NDIS Updates

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 vision, 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-

tor. 4. Leverage employment programs to ensure suitable job seekers can find work in the sector. 5. Better connect NDIS and care and support providers to employment and training providers and workers (that is a serious number of “and”s in one clause!)

Priority 2

Train and support the NDIS Workforce to support retention and meet the needs of participants.

The initiatives for this priority area are:  Develop micro-credentials and update nationally recognised training to improve the quality of supports and enhance career pathways.  Support the sector to develop a Care and

Support Worker Professional Network.  Work with the sector to establish a skills passport.  Support the sector to increase the number of traineeships and student placements, working closely with educational institutions and professional bodies.

Priority 3

Support efficiency and innovation through reduced red tape, new service models and innovation, and improved market information

The initiatives for this priority area are:  Improve alignment of provider regulation and worker screening across the care and support sector.  Continue to improve NDIS pricing approaches to ensure effective operation of the market, including in thin markets.  Provide market demand information across the care and support sector to help identify

new business opportunities.  Support participants to find more of the services and supports they need online.  Explore options to support allied health professionals to work alongside allied health assistants and support workers to increase capacity to respond to participants needs.  Enable allied health professionals in rural and remote areas to access professional support via telehealth.  Help build the Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander community-controlled sector to enhance culturally safe NDIS services. Overall, it’s good to see a well-researched approach, and this is the most useful NDIS Workforce Plan to date. But until some of the more deep-rooted problems are addressed by forces broader than just DSS, the challenge will continue to grow and affect choice and control.