Over the next three years the south-west's disability workforce needs to double in size.

Disability providers in the region are experiencing enormous stress in finding support workers to fill shifts as the demand exceeds supply.

Services say the need for support by National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants cannot be met by the existing workforce.

There is simply not enough staff.

Workforce shortages in the disability sector are negatively impacting some NDIS participants' choices and agency.

Camperdown's Beck Biddle has been on the NDIS for three years.

She lives with an intellectual disability and requires support for day-to-day tasks.

When she was first signed onto the scheme she said it took a long time to get a disability support worker - "a couple of months at least".

She lives with her mum, who is in remission from cancer, and they've had trouble accessing vital supports.

"There's a shortage of support workers out there," she said.

"There have been good things to come out of it but I would love more support.

"We've been on the waiting list just on a year for a bathroom renovation, and before that it took just over a year to get the steps done - for a year mum and I couldn't even access the front door.

"I also waited a year for a shower seat, sometimes I've nearly slipped in the shower.

"There's a huge wait, it's ridiculous and COVID-19 has made things even more difficult."

Keeping active helps with her mental health.

Ms Biddle plays football for the South Warrnambool Hurricanes and is a keen vaulter, but when the team plays away games she's unable to go.

"I would love to be able to have a support worker to take me to away games," she said.

"We've been left in the dark and I know quite a few people who have lost support workers since COVID hit.

"My vaulting training is in Koroit and I can't even get there because you can't pass five kilometres.

"That's what helps my anxiety and depression.

"Through the lockdowns my anxiety has gone through the roof, it's got so bad losing supports and the ability to go out.

"I have some support workers come in but I still miss going out, it does impact people with a disability big-time."

Disability support providers say it's difficult to attract people to the sector particularly in regional and rural areas.

Locally, there is a lack of knowledge around career pathways and opportunities to professionalise.

In the past 12 months the South West Disability Network, a coalition of eleven disability providers in the region, joined forces to tackle workforce supply.

Part of that included workshops in 16 rural schools to attract young people to the sector.

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SWDN has a combined workforce of 1500 disability staff to support more than 3000 participants from five municipalities in south-west Victoria spanning 19,000 square kilometres.

Southern Stay Disability Services is part of the network and chief executive Paul Lougheed said over the past three years its workforce has grown by 60 per cent.

In the next two months he expects to employ at least another 30 staff to keep up with growing demand.

Over 90 per cent of funding is from the NDIS.

"In the south-west all the organisations are coming together to address the issue of workforce," he said.

"Our agency amalgamated four years ago and over that time we've gone from supporting 200 people to over 800 people with a disability.

"The level of growth has been unprecedented and it can all be attributed to the NDIS."

Mr Lougheed said overall the NDIS had a positive impact on people living with a disability.

"We see really positive outcomes from the NDIS, so many things wouldn't happen without it," he said.

"COVID has been the most disruptive thing for all organisations and business, what it's highlighted is the disability sector is an essential service.

"A key message to the community would be - get vaccinated. There are people in the community we support who are at a higher risk if they become unwell.

"All our residents are vaccinated and the majority of our staff - 75 per cent - are vaccinated but we've still got a bit to go.

"Unfortunately it's not mandatory in the disability sector like it is in aged care.

"The disability sector was overlooked for many, many months last year and because of the support from local services we've been able to get staff trained and access to PPE where we otherwise wouldn't have.

"We were part of the phase 1a rollout but it was concerning for a long period of time that supply wasn't here for the people we considered to be the most vulnerable.

"It was frustrating but we're in a much better position than what we were even six months ago.

"We're not as anxious as we have been."

Statistics show half of NDIS participants are young people under 18 and want to be supported by their peer group, SWDN's Janet Collins says.

"For the south-west, employment in the disability sector is rarely considered a career option for young people," Ms Collins said.

"Our NDIS participants want other young people to support them to attend the football, speedway, go out for coffee and so on."

After the first round of presenting to schools 10 students applied for traineeships and every one of them were interviewed and taken up in various capacities in 2021.

One of those is 19-year-old Maggie Down, who started as a trainee at Southern Stay Disability Services.

She was offered a permanent position with the service following her traineeship.

She enjoys working with the participants, taking them out into the community, to appointments and helping with day-to-day tasks.

"The staff have been amazing, if I'm doing assignments at work the staff will often help me as they've done their study there too," she said.

"I was so happy (when they offered me the job). I wouldn't want to work for anyone else."

This week federal Disability Minister Linda Reynolds issued a fresh warning about the sustainability of the NDIS.

Fronting a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday, she suggested a cap on the scheme rather than cuts.

Citing data showing a rising trend in cost per person along with a decline in function of participants, she said the scheme was either not working as intended or had serious flaws.

READ MORE: Minister pledges 'no cuts' to NDIS budget

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