BigDog Newsletter July 2021 by BigDog Support

July 2021 Newsletter

Rockhampton Official Opening

Check IN Queensland 1

Newsletter Editor Notes Workability NDIS Workforce Research I have been fortunate to have been part of this valuable research project through the University of the Sunshine Coast and Community Resourcing. Some of the key findings to date include: • Most providers require workers to complete a minimum of a Certificate III in a relevant field, but this is secondary to their focus on the right fit with the values of the organisation, the person-centred focus of the NDIS and the employability skills required to work with people with disability.

In This Issue

• Qualitative findings suggest that the lack of funding for the provision of in-house training for support workers is a significant issue in the sector.

2 Editor Notes

• There is a need for more flexible and relevant disability traineeships.

5 2021-2022 Price Guide

• The workforce does not necessarily see working in disability as a career.

7 Community Partnerships

• Professional development has become a priority for providers to keep up with changes and their understanding of the NDIS.

9 NGO Training Infographic

• There is a shortage of high turnover.

12 Safety Updates Check in QLD

support workers and a

Toowoomba active Participants as at 31 March 2021 is 5,827 where there was a prediction of 6,600.

3 COVID-19 Vaccination 4 NDIS Updates 6 Rockhampton Centre Opening 8 SCHADS Award Latest 10 Toowoomba Community 11 Rockhampton Community 13 Staff Updates 14 What’s happening in July

BigDog Newsletter Privacy Notice: Please note that as a subscriber to our BigDog Newsletter which supplies news and events relevant to this organisation, your email address or any other personal information collected will only be used for the purpose for which you gave it to us and will not be disclosed to any other person, body or agency except where you have provided your consent or it is required or authorised by law. 2

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COVID-19

Vaccination

Queensland Chief Health Officer

Disability Information Helpline

South-east Queensland and other parts of Queensland, including Townsville, Magnetic Island and Palm Island, will enter a minimum three-day lockdown from 6pm, on Tuesday 29 June 2021. No personal visitors are allowed in disability care facilities.

If a participant has a question about COVID19, or needs help because things have changed, they can contact the Disability Information Helpline on 1800 643 787. (If they are deaf, or have a hearing or speech impairment, they can also call the National Relay Service on 133 677.)

People who have been in an interstate place of concern are not permitted to leave home to provide services for an NDIS participant. “Be brave and have the jab” Disability advocate Tara Elliffe, 33, has a simple message. "My message is to be brave and have the jab. It's okay. Just do it," she said.

The helpline is available Monday to Friday 8.00am to 8.00pm (AEST) and Saturday and Sunday 9.00am to 7.00pm (AEST). It is not available on national public holidays. They can call the helpline if: • their support worker has not turned up

Tara got vaccinated at the Vaccination Centre at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital run by Sydney Local Health District. Tara is on Down Syndrome NSW’s Advisory Board and is a member of the Council for Intellectual Disability’s advocacy committee. She is also on the City of Sydney’s Inclusion (Disability) Panel.

• their provider has stopped services

In-depth Patient Assessment

• they are feeling really upset

• it's hard for them to get food, groceries, medications or other essential items • someone close to them has symptoms of coronavirus

On 18 June 2021, the Australian Government • anything else is worrying them introduced two new Medicare Benefits SchedTraining for Support Workers ule (MBS) items (10660 and 10661). These two new items are to support general practi- NDIS is encouraging all support workers to do tioners and other medical practitioners. The the free online training from the Department of two new MBS items provide in-depth clinical Health about how to prevent and control assessments of patients aged 50 years and COVID-19 infection. If you haven’t done the over. This assessment is in regards to the pa- training a participant can ask you to do it. Hannah and Courtney at the finishing post. Photo Toowoomba Chronicle tient’s individual health risks and benefits associated with receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Participants might also want to do the training This assessment is available to people with so they know what they can expect from the people who support them. disability. 3

Updates Media Releases Personalised Budgets

Quarterly Report

NDIS released new papers on Personalised Budgets to give more information on the way they propose to build participant budgets in the future.

The Minister for the NDIS, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC has released the NDIS Quarterly Report to disability ministers Q3 2020-21. This Quarterly Report is a summary of how the Scheme performed from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021.

