{"id":"F2013L01184","name":"National Disability Insurance Scheme—Rules for the Scheme Actuary 2013","slug":"national-disability-insurance-scheme-rules-for-the-scheme-actuary-2013","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":437840,"registerId":"F2013L01184-fast-fetch-1775954523685","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"National Disability Insurance Scheme—Rules for the Scheme Actuary 2013","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\nmeta-generator: Aspose.Words for .NET 20.2\n---\n\n![](image.001.png)\n\n \n\nNational Disability Insurance Scheme—Rules for the Scheme Actuary 2013\n\nI, WILLIAM RICHARD SHORTEN, Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, determine these rules under section 180C of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013.\n\n \n\nDated                          25 June 2013.\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nWILLIAM RICHARD SHORTEN\n\nMinister for Financial Services and Superannuation\n\n \n\n \n\n\nContents\n\n \n\nPart 1 Preliminary\n\n1 Name of instrument\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Interpretation\n\nPart 2 General performance of duties\n\n4 Scheme actuary to advise on NDIS processes\n\n5 Scheme actuary to report on estimated future expenditure\n\n6 Data for annual financial sustainability report and quarterly future expenditure reports\n\n7 Professional standards\n\nPart 3 Content of annual financial sustainability report\n\n8 General assessment and recommendations\n\n9 Recent experience\n\n10 Projections\n\n11 Administrative infrastructure, processes and risk management\n\n12 Other material matters\n\nPart 1             Preliminary\n\n1                         Name of instrument\n\nThese Rules are the National Disability Insurance Scheme—Rules for the Scheme Actuary 2013.\n\n2                         Commencement\n\nThese Rules commence on the later of:\n\n(a)          the day after they are registered; and\n\n(b)          1 July 2013.\n\n3                         Interpretation\n\nIn these Rules:\n\nAct means the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013.\n\nAgency—see section 9 of the Act.\n\nBoard—see section 9 of the Act.\n\nannual financial sustainability report—see section 9 of the Act.\n\nNDIS means the National Disability Insurance Scheme (as defined in section 9 of the Act).\n\nrisk management arrangements, of the Agency, means all of the systems, structures, cultures, processes, policies and people that identify, assess, mitigate and monitor all sources of risk, both internal and external, to financial sustainability.\n\nPart 2             General performance of duties\n\n4                         Scheme actuary to advise on NDIS processes\n\n(1)          The scheme actuary must advise the Agency on how processes, systems and tools of the NDIS relating to the matters set out in subsection (2) can best be developed and implemented to enable the scheme actuary to perform his or her duties under section 180B of the Act effectively, and in particular to allow the scheme actuary to be satisfied that the NDIS is financially sustainable.\n\n(2)          For subsection (1), the matters are:\n\n(a)          ensuring that decisions about whether applicants meet the access criteria are made efficiently, consistently and correctly;\n\n(b)          monitoring, assessing and reporting on consistency and correctness of those decisions;\n\n(c)          ensuring that decisions about participants' needs, participants' plans and statements of participants’ supports are made efficiently, consistently and appropriately;\n\n(d)          monitoring, assessing and reporting on consistency of resource allocation across regions, planners, disability type and other groupings as appropriate;\n\n(e)          monitoring, assessing and reporting on consistency in cost and participant outcomes across different providers of support;\n\n(f)           evaluating and reporting on NDIS outcomes and performance, including against key performance indicators;\n\n(g)          ongoing research into continuous improvement and best practice;\n\n(h)          the NDIS risk management framework.\n\n5                         Scheme actuary to report on estimated future expenditure\n\nThe scheme actuary must at least once each quarter produce a report estimating future expenditure of the NDIS, comparing the experience of the NDIS with the projections in the previous annual financial sustainability report or more recent projections, making use, where appropriate, of information produced by the systems, processes and tools mentioned in section 4, and commenting on any changes in the projections.  The scheme actuary must provide a copy to the Board.\n\n6                         Data for annual financial sustainability report and quarterly future expenditure reports\n\n(1)          The scheme actuary must advise the Agency of:\n\n(a)          the data, information and reports that the scheme actuary will need; and\n\n(b)          the persons that he or she will need to consult;\n\nin order to prepare an annual financial sustainability report or a report on estimated future expenditure under section 5.\n\nNote: The Agency is required to make arrangements to enable the scheme actuary to perform his or her duties—section 180F of the Act.