Disability advocates are concerned about the “frightening” overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which will boot off 160,000 participants.

The federal government announced sweeping reforms on Wednesday aimed at reining in the spiralling cost, which is forecast to blow out to $70 billion annually by 2030.

Under the plan, the annual cost will be restricted to $55 billion by the end of the decade.

The removal of 160,000 participants in the next few years is expected to significantly impact people with autism.

Under current NDIS guidelines, level 2 or 3 autism have automatic eligibility.

People diagnosed with autism account for nearly four in five entrants and about half of all participants.

Under the overhaul, NDIS eligibility will be based on a participant’s functional ability — how their condition impairs their day to day life — rather than diagnosis.

Those who are no longer eligible will be supported by new, state-run programs known as foundational supports — most of which are yet to be developed.

NDIS expenditure from 2019-20, including projected spending to 2028-29. Image: AAP

Inclusion Australia chief executive Maeve Kennedy implored the government to build up the system of foundational supports before kicking people off the scheme.

“You can’t burn the house down until there’s somewhere else for people to go,” she said.

Laws for the NDIS overhaul will be introduced in May, when federal parliament returns for the budget.

The announcement was panned as “cuts, cuts, cuts” by the opposition.

It also faces pushback from the states, which fear they will be left shouldering more responsibility for care.

Queensland’s Disability Services Minister Amanda Camm doesn’t want states to pay the price for the federal government’s ‘failures’. Photo: AAP

Health Minister Mark Butler said six in 10 Australians believed the NDIS was “broken”.

The government is aiming to reduce participant numbers from 760,000 to 600,000 by the end of the 2020s — a significant reduction on the current forecast of more than 900,000.

Butler hoped the revised eligibility rules would be in place by the beginning of 2028.

The changes will reduce the average cost of each participant’s support plan to $26,000, down from $31,000 in 2026 and in line with figures from 2023.

Spending rises of only 2 per cent per year — well below current inflation — are targeted for the next four years, after which growth will return to the government’s long-term goal of about 5 per cent.

Disability advocates called for more detail about the eligibility changes, offering to work with the government to ensure Australians in need of support aren’t left behind.

“160,000 people will lose access to the scheme if we utilise [the government’s] numbers. That’s a frightening amount,” People With Disability Australia president Jeremy Hope said in Canberra.

Mandatory registration will be imposed on NDIS providers who offer personal care, daily living supports and help in closed settings. About 10 per cent of existing providers are registered.

“Many of these people provide valuable support to participants, but others have no qualifications or background in disability services and seem more interested – too often – in clipping the ticket,” Butler said.

Opposition NDIS spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh said more detail was needed on how the government would weed out fraudulent operators from the scheme and improve quality of providers.

“[The message was] cuts, cuts, cuts: Yet he had no detail on how this is going to be achieved,” she said.

Disability activist Jarrod Sandell-Hay, who relies heavily on the NDIS to manage his cerebral palsy, bluntly described the federal government’s announcement of cuts as a “dark day”.

“We are blindsided by this, we knew something was coming but didn’t know how bad it would be,” the 37-year-old said.

“We’re quite upset and quite angry.”

Sandell-Hay asked what support would be given to the 160,000 people who will be booted out.

Another cost-cutting measure will be the average annual spend on participant plans to be downsized from $31,000 to $26,000 – back to 2023 funding levels.

Sandell-Hay said the cut would directly affect his quality of life.

“When it rains in Melbourne, I am unable to use my electric wheelchair because if it gets wet it will stop working so I rely on support workers to drive me to places,” he said.

He said going to work, grocery shopping and “all these very basic everyday things” would be in jeopardy for him and his wife, who is also on the scheme.

“For some reason, this government doesn’t prioritise the lives of the disabled,” he said.

-with AAP