the program afloat until the National Disability Insurance Scheme is better equipped to replicate its services.
Ability Links was expanded across NSW after a successful trial in 2013 in the Hunter region, where it is run by the St Vincent De Paul Society.
The service links people with a disability with education, employment and community-engagement opportunities and is designed to help fill the gaps in the NDIS.
Parent Donna Casson, from East Maitland, said the funding reprieve would be well received by clients and carers who have used Ability Links in the past five years.
Ms Casson's two sons are on the autism spectrum. Her youngest has displayed extreme violent behaviour and been a threat to her safety.
She said Ability Links had helped her fill out NDIS paperwork, address schooling issues and find social groups.
Her family was also the inspiration behind the program's Including You tents, which travel to festivals and other events to give clients and carers a private retreat.
Ms Casson said she had been "devastated" to hear last week that Ability Links was under threat.
"Everyone has this perception of NDIS being what it's not. Places like Ability Links help cover that gap, so it would be a shame to see them go, because there is a huge gap in the system that the government and services are not necessarily acknowledging," she said.
"Therapy is very easy to access in NDIS, but gaining community access and finding those social groups is very challenging through NDIS.
"Some of us get them and some of us don't, and there's no real rhyme or reason to it. That's where Ability Links can help link you to social groups that NDIS fail on significantly."
A three-year evaluation by consultants Urbis said Ability Links was "ground-breaking" and delivered positive economic and social benefits.
The NDIS aims to mirror the services offered by programs like Ability Links via its Information Linkages and Capacity program, which started in 2017.
An industry source told the Herald last week that the NDIS and the ILC program were not yet equipped to cater for Ability Links clients and little planning had been done to shift its activities under the NDIS umbrella.
Ms Casson said many people did not have a "real understanding of what NDIS actually provide", and there was a "huge need" for programs like Ability Links.
"We can't keep saying that the NDIS is this be-all and end-all, because it's just not," she said.
"How can you go and take funding away from other services when you haven't even defined this one."
The Urbis report, released two years ago, said Ability Links and an associated Early Links program for those aged under seven were helping 43,533 people a year across NSW, including families and carers.