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Australia’s disability workforce is buckling: entrenched turnover and casualisation, fuelled by an unsustainable pricing model, threaten the quality and continuity of NDIS supports.

The numbers are brutal. Staff turnover in the disability sector remains alarmingly high - 26 percent among casuals, 16 percent among permanent staff - and it costs providers an estimated $32–$50 million annually. And that’s just to replace those walking out the door.

A Workforce Census released by National Disability Services shows this isn’t just about normal staffing churn.

The report displays a system underpinned by a pricing model that starves providers of the resources they need to invest in people.

Organisations can’t offer fair pay, training, or wellbeing support because they’re boxed in by NDIS price caps. The result? A revolving door of broken workers and lost skills.

Permanent full-time roles have dropped sharply from 30 to 21 percent, undoing last year’s progress and pushing providers back into casualisation. Organisations are forced into survival strategies to manage cash flow: the result is instability.

NDS CEO Michael Perusco is blunt: “The current pricing model undermines the sustainability of the workforce, limits providers’ ability to meet NDIS objectives, and ultimately impacts the lives of Australians with disability.”

On the ground, the strain shows. At Gateways Support Services, turnover is “anticipated” as part of the business. Chief People Officer Georgia Jackson says program leaders plug staffing gaps themselves and become “burned out” in the process. The organisation invests heavily in onboarding, but each departure adds to cost and pressure.

Career change and workload are now leading reasons for exit, signalling many leave the sector for good. The Census makes clear workforce churn won’t just continue; it will intensify.

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