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Small businesses at risk as NDIS funding cuts loom.

Fiona Willer, a smiling woman with a brunette bob

Many NDIS service providers are concerned they won’t be able to attend to as many participants with the cuts proposed by the Federal government in the controversial National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the Future Generations) Bill 2026.

The recently released Pricing Review report revealed NDIS participants place a high value on maintaining access to dietitians, and their relationships with their current providers, many of whom are small business owners.

However, the pricing decision to further reduce fees for Accredited Practising Dietitians by $10 per hour poses a serious risk to providers’ ability to continue to offer nutrition and dietetic support that many people with disability rely on.

Accredited dietitian and mother of two, Lee Smith, says the proposed legislative reforms to the NDIS will jeopardise her family’s stability.

“I am going to have to make the decision to not take any more NDIS participants…I don't want to do this, but I'm being forced to because ultimately I need to be in a sustainable job that... I can pay my mortgage, buy groceries and everything else,” she explains.

On top of this, Ms Smith worries that funding cuts to therapy and community access will prevent her son—who is Autistic— from attending school and force her to quit working.

“My son only has two hours of community participation per week in his current plan. If that was cut by 50%, it would be one hour, and I think we can agree that one hour of community participation is not going to get him very far,”
Ms Smith argues.

“In terms of his therapy budget, he relies on that to improve his capacity to do things so that he can get a good education, so that he can get a job and live a good life.”

From October, the proposed amendments to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the Future Generations) Bill will see capacity-building therapy budgets for NDIS participants slashed by 10 per cent.

Dietitians Australia President, Dr Fiona Willer, says maximum-intensity caps placed on dietitian therapy supports will limit the number of hours an Accredited Practising Dietitian can provide medical nutrition therapy and dietetic care, despite evidence that functional feeding and hydration needs for people with disability are often complex and lifelong.

“The proposed reforms are out of step with the reality of delivering complex evidence-based care, and far too important to be rushed through without thoroughly examining the impact these cost containment measures will have on people with disability,”
Dr Willer stresses.

Ms Smith argues that essential supports are not optional luxuries but vital tools for maintaining the independence and safety of disabled individuals.

“I fail to see how this bill is going to support children and families when it means that my son could potentially lose his education…and I have to give up my job.”