Our NDIS appeals advocates provide advice, information and support to people who do not agree with a decision made by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). Some examples of decisions the NDIA makes are:
When you want a decision to be looked at again by the NDIA, your first step is to ask the NDIA for an internal review. You must request an internal review within 3 months of the NDIA’s decision. An internal review is conducted by a different decision maker employed by the NDIA. This person is called the Internal Reviewing Officer. You must have received the results of the internal review before you can take the next step.
If you are not happy with the result of the internal review, you can apply for an external merits review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). This is a Tribunal that reviews decisions made by Government agencies, departments and ministers. You must request an external merits review within 28 days of the internal review decision.
You can request an internal review by:
The NDIA has an application form you can use to request a review on their website.
The Internal Reviewing Officer needs to have the best information available to make a decision. Preparing your application will take time and may involve costs. Your application must state the reasons you think the decision was incorrect, and include reports describing how having a disability affects your life. These reports can be written by:
The Internal Reviewing Officer will decide whether:
Once the internal review is complete, the NDIA must give you a written statement of reasons for the internal review decision.
If you want to enquire about how ADACAS can help you, or someone you know with an NDIS internal review, please use the button below, or you can contact us by either ringing or emailing us.
If you do not agree with the internal review decision, you can apply to the AAT for an external merits review by:
Make an online application to the AAT for a review Download an AAT review form and return it by email or post
The AAT have video and written guides which explain more about how to apply and the processes the AAT follows.
Video guide to making an AAT application Written guide to making an AAT application
A contact officer from the AAT will get in touch with you within 3 working days of receiving your application, to discuss what will happen next and find out if you need any assistance during the external merits review process.
The AAT uses 3 different stages of meetings to review a decision.
The AAT will try to bring you and the NDIA to an agreement at each stage before the review proceeds to the next stage.
There is often more than one Case Conference. The first Case Conference is an informal meeting between a representative of the NDIA, yourself, your lawyer, your advocate and an AAT Registrar. You can expect a discussion about further assessments to help the NDIA to understand why their decision was wrong, and a decision will be made about who will pay for the assessments.
The same parties attend the second Case Conference, where the results of the assessments will be discussed, and the lawyers will say why the results of the assessments support their arguments. The AAT Registrar will help you and the NDIA reach an agreement if that is possible. If you can reach an agreement, the AAT Registrar will record it in writing in a document called the Terms of Agreement. This is a legal document that replaces the internal review decision.
If agreement cannot be reached during a case conference, the AAT will discuss with you and the NDIA whether the case should proceed to the Conciliation stage and then a Hearing, or whether to proceed straight to a Hearing.
Conciliation gives both you and the NDIA the opportunity to discuss the issues and information from each point of view, and to consider ways to reach a compromise agreement. Conciliation is normally scheduled 4 weeks after the last case conference. Again, an agreement at this stage will be recorded in writing in a Terms of Agreement.
If you and the NDIA cannot reach an agreement, or only reach an agreement about some parts of your application during Conciliation, the matter will proceed to a Hearing.
A hearing is adversarial, and you will need a barrister and a lawyer. At the hearing you and the NDIA will present information, call expert witnesses such as health specialists, and make arguments about your case.
The Tribunal Member will make a decision that is binding on you and the NDIA. If possible the Member will give their decision at the end of the Hearing. If a decision cannot be made at the time of the Hearing, the Member will give you a decision within 60 days of the Hearing.
The outcome of an external merits review can be either:
If you want to enquire about how ADACAS can help you, or someone you know with an external merits review, please use the button below, or you can contact us by either ringing or emailing us.
