TasCOSS Newsletter April 2012

Tasmanian Council of Social Service

Newsletter April 2012

Equal Pay Case Wage justice has been served, now comes the reckoning........ p4 Challenge of water charges......p6 Core skills training at work......p10 Research in the community.... p14

FROM THE CEO Proposal to use TOTE sale proceeds for emergency relief and community fund

Contents How long is a piece of red tape?............................... p3 Equal Pay Case.........................p4

TasCOSS has commended Premier Lara Giddings for setting aside $5 million in the State Budget to help low-income households with their food and utilities bills.

The Budget initiative, announced by the Premier on March 6, comes at a time when the impact of Tasmania’s spiralling cost of living, particularly on the state’s most disadvantaged, is at a crisis point.

However, the $5 million is nonrecurrent funding, and TasCOSS has proposed to the Government that the bulk of the $5 million – at least $3 million – seed a new foundation to act as an emergency relief and community support fund Investment earnings from this fund could provide assistance to Tasmanians in need on an ongoing basis, and this would make a more enduring use of this one-off windfall, especially in light of the severely restricted expenditure envisaged in the Treasury Forward Estimates.

The foundation could provide annual distributions, with priority given to assistance that will make a long-term or sustainable difference to cost-of-living pressures such as energy efficiency and community food production.

The foundation administering the fund could also seek favourable tax status so that private corporations, philanthropists and everyday Tasmanians could support its work.

TasCOSS recommends the proposal as a means of utilising the allocation from the asset sale in a manner that will have a lasting, positive effect on the lives of disadvantaged Tasmanians.

Possible features of the emergency relief and community support fund:

Water bills add to pain......... p6 TasCOSS news......................... p9

•• The fund could be administered by a volunteer foundation board drawn from the government and the community sector.

•• Funds could be invested through the Tasmanian Public Finance Corporation.

•• The administration of the fund could be supported by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, ideally by the Social Inclusion Unit.

•• Annual state budgets should provide a financial supplement to the fund to allow the largest possible distribution, and for the corpus of investments to grow and ensure its ongoing ability to provide support.

Tony Reidy TasCOSS Chief Executive

TasCOSS Newsletter advertising and insert rates 2012 Advertising (excl GST) Page Members Non-members Full $70 $110 Half $40 $70 Quarter $25 $40 Inserts (excl GST) Members Non-members $85 $130 Contact Gabrielle Rish – gabrielle@tascoss.org.au

Core skills training comes to work........................p10 Unit pricing of human services........................................p12 Equal dignity in an unequal world .......................p14 Welcome to new members ..................................p16 No-interest loans....................p17

Goodbye Maureen The friendly and efficient first contact point at TasCOSS for the past three years, admin assistant Maureen Richardson, left this month in what she described as her “third attempt to retire”.

Maureen is off to Spain for a year but will be returning to Tasmania as a lady of leisure down the track.

TasCOSS state conference November 15–16 The TasCOSS state conference will be held from November 15-16 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart. World Vision Australia CEO Tim Costello will deliver the keynote Dorothy Pearce Address.

Save the date!

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TasCOSS Newsletter April 2012

How long is a piece of red tape?

Reporting requirements are a huge drain on NGO productivity but there are solutions The manager of a support service with 20-30 staff spends a quarter of her time reporting on the multiple programs her agency is funded for.

The diversity of services, funding streams and internal and external reporting requirements and templates led to a complex array of forms and procedures that failed to accurately capture the activities Link undertook.

The application process for a $5000 grant can be as complex as one for $100,000.

Many managers and staff wonder if their reports are ever read and yearn to see some kind of statewide analysis that would allow them to compare their service with other similar services.

Raise the issue of red tape in any conversation with community service workers and you’re sure to get a strong reaction.

Tasmania’s community service organisations have been estimated to spend in the order of 100,000 hours reporting against government quality standards (many respond to multiple standards from multiple funders – DHHS Quality and Safety Framework, Disability standards, Aged care standards, etc).

A Queensland study of 14 not-forprofit organisations found that over 12 months they collectively completed: •• 46 grant submissions (on average taking 15.17 hours to prepare) •• 157 grant acquittals (average 6.04 hours per acquittal)

No one argues that services shouldn’t be accountable and provide good quality services but everyone questions whether the pendulum has swung too far at the expense of service delivery.

The 2011 Productivity Commission inquiry into the not-for-profit sector agrees.