\n\n(2)          The scheme actuary must take reasonable steps to verify the consistency, completeness and accuracy of the data provided by the Agency and to resolve any discrepancies.\n\n7                         Professional standards\n\nIn preparing an annual financial sustainability report, the scheme actuary must have regard to the Code of Professional Conduct of The Institute of Actuaries of Australia and any other relevant professional guidance published by The Institute of Actuaries of Australia.\n\nPart 3             Content of annual financial sustainability report\n\n8                         General assessment and recommendations\n\nThe scheme actuary must include the following matters in an annual financial sustainability report:\n\n(a)          an overall assessment of the financial sustainability of the NDIS that identifies the key risks and issues impacting on the financial sustainability of the NDIS;\n\n(b)          a discussion of the key risks and issues identified and, where these have an adverse impact on financial sustainability, recommendations designed to manage the risks or address the issues.\n\n9                         Recent experience\n\nThe scheme actuary must include the following matters in an annual financial sustainability report:\n\n(a)          a summary of the participant data at the effective date of the annual financial sustainability report;\n\n(b)          a section that identifies and comments on significant features or trends in the recent experience of the NDIS, including any impacts due to external factors, and covers the following:\n\n(i)            changes in the number and characteristics of participants (including in relation to access criteria and assessed support needs);\n\n(ii)         changes in the distribution of support package costs;\n\n(iii)       participant outcomes;\n\n(iv)        the Agency's operating expense experience;\n\n(v)          the total cost of the NDIS;\n\n(vi)        deviations in actual experience from expected experience, and the reasons for the deviations;\n\n(vii)     any other relevant experience, including the use of innovative approaches;\n\n(c)          comments on any steps taken or proposed by the Board and senior management of the Agency to address areas of deviation and adverse experience;\n\n(d)          any recommendations of the scheme actuary in relation to areas of deviation and adverse experience.\n\n10                    Projections\n\nThe scheme actuary must include the following matters in an annual financial sustainability report:\n\n(a)          projections of future experience in the form of the best estimates of the following matters, with discussions of the projections:\n\n(i)            future expenditure on care and support—presented as a set of cashflow projections over the long run, both in future dollar terms and as a percentage of GDP;\n\n(ii)         lifetime cost of care and support to standardised new entrant cohorts—presented in the form of net present values, both in discounted dollar terms and as a percentage of GDP;\n\n(iii)       future expenditure on care and support to current participants on the assumption of no change in the scheme design—presented in the form of a projection of net present values, both in discounted dollar terms and as a percentage of GDP;\n\n(b)          a discussion of any changes in the projections since the previous annual financial sustainability report or other more recent set of projections provided by the scheme actuary to the Board, including the reasons for the change and any implications for the financial sustainability of the NDIS;\n\n(c)          any recommendations of the scheme actuary in relation to any adverse changes in the projections;\n\n(d)          a justification of the methodology and key assumptions used to prepare the projections;\n\n(e)          comments on the extent to which the valuation assumptions are based on the historical experience of the NDIS and, if the assumptions have changed since the previous annual financial sustainability report, the reasons for that change and the consequences of the change;\n\n(f)           a practical discussion of the level of uncertainty that surrounds the projection, including sensitivity or scenario analysis, a discussion of the main drivers of uncertainty, and any recommendations of the scheme actuary for managing uncertainty.\n\n11                    Administrative infrastructure, processes and risk management\n\nThe scheme actuary must include the following matters in an annual financial sustainability report:\n\n(a)          a discussion of the Agency's administrative infrastructure, its administrative processes and risk management arrangements (risk management arrangements are defined in section 3);\n\n(b)          comments on the adequacy of the Agency's processes, including on the suitability and adequacy of:\n\n(i)            any decision support tools; and\n\n(ii)         its data and information systems; and\n\n(iii)       its processes for monitoring emerging experience and responding to adverse movements in emerging experience;\n\n(c)          any recommendations of the scheme actuary in relation to any inadequacies.