In 2020 they released a paper on proposed changes to their planning policy for Personalised Budgets and plan flexibility, and encouraged participants, families, carers and the wider sector to respond. Participant feedback wanted fairer decisions and participants wanted the NDIS to be more transparent about how they worked out the funds in participants’ plans. The Personalised Budgets papers gives the participant more information on how NDIS is developing the new budget model and how they propose budgets will be built. New participant journey maps explaining the proposed planning process for participants have also been released. These maps can be found on the NDIS website. NDIS is still designing and testing Personalised Budgets and are taking more time to listen to feedback from the community so any changes they make will help deliver a better NDIS. NDIA is also working hard to support Minister for the NDIS, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC, in continuing to gather feedback on the NDIS reforms from participants and stakeholders. There are three versions of the Personalised Budgets paper available for increased accessibility. 4

We are now supporting more than 449,900 people with disability. Over 19,000 people joined the Scheme this quarter. The data in the Quarterly Report shows we are making progress across many different areas of the Scheme. Despite COVID-19, participation rates in community and social activities have increased, while the overall rate of participation in work has remained stable. Participants continue to have positive outcomes the longer they are with the Scheme. The NDIS continues to grow. The scale of the Scheme and the cost per participant is now on a trajectory well ahead of what was anticipated in the original design. This Quarterly Report outlines the plan to improve consistency, flexibility, choice and control and manage the Scheme for the longer term. Group-based Supports In response to sector feedback and the impact of COVID-19, the transitional pricing arrangements for group-based supports are extended until 30 June 2022. Extending the transition for a further 12 months allows providers more time to adopt a program of supports approach and agree the new arrangements with participants.

BigDog Support Services Magazine

2021-2022 By Evie Naufal DSC 1/07/2021

Price Guide

The NDIA have just released the 2021/22 Price Guide update and, as expected, it’s a bit of an anticlimax this time around.

plan reviews if they’re concerned but we don’t think we’re alone in being hardly filled with confidence by that assurance.

Earlier this month, the Agency announced their plans to push major Price Guide reviews back to the first half of each financial year. So even though tonight’s update is a bit light on, we will hear more about the future of the Price Guide later this year.

Temporary Transformation Payment

Price Increases Prices dependent on the Disability Support Worker Cost Model have been increased by 2.95% to accommodate the increase in super guarantee percentage and the Fair Work Commission increase in the minimum wage. Supports related to bricks and mortar have been indexed by 1.1%, which falls well and truly short of the increase in property values.

The Temporary Transformation Payment (TTP) has reduced a further 1.5% as scheduled, bringing it down to 4.5%. BigDog do not charge any Participant this TTP. Notional Price Limits This is a change to claiming processes, not pricing. Supports that are not subject to price limits (like transport) now have a “notional price limit” of $1. So if a provider and participant agree, for example, to charge $2.40 per kilometer in a modified vehicle, the provider will claim 2.4 units of transport per kilometer @ $1 each. A new name

The price for Short Term Accommodation (STA) sits across both of the categories above so has increased by somewhere between 2% and 3%, depending on the day/time.

The Price Guide has a new name! It shall henceforth be known as NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits - or so say the NDIA. Somehow I can’t see that catching on…

No other prices have been increased and there’s no changes to the way prices are structured.

Disability Support Worker Cost Model

No increase to Participant Plans

There’s no easy way to say this: the NDIA are not going to increase participant budgets to accommodate these price increases. According to the NDIA, “most participants will be able to continue to purchase the supports they need from their existing plan funds and will not be impacted by changes to price limits”. They go on to say that have a process in place that monitors plans and that people can request

The cost model estimates the cost of delivering a billable hour of support taking into account all of the costs associated with every billable hour, including: base pay; shift loadings; holiday pay; salary on costs; supervision costs; utilisation (non-billable activities); employee allowances; corporate overheads and margin. These estimates are the basis of the price limits set by NDIA for supports delivered by support workers. This model doesn’t include items such as Payroll Tax, WorkCover or Long Service. 5

Community

Some of our group of Capras players who are also support workers with Capras’ officials LHS Lionel Harbin (Wellbeing and Education Manager and also Colts Head Coach) and RHS Peter White (CEO).