It can be easy to wring our hands about red tape and blame government but there are examples of organisations taking things into their hands and improving their own systems so that data capturing and reporting becomes a tool that works for them.

The Link Youth Health Service in Hobart took on this challenge a few years ago and, in a process that involved all levels of staff, developed a procedure to marry their activities and reporting requirements into a simpler streamlined system.

Activities / Services Delivered

reporting requirements: internal, external

•• 90 tax forms (average 1.87 hours per form) •• 111 ‘other’ forms, eg database information on client services for health or disability departments (average 1.88 hours)

data collection, collation and reporting system

After redesigning their forms and processes, reports that previously took weeks and were a nightmare to prepare, searching for missing data, are now being done in less than a day and well ahead of their due dates. There has also been a 400% increase in their recorded level of activity, indicating the magnitude of the inaccuracies in the previous system.

TasCOSS sits on a red-tape reduction working group set up by the Peaks Network and Government Strategic Forum. The working group convened in March.

Tim Tabart Industry Development Unit References Breaking New Ground (2011) The cost of quality service standards: assessment and compliance reporting for the not-for-profit sector, Bradfield Nyland Group and BNG NGO Services Online, Sydney Ryan, C.; Newton, C.; and McGregorLowndes, M. (2008) How long is a piece of red tape? The paperwork reporting cost of government grants Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, CPNS Working Paper No. 39 http:// eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00012986/ TasCOSS (2009) Reporting, compliance and government paperwork, www. tascoss.org.au (under Publications, industry development) Productivity Commission, Contribution of the Not-for-Profit Sector www.pc.gov.au/ projects/study/not-for-profit/report TasCOSS Newsletter April 2012

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Equal Pay Case Wage justice has been served but what happens now?

Fair Work Australia handed down its decision in the Community Sector Equal Pay Case on February 1 this year – a significant landmark in what has been a long process to recognise the value of the work done by the sector.

For TasCOSS fair wages have always been an important factor in building viable and effective sector organisations capable of providing support and services to the many people and communities that rely on them.

But funding remains the critical issue. The Commonwealth Government has committed $2 billion and the Tasmanian Government is starting the process of calculating its share of the projected increases. Discussions continue around Australia with governments, the industrial parties and the sector about how funding can be allocated in a fair and transparent manner that allows pay increases to be met without compromising service delivery and standards.

While it is great to have this decision that recognises the value of the workers in the sector, there is still much work to be done, including the drafting of the instrument to put the FWA decision into effect – the Equal Remuneration Order.

The drafting of the ERO has recently been delayed again, and it’s understood that this is to ensure that there are no unintended consequences of the Order over the longer period of implementation decided by FWA. It will take some time for all jurisdictions and organisations to transition to the modern award and some of the implications of the ERO may not be immediately understood. The view of the parties participating in the conciliation process for the drafting of the ERO is that time spent anticipating various contingencies now is the best way to ensure there are no nasty surprises through implementation over the next eight years.

The sector will need to go through a process to transfer from the old SACS Award/NAPSA classification structure to the one set out in the SCHADS Award by July 1. While this process is not part of the Equal Pay Case, it is important as it will determine the pay that will apply to each job based on its classification under the SCHADS Award.

It is already evident that the sector, whether boards of management, managers or workers, want and need good and clear advice about the case, its implementation and the transfer to the SCHADS Award.

The Commonwealth has set aside funding for this to occur nationally, and negotiations are under way, involving ACOSS, to form a consortium funded to present employer and employee information sessions around Australia. Because of the pressure that’s building to make information available as soon as possible, the group is looking at a combination of written materials sooner rather than later, followed by a series of workshops.

Key points of Fair Work Australia decision •• Increase to pay rates in the SCHADS Award were in line with the submission made by the Australian Services Union and Commonwealth Government, and supported by the Councils of Social Service around Australia.

•• Increases range from 19 – 41% •• The rates granted are in line with the rates achieved in the Queensland equal pay decision of 2009.

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•• The rates will be phased in over eight years in nine instalments starting in December 2012, not the five years originally sought by the ASU. •• A further 4% will also be paid in instalments over the eight years. This component is comparable to the Queensland component.

•• The SCHADS Award will also be adjusted to reflect Living Wage Case increases as they are awarded. This will mean that the SCHADS Award will also keep pace with increases in all awards and so maintain the value of the equal pay rates decided in this case.