\n\n12                    Other material matters\n\nThe scheme actuary must include the following matters in an annual financial sustainability report:\n\n(a)          a section identifying and discussing any other matters that the scheme actuary believes are material to the financial sustainability of the NDIS;\n\n(b)          comments on the extent to which any previous recommendations have been acted on by the Agency.\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"These Rules implement and elaborate the Scheme Actuary's duties already provided for in the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013. They do not expand the statutory role into new policy powers or create additional classes of regulated persons. Instead, they specify operational and reporting detail (content, frequency, data and professional standards) required to discharge the actuary’s statutory mandate; this is consistent with the original intent to provide actuarial oversight of the NDIS’s financial sustainability."},"complexity_factors":["Relatively short instrument: 12 substantive rules (plus preliminaries)","6 defined terms in the interpretation section (Act, Agency, Board, annual financial sustainability report, NDIS, risk management arrangements)","Cross-references to the Act (notably s180B, s180C and s180F), requiring users to consult the parent Act for full context","Multiple, structured reporting requirements with nested subitems in the annual report (ss8–12) — projections, NPV calculations, cashflow formats and % of GDP","Quarterly reporting obligation (s5) in addition to the annual report increases operational cadence","Data verification and consultation duties that create dependency on external data sources and Agency systems (s6)","Requirement to follow professional standards (s7) introduces external guidance reliance and potential interpretive judgment"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this instrument does (mechanically):**\n\n- It sets out the duties, reporting content and operating arrangements for the Scheme Actuary appointed under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (the Act).\n- Key tasks required of the Scheme Actuary: advise the Agency on designing processes, systems and tools so the actuary can carry out their duties (s4); produce a quarterly report estimating future NDIS expenditure and give it to the Board (s5); and prepare an annual financial sustainability report containing defined topics (ss8–12).\n- The Rules require the actuary to tell the Agency what data, information and people are needed for the quarterly and annual reports and to take reasonable steps to verify that Agency data is consistent, complete and accurate (s6).\n- The actuary must have regard to the Institute of Actuaries of Australia’s Code of Professional Conduct and relevant guidance when preparing the annual report (s7).\n- The annual report must cover an overall assessment and recommendations about financial sustainability (s8); recent experience and trends of the NDIS (s9); detailed projections (cashflows, net present values and % of GDP) with assumptions and sensitivity/scenario analysis (s10); administrative infrastructure, processes and risk management (s11); and any other material issues and follow‑up on previous recommendations (s12).\n\n**Who it affects and who decides:**\n\n- The Scheme Actuary is the primary actor required to produce the analyses and reports (ss4–7).\n- The Agency (NDIS administrative body) must provide the data, systems access and arrangements needed to enable the actuary’s work (s6 and note to s6; cf. s180F of the Act referenced in the instrument).\n- The Board receives copies of quarterly reports and is likely the main governance recipient of the annual report (s5).\n- Practical effects extend to Agency staff who must supply and quality‑assure data, planners and decision‑makers whose processes will be reviewed, and indirectly to providers and participants because the reports evaluate resource allocation, costs and outcomes.\n- The Rules do not give the actuary power to change entitlement rules or operational decisions directly — the actuary provides advice and recommendations (ss4, 8–12); decision‑making remains with the Agency and Board (and any other bodies under the Act).\n- Costs of complying (staff time, IT, actuarial resources) fall on the Agency/NDIS budget; the instrument does not create a separate funding stream.\n\n**Why it matters (stated purpose and how the instrument implements it):**\n\n- The stated purpose is to enable the Scheme Actuary to assess and report on the NDIS’s financial sustainability and to advise on processes that support consistent, correct and efficient decision‑making (s4, s5, ss8–12).\n- The Rules implement this by (a) requiring periodic, structured reporting (quarterly and annual); (b) specifying the content and formats required of projections and analysis (s10); and (c) obliging the Agency to supply and allow verification of data (s6).\n\n**Tests of the purpose against likely costs, incentives and risks:**\n\n- Data dependence and implementation risk: The usefulness of the actuary’s advice depends on the Agency supplying timely, complete and accurate data and on verification steps (s6). Gaps or poor data quality will reduce the reliability of projections and recommendations.