16 September 2024
PWDA has deep concerns about today’s proposal for all NDIS platform providers, support coordinators and Support Independent Living (SIL) providers to be registered. While the Albanese Government has committed to consultation with the disability community and a period of transition, PWDA remains concerned the proposal will impact the choice and control and availability of supports to people with disability in a system that is already in crisis.
PWDA believes this new regulatory model is premature, coming in advance of the government’s formal responses to the NDIS Review and the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce Report being released, and the lists of what supports can and cannot be funded by the NDIS being finalised.
PWDA President Marayke Jonkers is calling for genuine co-design with people with disability so any changes to registration are done right.
“We can’t compromise people with disability’s access to reasonable and necessary supports or choice and control over their providers. Co-design is the only way we will get this right. The government has only committed to consultation which far too often is a one-sided conversation. This could result in unintended consequences that have very real impacts on our day-to-day lives,” Ms Jonkers said.
PWDA welcomes the proposal to register Supported Independent Living (SIL) providers but emphasises implementation must be focused on the people it will directly impact.
“Our members support the registration of Support Independent Living (SIL) providers but only if changes are implemented in a way that does not compromise participants access to safe and stable housing. We need clarity on what registration will mean for the 9,000 participants using unregistered SIL providers. If we don’t get this right people could be at risk of homelessness,” PWDA Deputy CEO Megan Spindler-Smith said.
PWDA is particularly concerned some of the best proposals from the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce Report will be ignored.
“The taskforce’s recognition of centring people with disability’s will and preference when it comes to deciding which providers are the right fit for our needs was welcome. Under this proposal we’re concerned overregulation could trump participants capabilities when it comes to making decisions about their supports,” Spindler-Smith said.
PWDA is concerned today’s announcement will lead to further volatility in a system that is already at breaking point.
“We’ve already seen NDIS providers and support workers exiting the market because of uncertainty, pricing volatility, and market barriers. We know many providers are struggling to keep their doors open, especially in rural and regional areas where providers are already thin on the ground. We don’t want to see no options for participants or people being turned away by providers under understandable pressure,” Jonkers said.
PWDA will advocate to be active participants in the consultation process. The Disability Representative Organisation wants to work with the government to deliver balanced and tiered registration that centres people with disability’s capability to enact choice and control over how and where they get supports that ultimately enable them to live free and equal lives.
Media contact:
0491 034 479
I am absolutely concerned about this move. I worked with an organisation for 3 years before branching out to become an independent support coordinator; a move I did to sustain personal life caring for people living with disabilities (my children) and my career. Although I am doing everything I can to ensure my business is running as though it is a NDIS registered business ( having necessary protocols, procedures and documentation in place, documenting my work etc), I am still in the very early stages and I know my business is still a work in progress. I am part of many Support Coordination Networks that other Independent SCs are a part of and they became independent for the same reasons I did and most of the independent SCs, like me, not only have qualifications that have helped us be effective SCs, but we also have lived experience – something very difficult to come by. After hearing the news of mandatory registration, I logged onto the commission website to start the application process. I have already run into a barrier – not having key personnel. I am pretty much a one person business at the moment and I am not in a position to hire others at the moment, so my concern is that while NDIS are working diligently to make registration mandatory, they may overlook the need to ensure that independent SCs can continue to operate as independent SCs as they rightfully should. If they are to make the registration process difficult to the point where I would have to start hiring people just to be able to successfully gain registration, I will be in a financial deficit and will be forced to give up what I am doing and most likely become unemployed. My circumstances do not allow me the flexibility to work for
an employer and manage my family home. This move is premature and I am very fearful of what’s to become of my business if NDIS do not plan and roll out the processes properly and ensure independent Sc providers can still operate. I am sure I am not the only Independent SC. There are many Independent SCs whose skills stand out remarkably as opposed to a majority of SCs working for companies that are registered. I have seen many SCs employed with registered providers and they did not have the skills and knowledge that many Independent SCs have. Essentially, many providers were hiring just anyone to fill spots and help them bring in the money. I had seen many NDIS participants fall through cracks because the SCs allocated to them through the company they agreed to receive services from did not know what they are doing. They were not in the SC business to make a difference. It was just a role where they can get paid and not provide any personal care supports. Some even thought the role was not something that required effort and thought – something they soon learnt was not the case at all. What many Independent SCs have done to support people with disabilities (overcome barriers, be supported adequately, learn new skills to increase their capacity, and live life to the fullest) has demonstrated the effectiveness of having Support Coordination services in the NDIS. Limiting the Independent SCs or making the registration process difficult for them will take away a crucial support for many people with disabilities and limit their opportunity to be supported by an experienced SC whose heart is in the right place and do their work out of passion and a desire to help effect change, and can only do this work by having the freedom of flexibility and remaining as Independent SCs. I hope NDIS take these factors into consideration because I for one will be out of business if NDIS are not thoughtful.