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Community

Partnerships

Thank you to Michael Burge OAM who officially opened the BigDog Community Centre in Rockhampton on the 16th June. Guests included Cr Drew Wickerson from Rockhampton Regional Council, members of the Capras Club, local Support Coordinators and Plan Managers, as well as participants and their families. Michael was in Rockhampton facilitating a two-day Mental Health First Aid course for 20 BigDog staff and management and we thank him for his valuable support

WhatsUp in Disability

Jul/Aug Magazine Stories in this issue include: • Tony Wigan • Community Radio • SCHADS Award Shake Up • Something about Bella • Gig Economy To obtain a copy of WhatsUp in Disability magazine or to be a sponsor, please contact WhatsUp via: Office

11-15 Alexander Street, Toowoomba

admin@whatsupindisability.org

Online

www.whatsupindisability.org

• Business Disability Awards • Have another go Jade

Steven Paull President 7

SCHADS Award

Latest

Expected December 2021 or January 2022 The Fair Work Commission The Commission handed down its longawaited decision in relation to its review of the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (the SCHADS Award). The decision dealt with some 20 claims by unions and employer groups to vary terms of the SCHADS Award. The proceedings took place over 3 years and involved the examination of extensive written materials, witness evidence and submissions. Business NSW’s industrial relations affiliate, Australian Business Industrial (ABI), played a lead role in the proceedings on behalf of Business NSW members (represented by Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors (ABLA)). However, the Commission was persuaded to make variations to existing provisions relating to minimum engagements, broken shifts, overtime, part-time working arrangements, client cancellation, remote response work, 24-hour care and sleepovers. The Commission has also left open the prospect of reassessing the issue of travel time. The decision is in excess of 300 pages, a summary of some of the decisions is below: • a 2-hour minimum engagement for parttime and casual employees in the disability services and home care streams. • allow for employers to either redeploy the employee to other work or provide the employee with ‘make up time’ within a subsequent 6-week period

• only require employees to perform 24-hour care shifts by agreement • varying clause 25.5(d) to permit the variation of a roster by mutual agreement (for example to accommodate an agreed shift swap with another employee). The Commission has also left open the prospect of reassessing the issue of travel time. The Commission accepted that most workers are not paid for travelling to, from and between clients, often being significant amounts of time without payment. Further, the Commission found that minimum engagement, broken shifts and travel time are “interrelated” which will likely see the proposed broken shift allowance and minimum engagements impact current rostering practices. It is likely that the changes to minimum engagements and broken shifts will address the concerns around travel time, however the Commission has left open the prospect of considering whether further changes are necessary to address the issue of travel time. When will the changes come into effect? The changes have not come into effect yet. The Commission has published a Draft Determination which outlines the specific drafting changes that have been proposed, and there is a process for parties to comment on the drafting of the proposed changes before they are implemented. A hearing has been scheduled for 30 June 2021 to finalise the drafting. On that basis, it might be expected that the changes will not be implemented until later 2021 (or January 2022)..

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Infographics

Training

Toowoomba Community Something About Bella Billy Drury is a devoted dad who has raised thousands for the Toowoomba Hospital through an event he held for his late daughter Bella, after she passed away from SIDS at just four weeks old. As a way to keep her memory alive, each year around her birthday, Billy hosts a party to share stories of Bella and raise funds for the Toowoomba Hospital’s Neonatal Unit. Something About Bella was held on Sunday, May 30 at Willowburn Park, with 400 people in attendance. There was a car show, skydivers, Dance Central performers, PlayStation challenges, and TOMNET volunteered to cook the barbecue with all meat donated by The Paddock Darling Downs. The goal was to raise $3500 and Mr Drury was thrilled when the final figure was tallied with $5769.13 raised. He said it made him incredibly happy that Bella’s fundraiser was a huge success and was growing. WhatsUp were able to provide access to the Park as well as opening the toilets in our Community Centre for the attendees.

BigDog Day Service Toowoomba Paul Myatt Community Centre 11-15 Alexander Street North Toowoomba 4350 Coordinator Sharon Price Phone: 4512 6020 dayservice@bigdogsupport.com.au 10

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Sharon

Rockhampton Community The best ’80s songs are somehow equal parts timeless and very much a reflection of their time. After all, this was a decade of excess— big hair, big shoulder pads, and big egos—so it makes sense that music of the period still makes an impact so many years later. Artists like ABBA and Stevie Wonder ruled the waves.