Funding has been declining while funders’ expectations and client demand have grown. The Productivity Commission found that for government-funded services non-government organisations often receive only 70% of the cost of providing them.

HACSU staff make a stand for equal pay in Hobart last May. Picture: Courtesy of the Mercury.

Employers in the sector face a range of industrial challenges.

These include: •• Implementing the ERO, and coping with the delay in drafting the order which means a delay in being able to reliably model the financial impact.

•• Managing employee expectations in light of the 8 year phase in period, and ensuring the ERO assists with recruitment and retention as hoped.

•• The need for consistent and reliable information about the industrial framework, including for example: • Getting the translation from old award to modern award classifications correct; and • The review of modern awards which has resulted in several applications being lodged

to vary the modern SACS award. This may lead to further change and potential confusion.

• Issues that will arise where workplaces have more than one award covering the work – including identifying the correct award, and internal relativity issues that will arise where there are significant differences in wages paid for comparable work as a result of the ERO. •• Managing employee expectations where past practice has been to “overclassify” as a method for paying market rates to attract and retain skilled workers.

Fair pay for workers in the community sector in Tasmania is a significant element of what’s needed for long-term sector sustainability and effectiveness. It is not the whole story about funding.

Failure to provide proper indexation of government funding also leaves the sector more vulnerable to rising cost pressures. This chronic and persistent underfunding will continue to pose serious challenges for the sector, despite the in-principle commitments to fund the equal pay case decision.

TasCOSS will vigorously continue its campaign of advocacy for full, fair and proper funding, knowing that we do that with the unqualified support of our member organisations and the wider community sector so that together we can continue to support the people and communities we serve.

Tony Reidy TasCOSS Chief Executive NOTE While TasCOSS provides important general information about employment and human resource matters, it is not an industrial advisory body and does not give specific industrial advice. Should you have further questions about the pay equity case or the transfer process, you should contact your industrial advisory organisation.

Our special thanks to ACOSS Deputy CEO Tessa Boyd-Caine, and NCOSS Director Alison Peters for their great assistance in preparing this article.

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Water bills add to pain The concession offered on water and sewerage bills is not keeping pace with the spiralling tariffs WATER and sewerage prices are rising at an alarming rate in some parts of Tasmania, contributing to increasing cost-of-living pressure on low income households.

For instance, by 2015 many Hobart households may be paying $400 more than they paid in 2010-11 – as much as a 91% increase in four years.

These price rises come in the context of other increases in basic living costs, including electricity, food and transport costs.

Water and sewerage prices will also contribute to increases in rents, exacerbating the affordable housing crisis for those living on low incomes.

TasCOSS believes that a percentage-based concession on water and sewerage charges is essential to assist Tasmanians least able to afford higher prices.

The State Government introduced major reform to the water and sewerage services sector in 2008, removing responsibility for the delivery of these services from local councils and transferring it to three newly established regional water and sewerage corporations.

Each regional corporation is owned by a consortium of local councils.

With the reforms came a change in customer billing that saw water and sewerage costs removed from council rates and billed separately.

Since each council had different bases for water and sewerage charges, the new corporations inherited widely differentiated pricing systems. These systems are in the process of being standardised within each region as mandatory two-part pricing is introduced across the state.

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The State Government enacted a concession for water and sewerage bills in 2009-10. The concession rate was initially fixed at $130 per annum, which reflected an approximate proportion of the previous rates remission attributable to water and sewerage services. The previous concession provided a 30% reduction on local government rates up to a maximum of $366 (in 2008-09) and was funded by the State Government.

The Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation) Regulations 2009 prescribes the base concession rate and annual increases of the base rate.

“

I understand that a 10% increase is considerable for households already struggling with increases for other utilities — Lara Giddings

For the first two years following the introduction of the base rate in 2009-10, the concession was prescribed to increase by 5% in 2010-11 and by 10% in 201112. These percentage increases corresponded with the caps imposed on price rises by the State Government for the interim pricing period (2009-10 to 2011-12 inclusive).

In the 2011-12 State Budget the previously announced government-funded 5% cap on prices was increased for 2011-12 to 10% or $100 per year, “whichever is greater”. The concession rate was increased by 10%.

In her June 16, 2010 media release announcing the increase, Treasurer Lara Giddings stated: “I am painfully aware of the impact this price rise will have on those in our community who are most in need and I understand that a 10% increase is considerable for households already struggling with increases for other utilities.

Importantly, the water and sewerage concession payment will be indexed to increase in line with this change.”

