Updates NDIS National Workforce Plan Rob Woolley DSC NDIS News Analysis We don’t need to overstate the challenge of finding a suitably sized and skilled provider workforce to deliver on the promises of the NDIS. It’s a challenge that has been slowly growing over the past few years. It’s always in the background, pervading the day-to-day operations of providers, but any possible solutions often feel beyond providers’ control. Well, the Department of Social Services (DSS) has released a document that aims to turn potential solutions into reality and put them into practice. Following from the 2019 NDIS Market and Workforce Strategy, the NDIS National Workforce Plan: 2021–2025 was released in June. It reminds us of the scale of the workforce challenge: there are currently 3,175 unfilled vacancies, and (more dauntingly) forecasts suggest an additional 83,000 NDIS workers will be required by 2024. This is a significant increase on the already eye-watering 270,000 workers currently employed by providers. I don’t think anyone would say this is one of those government documents that overstates the problem – almost every provider we talk to mentions workforce as one of their biggest organisational headaches. We have long needed a more comprehensive roadmap for addressing the workforce challenge, beyond the hollow rallying cry of “support growth in the market.” The Workforce Plan has four components: to support and retain existing workers, to grow the workforce, to maintain quality of supports, and to support sector efficiency and innovation. From this vi-
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sion, there are 16 initiatives that the Commonwealth government will implement, across three key priorities: 1. Improve community understanding of the benefits of working in the sector and strengthen entry pathways. 2. Train and support the NDIS workforce to support retention and meet the needs of participants. 3. Support efficiency and innovation through reduced red tape, new service models and innovation, and improved market information. So, we’ve got one vision, four components everyone needs to work together on, three priority areas, and 16 initiatives. That’s a lot of buzzwords, even for DSS, so let’s look at each of the priorities in more detail to find the relevant information.
Priority 1 Improve community understanding of the benefits of working in the sector and strengthen entry pathways. To achieve this, the Plan highlights five initiatives:
1. Promote opportunities in the care and support sector. 2. Develop a simple and accessible online tool for job seekers to self-assess their suitability for new roles based on values, attributes, skills, and experience. 3. Improve effectiveness of jobs boards to match job seekers to vacancies in the sec-
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