Disability Services and Inclusion Act 2023

The Disability Services and Inclusion Act 2023 (the DSI Act) commences on 1 January 2024. The Act replaces the Disability Services Act 1986. This page includes information about the new Act for service providers and people with disability, their families and carers.

Please follow the below links to view the Acts and Instruments

More information about the new Act will be available soon, including in accessible formats.

Complaints

If you wish to make a complaint or you suspect a disability service provider has breached the Code of Conduct, you are encouraged to contact your service provider first. If you do not feel comfortable raising your concerns directly with your service provider, your service provider is unable to resolve your complaint or you are unhappy with the outcome, there are a number of services that can help:

If you are a service provider, you are required to manage complaints that are received and escalate where a complaint is unable to be resolved. Information is available to help you understand your obligations:

Code of Conduct

All service providers who are funded through the DSI Act are required to comply with the Code of Conduct from 1 January 2024. This means providers are required to:

This applies to service providers who are funded to deliver disability services and supports through existing and new programs funded by the Department of Social Services, outside of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

You can find more information on:

Information for Service Providers

Information for Service Users

Other requirements

The DSI Act also includes additional requirements, noting that these conditions will not take effect for existing arrangements until current grant agreements end and new arrangements are entered in to. Further information and guidance material about these requirements will be available soon.

What the new Act does

The new Act provides a way to continue funding existing supports and services, while giving authority for the Commonwealth to design new supports and services in the future to better support people with disability, their families and carers.

Unlike the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act), the new Act does not provide supports or services directly to people with disability. This Act will not change or affect the NDIS or disability support pension paid under social security law. Rather, the Act establishes a contemporary, modern and streamlined framework to facilitate funding for supports and services that will assist all people with disability regardless of whether or not they are a participant in the NDIS.

To protect people with disability and their families and carers, the Act seeks to improve the quality of service providers and safety for people with disability. The Act also protects personal privacy.

The new Act was developed based on feedback provided through two rounds of public consultation. You can read more about the consultations and what we heard:

For an overview of the changes made by the new Act:

Last updated: 28 August 2024 - 10:15am