In the first-quarter water bills of the 2011-12 financial year many householders, particularly those in the Hobart municipality, found that their water bill had increased by $25 (equating to $100 per year).

For most, this was a much higher increase than 10%; in fact, the $25 per quarter increase meant that some quarterly bills increased by almost 30%.

The 10% increase in the concession rate has clearly not matched price rises for a large number of Tasmanians, leaving many lowincome households vulnerable to financial hardship.

From July 2012, maximum prices for water and sewerage services will be set by the Tasmanian Economic Regulator through a Price Determination Investigation for the three-year period 2012-13 to 2014-15. The water corporations are required to propose pricing structures in their Price and Service Plans.

All of the water corporations have determined that customers will move toward paying a ‘target tariff’ in the three-year period and have modelled price increases for households in each municipality over the period. According to the modelling, households in the

receive a concession commensurate with their use.

(The previous council rates remission, of which a rebate on water and sewerage costs was part, was provided as a 30% reduction capped at a maximum amount each year.)

A percentage-based concession could be capped at a level high enough to provide genuine assistance to those living on low incomes. A cap would have the added advantage of providing budgetary certainty for the Government.

Hobart municipality will experience annual price rises in excess of 10% (around $100) in each of the three years of the Price Determination period.

The Regulator published a Draft Determination in March that recommends a continuation of the 10% or $100 per year increase for each year of the regulatory period for those customers throughout the state paying below the corporation-set target tariffs. There will remain a wide disparity of water and sewerage pricing across Tasmania for at least the next three years.

Fairer concessions Concessions for water and sewerage services are also set to change. The Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation) Regulations 2009 stipulate that, from July 2012, the concession will be indexed through a formula based on the average increases in the consumer price

index (CPI) for the previous two years.

This is likely to equate to indexation of far less than 10% per annum, and is clearly not indexed to water and sewerage price rises in Tasmania.

Given the likely continuing increases that will come from the Regulator’s final Determination (due out in May), tying the concession to the CPI is a major concern for Tasmanians living on low incomes.

TasCOSS believes that the concession for water and sewerage services should be provided as a percentage rate rather than a flat rate. This would ensure, in an environment characterised by a wide range of water and sewerage pricing across the state, that all eligible Tasmanians receive an equitable level of assistance.

It would also ensure that different-sized households with different water use needs would

Protecting tenants Currently the water and sewerage concession is available on the same basis that council rates remissions are, that is, only to property owners (for their principal place of residence) who hold a specified concession card.

TasCOSS is very concerned about the impact that continuing price increases will have on tenants.

Currently, tenants are not eligible for any concession in relation to water and sewerage services but are likely to feel the impact of higher water and sewerage charges as property owners pass through their increasing costs as rent rises or bill tenants directly for their water usage.

The Residential Tenancy Act 1997 allows owners to pass through directly to tenants “a water consumption charge if the residential premises are equipped TasCOSS Newsletter April 2012

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...water BILLS pain with a device that calculates the amount of water used at those premises”.

If this is the case, tenants will be paying volumetric charges for the water metered to the rental property, but will not be eligible for any concession. This is clearly unfair.

In addition, many tenants have little capacity to act to decrease their water usage through either the installation of water-saving devices such as dual-flush toilets and water-saving shower heads, or through ensuring that leaks are repaired in a timely manner, since all capital improvements are the responsibility of the property owner.

In situations where property owners choose to pass through both fixed and volumetric water and sewerage costs to their tenants, tenants must be protected from unreasonable rent increases as water and sewerage costs rise.

Tenants in private rental accommodation, particularly those who live on low incomes, are among the most vulnerable Tasmanians. TasCOSS believes that the State Government must act to protect tenants from excessive rent rises as a result of water and sewerage price reforms, and to extend eligibility for a partconcession (applicable to charges based on metered usage) to tenants holding an appropriate concession card.

TasCOSS notes that the South Australian Government provides a 25% concession on total water bills to tenants (with both a minimum and maximum annual cap).

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Key recommendations •• That the concession for water and sewerage services be re-configured as a percentage-based concession of not less than 30%. This could be capped at a level that provides genuine assistance to eligible households.

•• That a percentage-based concession be provided to eligible tenants who are required by their landlord or agent to pay the metered variable component of water accounts.

There are also a number of medical conditions that require the use of large amounts of water in a domestic setting. This usage may involve machinery requiring water (eg dialysis machines) or the need for frequent bathing or washing of bed linen and clothing.

