I believe it would be beneficial to engage in discussions about the future direction of the NDIS world, with a particular focus on ensuring that all providers are registered for compliance.
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It is absolutely crucial that everyone be registered in some form. But the whole registration system needs to change as it is currently not sustainable or viable for independents and small businesses. The time the process takes is also completely ridiculous.
I still think they should start from the ground up with an industry best practice standard. I dont know any other industry without one. NDIA would have so much more revenue if they became the insurance brokers for all providers (which would eliminate people being underinsured or insured for the wrong things) and if they sold a standardised documentation package that all providers must use and adhere to. It would streamline registration audits if everyone had to have the same documents. It would also be far less confusing for participants having to read and understand all the documentation that involves them.
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Lauren, I absolutely agree with you.
We completed our initial audit prior to commencing to trade as we felt it inperative that we are able to demonstrate that we have all our policy and procedures that meet NDIA guidlines, It has now been 10 months and still waiting for the NDIS to process our application. Our decission to start our own service came from my 20 years of experience withing the mental health sector, where by weekly, I was making up to 3 complaint reports to the NDIS due to providers not doing the right thing or not being adequally qualified. I am a big advocate for providers to be registered, but the NDIS needs to fix up long wait times for approvals. The NDIS sector is the only sector that I am aware of that people can become a provider with minimal qualification, if any, and then go on to support some of the most vulnerable people within our communities. I feel this in itself has been a discgraceful thing for the goverment to have allowed.
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The problem with the qualifications boils down to how NDIS started.
Many workers started in this industry before qualifications ever existed and learned through experience. The vast majority were amazing workers. Then NDIS came in and changed disability support. Many PWD did not want to lose their amazing workers. So NDIS made it so no qualifications were required. It was great at the start but now it’s being misused and abused.
That said, the qualifications need to be fixed. You practically can’t fail, and they spend way too much time on theory, and far too little time getting supervised placement experience. I have run into plenty of “qualified” staff who couldn’t do the job.
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Insurance as part of the registration process could be a game changer. If they were savvy about sustainability, generating an income to offset some of the costs would be another great way to tackle the issue. It would eliminate a lot of confusion and ensure everyone was properly covered at a minimum.
Nice in theory, but I wonder about the real world application of generating an income. Should be something they should at least brainstorm and do feasibility checks for.
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In reality there are quite a few things providers spend money on that NDIA could take over. It would make the funding flow more cyclical. I spend between $2500-$6000 a year on insurances depending on what activities I am running. I have to pay third party companies for training programs and short courses for me and my staff. People pay up to $3000 for documentation packages. People pay anywhere from $200-$2000 a year to get advertised on random platforms. People pay up to $3000 to get walked through the audit process by third party companies.
We use the money earned working with participants to pay all of that and more.
If NDIA made a centralised package, all of that paid funding would flow back into their budget minus the cost of overheads to manage it.
From my experience, the issue isn’t always about whether the provider is registered or not, but how much they actually understand the complexities of disability support and compliance requirements. Some of the best support I’ve received has come from workers who weren’t registered/qualified but had years of hands-on experience. I get that registration is important for standards, but it shouldn’t overlook real-world experience.
You just have an industry of people who largely enter this space with no real idea of what they’re getting themselves into.
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This is very true. I think the idea is that some form of mandatory registration would make policing and regulating this issue possible. Definitely not the current form of registration.
But imagine you need a support worker. You advertise and people apply and supply you their registration number. You can then look up that number as a participant and see their qualifications, how long they have been doing this work, work history and complaints made against them/a rating of their performance in one spot. Imagine you can also get a guide for an appropriate hourly rate for the person based on their skills and experience rather than paying top rate for a worker who has no experience.
If I were in government doing registration, thats what I would set up. And I would give it a yearly subscription fee for people to stay actively registered and review them to ensure they should be working in this industry.
Some people dont mind hiring people with no skills or experience but the rate should reflect that. Some people need someone highly skilled but then hire someone and find out they are not as skilled as they claimed. There are a lot of things that need far more transparency. There also need to be pathways to weed out bad workers effectively.
Hmmm, couldn’t have put it any better.
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Aurora, you are correct. The incidents I have witnessed in this industry, caused by unskilled individuals, are driven by neglect and greed.
Can someone please explain the inconsistency where individuals spend considerable amounts of money on external events and seminars with third-party businesses to gain knowledge about registration, auditing processes, or Supported Independent Living (SIL) and Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA)? Yet, they are reluctant to invest in formal education or registration.
All I see is people focusing on how to make money. Not one person on any platform I have participated in has asked about upskilling or how to become a better-skilled caregiver. This mindset needs to change. I do believe that the current changes to the NDIS and NDIA are a step in the right direction.
I think as long as NDIA keeps telling people they don’t need qualifications, there will be little motivation to get them.
There is also little motivation to be registered when the cost is exclusionary to small independents and companies and when it doesnt really give you much benefit other than the ability to work with the last 20% of ndia managed participants you couldn’t work with before.
While registration and compliance are important aspects that can greatly benefit the industry, they also play a crucial role in enhancing the credibility of a business.
It’s worth noting that other providers—such as COS, OT, SP, PT, and BS—tend to regard registered businesses with greater seriousness, which is often reflected in the referrals they generate. In my conversations with various Allied Health Professionals (AHP), a common theme has emerged: they believe that education, compliance, and experience are vital components for success in our field.
I have found the opposite to be honest. I am unregistered and almost every one of my clients and the AHP i work with have abandoned registered providers. I get a lot of referrals because of word of mouth.
We started our registration due to a similar problem we were seeing. Have made multiple complaints to the NDIA about services and wanted to provide a good service for our community. I also found that the registration process was hard due to the audit as they give a huge list of documents that might not be relevant to the services being registered for and them assuming you have already had experience with the NDIS. I think it would be a great help if the NDIA developes a streamlined process with set documentation for different registrations to also streamline the auditing process. That way we also know that everyone has the right documentation.
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The NDIS is still reviewing this issue. The first recommendations were made in November 2023 (Working together to deliver the NDIS) and then a taskforce released more recommendations in August 2024: NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce | Department of Social Services
The registration process is supposed to become more streamlined and risk proportionate, but still no fixed new registration procedures have been set.
Even though SIL providers and SC will need to be registered or at least start the procedure before 01/07/2025.
Personally, I am waiting for the the new procedures to be released before I start the registration process again (I was registered in the past). I don’t want to spend a lot of time and money on things that may not be required in the future.
But I do think mandatory registration is a good idea. There are too may clueless cowboys out there.
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