The absolute best ‘80s songs Join us in reliving those wonderful 80’s songs like Beat It by Michael Jackson, All Night Long by Lionel Ritchie, Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles, Another One Bites the Dust by Queen, I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston, Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper, What’s Love Got to do With It by Tina Turner or Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen. Dance! Dance! Dance!

SARAH

Come and join us! Friday 16th July 2021 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm $10 Supper Included

BigDog Day Service Rockhampton BigDog Community Centre 170 East Street Rockhampton 4700 Coordinator Sarah Dillon Phone: 4573 4611 rockhampton@bigdogsupport.com.au

Safety Updates Check in and you’re good to go! BigDog is using the new Check In Qld app to help keep you COVID safe. The Check In Qld app has been developed to help the Queensland Government with contact tracing in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.

Steve or later, as well as Android devices using Android 5+. Please visit www.covid19.qld.gov.au/check-inqld for step-by-step instructions. Alternatively, we can help you download and set up the app when you next visit.

BigDog is adopting the app to help us collect your details quickly, easily and electronically as you arrive. When you next visit, you’ll have the option to register your details using the Check In Qld app.

Once you’re set up, all you need to do on your next visit is scan the QR code or type in the unique code provided. These will be displayed at our sign in areas. Our team will be here to help if you have any issues.

The Check In Qld app is free, easy to use and convenient.

The Check In Qld app allows you to check in multiple people at the same time. For example, if you arrive with family members (who don’t have devices), one person can register themselves on their device and then list additional people (including children) when checking in.

We need to collect customer details to support the Queensland Government’s contact tracing efforts. The Check In Qld app is a safe, secure and convenient way to do this. Your details will be stored securely by the Queensland Government for 56 days for contact tracing only (if required). BigDog won’t have access to this information, nor will any third parties. When you sign up to use the Check In Qld app, the app will remember your details, saving you time in the future and providing easy check-in across other Queensland venues using Check In Qld.

For more information on the app, Frequently Asked Questions and instructional videos, visit www.covid19.qld.gov.au/check-in-qld Alternatively, please call the Check In Qld helpline on 134 COVID (13 42 68).

Everyone who visits our venue needs to check -in – but you don’t have to use the app. For our participants, families and volunteers who don’t have a smartphone or aren’t comfortable downloading apps, we can take your details using another method. You can download the Check In Qld app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store now – simply search Check In Qld. The Check In Qld app is compatible with the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPad touch operating iOS 10.0

BigDog Support Services Magazine

Staff Updates

Ann

2021 Pay and Procedures Review While we were waiting for the SCHABS Award to be released to determine the base line for our pay rates. (following delay after delay the Award is now not expected until late 2021 or early 2022) we undertook a review of our rates as well as some of the employee requirements or benefits and we have determined that form this month the following will be in place: 1.

Your Minimum Probation period will be reduced from 6 months to 3 months (can be 12 months)

Probation reviews will be conducted prior to the completion of your probation period.

Successful reviews will transition you to level 1.

If the review is not satisfactory it will be extended to 6 months for a second review

Uniforms will be ordered when you start your employment and will no longer be subject to a refundable deposit. Funded uniforms will need to be returned if you leave BigDog.

Additional uniforms are available to purchase but must meet the guidelines.

If you have completed an appropriate certificate and you are required to undertake work related to that certificate will be appointed to level 2.

Where the appropriate certificate is a level 4 the minimum rate of pay will be level 2 PP2.

If you have completed an appropriate diploma and are required to undertake work related to the diploma you will commence at the second pay point of this level and will advance after 12 full-time equivalent months’ satisfactory service.

Staff Birthdays

July 2021 6th 7th 10th 12th 17th 24th 26th 27th

Harlem Maree Jessica Simeana Zandalee Linda Trey Colin Tegan Simone

Have a great day!

10. BigDog will continue to make employer sponsored contributions to your superannuation when your KPI’s are met at a Performance Appraisal 11. Compulsory Items on the NGO Training Portal must be completed every 6 months and should be on you whenever you are on shift 13

What’s happening in

July

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Justice of the Peace This service is available at the Paul Myatt Community Centre 11-15 Alexander Street Toowoomba (please call first to make an appointment) The JPs in the Community Program is also available through major shopping centres, libraries, court houses and hospitals.

232 Ruthven Street Toowoomba QLD 4350 PO Box 234 Harlaxton QLD 4350

(07) 4632 9559 1800 22 44 32 www.bigdogsupport.com.au 15

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