Several Australian states provide assistance to households requiring additional water use for medical and health reasons. TasCOSS recommends that the Tasmanian Government consider introducing a concession or rebate that would assist households in this situation.

Kath McLean Senior Policy & Research Officer

•• That the Government consider providing an additional concession on volumetric charges to households that require additional water use for specified medical / health reasons.

•• That the Government consider introducing a concession or rebate to eligible households without access to reticulated water supply, to buy a reasonable amount of water when it is needed.

The TasCOSS Social Policy Research Unit has recently produced the following publications: Working for fairness in tough times, Budget Priorities Statement.

We have a Plan!, a guide to Tasmania’s planning system for community organisations.

Social Inclusion Principles for Spatial Planning in Tasmania, a guide for planning decisionmakers.

Social determinants of health fact sheets.

Tascoss news Communications officer joins TasCOSS Gabrielle Rish has joined TasCOSS as its new communications and membership officer. Gabrielle has been a journalist for more than 20 years and came to TasCOSS from the Mercury newspaper. She will be working to keep members and others informed of events and developments in the community sector through the TasCOSS e-news, newsletters and the website. “Part of that is hearing

from our members about the work they are doing so we can share it round,” Gabrielle said. Contact Gabrielle on 6231 0755 or at gabrielle@tascoss.org.au.

and create a climate where GLBTI people are able to be accepted and celebrated as full, contributing and proud members of the general community.

StepS for NW inclusiveness

Examiner reporter wins community affairs award

TasCOSS member Rainbow Communities Tasmania Inc has made an important step in the state’s North West and West Coast with the setting up of a Coming Out Proud Program community liaison committee with the Cradle Coast Authority. The committee is developing a management plan to achieve equality of access and respect for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people

Tony Reidy presents The Examiner’s Dinah Arndt with the Excellence in Community Affairs Reporting award at last month’s Tasmanian Media Awards. Dinah won the TasCOSSsponsored award for a series of articles she wrote on school closures.

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Core skills training comes to work COMPLETING documentation, sending emails, preparing budgets, writing grant submissions, spoken communication – all these are examples of work tasks that require core skills to complete successfully.

In late 2011, adult literacy and community development expert Lure Wishes began a project for TasCOSS called Core Skills at Work. Her aim was to tailor core skills training for individual community service organisations and workers, and to conduct that training at a time and location to suit them – often in their workplaces.

Core skills training is about building a base for the tasks that people need to do in their work, their study or life in general.

Up to 46% of Tasmanians were identified as having difficulty with reading and 53% with numeracy skills in an Australian Literacy and Life Skills Survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2006.

In 2010 the State Government released the Tasmanian Adult Literacy Action Plan 2010-2014, which outlines initiatives to help Tasmanians improve their core skills of reading, writing, oral communication and numeracy.

One of them is the Employer Pledge Program managed by Skills Tasmania. The 15-month Core Skills at Work project is funded through this.

Lure said her approach was very interactive. “The people I work with are all highly skilled in their roles and often just need to strengthen skills in one area,” she said. “Often people working in small community organisations are isolated in their roles and don’t have co-workers to call on for support.”

Coastal Residential Service was one of the first NGOs to make use of the Core Skills at Work training.

The Burnie-based organisation supports adults with disabilities living in the community, with three houses and six units on the NorthWest Coast.

Lure Wishes

The organisation’s service development officer, Maree Badcock, said what prompted her to get core skills training for all 36 staff members was that everything they did had to be properly documented, from residents’ behaviour to healthcare plans.

“There is a lot of reporting that needs to be forwarded to external agencies and every single thing staff put in their journal is a legal

Everyday work tasks Core skills underpin most daily activities in life and at work and may include tasks such as: Reading Emails, messages and notes.

Writing Phone messages, client notes, minutes for meetings, incident report sheets, work plans.

Reports and grant submissions.

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Learning Planning work, identifying own skills gaps and understanding personal strengths.

Numeracy Interpreting graphs, understanding budgets and filling out timesheets.

Oral communication Answering the phone, taking phone messages, participating in meetings.

Workplace communication and giving feedback.

document,” Maree said. “For example, if a resident passed away in a group home all those documents could be called by the Coroner and everything would be under scrutiny.”

Maree saw deficiencies in the way this crucial documenting work was being done. “Journal comments like ‘David in a shitty mood today’ are completely inappropriate. But also there were just basic literacy and numeracy skills that needed to be improved,” she said.