\n- Advisory (not binding) role: The Rules make the actuary the source of expertise and recommendations (ss8–12) but leave remedial and policy decisions to the Board and Agency. This preserves administrative discretion but may limit the speed or consistency of responses to adverse findings.\n- Compliance and administrative burden: The Agency must develop or adapt systems, decision‑support tools and reporting processes to satisfy the actuary’s information needs (s4, s11). That requires staff time, ICT investment and possibly new governance steps — an opportunity cost against other Agency priorities.\n- Concentrated benefits vs diffuse costs: The immediate benefits of improved actuarial oversight accrue to the Board, senior managers and budget planners who use the reports; costs (administration and potential program changes driven by actuarial findings) are spread across Agency operations, providers and potentially participants if policy changes follow recommendations.\n- Professional judgement and uncertainty: The Rules demand explicit assumptions, sensitivity analysis and explanations (s10(d)–(f)), which increases transparency, but projections inherently rely on judgment; different plausible assumptions can produce materially different results. The Rules require disclosure of that uncertainty rather than eliminating it.\n- Effect on providers and market behaviour: The Rules mandate monitoring of cost and outcomes across providers (s4(e)), which could influence contracting and provider behaviour indirectly if the Board or Agency acts on findings; however, the Rules themselves do not regulate providers directly.\n- Risk of narrow focus on financial metrics: The Rules emphasise financial sustainability and measurable outcomes (s8–10). Non‑quantified aspects of participant experience or innovation could be harder to capture, unless treated as material and reported under s12.\n\n**Operational limits and discretion:**\n\n- The Rules are procedural and reporting obligations for the actuary and information/arrangement obligations for the Agency. They do not prescribe specific policy responses or mandate particular governance actions by the Board.\n- The effectiveness of the Rules depends on (a) the Agency’s willingness and capacity to provide good data and implement recommendations; and (b) the Board’s use of actuarial reports when making policy or budget choices.\n\n**Short practical summary:**\n\nThese Rules formalise what the Scheme Actuary must do, what the actuarial reports must contain, and what information the actuary is entitled to from the Agency. They create recurring transparency and analytical requirements (quarterly and annual), place a data verification duty on the actuary, and require that actuarial work follow recognised professional standards (ss4–12). The Rules aim to support informed decision‑making about the NDIS’s financial sustainability but rely on data quality, Agency resourcing, and the Board’s follow‑up to turn recommendations into operational change."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"Unauthenticated. Configure AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or use a provider module. Learn more: https://ai-sdk.dev/unauthenticated-ai-gateway","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: establishing the operational framework for the NDIS Scheme Actuary. It has not expanded beyond setting reporting requirements, professional standards, and advisory functions for this specific statutory role."},"complexity_factors":["Short instrument: approximately 12 sections across 3 Parts","Minimal defined terms: only 6 definitions in section 3 (Act, Agency, Board, annual financial sustainability report, NDIS, risk management arrangements)","Straightforward structure: Part 1 (preliminary), Part 2 (general duties), Part 3 (report content requirements)","No nested exceptions or complex conditional logic — mostly direct obligations using 'must'","Limited cross-referencing: references to the parent Act (NDIS Act 2013) are explicit and simple","Clear prescriptive drafting: sections 8-12 use dot-point lists of required report contents rather than complex operative provisions"],"plain_english_summary":"This law sets the duties and reporting rules for an independent NDIS Scheme Actuary who monitors the scheme’s long‑term affordability. The Actuary must produce regular financial health checks and advise the NDIS Agency on eligibility, package allocation and risk management.\n\nIt affects the Scheme Actuary, the NDIS Agency and Board, and indirectly participants and taxpayers by increasing transparency and providing early warnings of cost or access pressures to protect the scheme’s sustainability."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/national-disability-insurance-scheme-rules-for-the-scheme-actuary-2013","history":"/api/acts/national-disability-insurance-scheme-rules-for-the-scheme-actuary-2013/history","analysis":"/api/acts/national-disability-insurance-scheme-rules-for-the-scheme-actuary-2013/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/national-disability-insurance-scheme-rules-for-the-scheme-actuary-2013/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/national-disability-insurance-scheme-rules-for-the-scheme-actuary-2013/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/national-disability-insurance-scheme-rules-for-the-scheme-actuary-2013/documents"}}