Lure’s method was to firstly view the way each staff member was keeping their journal; she then followed up with hour-long, one-on-one assessments where they were asked to document a scenario she gave them. This set her up to conduct a series of individually tailored core skills training sessions with each staff member in a small group setting.

Maree said the beauty of Lure’s approach was that it was not just two or three hours then she was gone: “It was spread over a few weeks, allowing it to sink in a bit more.”

“What was great was the flexibility – she worked in with what suited us. There were lots of emails and phone calls. The level of communication and her coming to us made it easy and Lure herself, we had great reports back from staff.”

One staff member has even opted to have ongoing training in literacy and numeracy.

Another client is Launceston VFC Services. The volunteer-based organisation provides support services such as transport, lawnmowing and assistance with

shopping to frail aged people, younger people with disabilities and their carers. The organisation sought training in preparing budgets.

“At the moment we, as a service, are looking at a number of programs that we would like to deliver to clients and believe that a unified and common approach to understanding budgets is integral to our planning,” Launceston VFC manager Annie Cain said.

“

What was great was the flexibility – she worked in with what suited us — Maree Badcock Coastal Residential Service

“We see a great opportunity to come together with the support of TasCOSS to look at ways of improving existing skills, which in turn means that we are better equipped to support our clients.

We also feel that TasCOSS is aligned with our values and will give us the best support available in meeting our goals in this area.

As well as conducting training herself, Lure facilitates students’ relationships with other training networks. “If someone is doing a VET course and they have to write a report and don’t have the skills to write it, I’d support them to learn how to do it,” she said.

“I’ll work with people for a while as they develop their skills and then if they want to continue beyond the scope of the project, I’ll refer them on to other literacy providers, such as the LINC network.”

Lure began her project with a series of consultation forums, which quickly identified a huge need for the training she was proposing to do. Some supervisors felt they needed to spoon-feed staff due to low core skill levels. Others said there was a risk of oversimplifying systems such as medication charts in order to cater for the lack of core skills in the workforce.

There were OH & S concerns for staff health and safety and also concern about the anxiety felt by individual staff members with low core skills when having to write reports or prepare budgets.

People employed in the community sector often have a lot of empathy and good interpersonal skills (they were employed for these) but sometimes need to develop their administration or written communication skills.

“At the beginning we weren’t sure that we would have many people asking for support because it’s a sensitive area. But on the other hand, people were saying ‘We need this, it’s so important’,” Lure said.

Confidentiality is an important aspect of the work. The skills of individual students are between them and Lure. Even which organisations are receiving training through the project is confidential information unless permission is given, as in the cases above.

While the project has only been funded for 15 months, TasCOSS CEO Tony Reidy is hopeful that Lure has done the groundwork for something that will be ongoing.

•• Contact Lure Wishes on 6231 0755 or email lure@tascoss.org.au to find out more about Core Skills at Work.

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Unit pricing of human services In 2009 TasCOSS produced a discussion paper to assist the Tasmanian Community Sector Peaks Network to consider potential implications of, and determine shared positions with regard to the Department of Health and Human Services’ intended aim of restructuring funding arrangements for community sector organisations to a purchaser/provider arrangement.

The paper was based on the work done by the Industry Plan Working Group on Unit Costing during the development of the Tasmanian Community Services Industry Plan 2009-2012.

DHHS has begun rolling out the Unit Price Framework to disability, family support and out-of-home services, as recommended by KPMG, in 2012. There will be an implementation transition period of up to three years.

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What is unit pricing?

Unit pricing involves quantifying human resources, consumer characteristics, defining the services provided and mapping activities involved. It typically involves comparison of similar services and processes across services.

Non-profits ordinarily under-report overhead costs to be competitive so unit pricing must reflect current true cost of services.

Transparency is critical with regard to what is included in the unit price and if the Government designates a unit cost, that should be the price paid.

On the whole, there are positive expectations of the potential outcomes of unit pricing.

However, sustainable consumer and community outcomes are dependent on a range of organisational capacities — not just service provision — and that needs to be reflected in funding.

In the disability and family services sectors, the price per person in supported accommodation, as arrived at by KPMG, is designated as an “upper figure” which is not necessarily the figure paid. The unit price is paid depending on rosters, which can be open to manipulation.

There are capacity development implications of unit costing both in NGOs and government. The significant levels of uncertainty and variables in human services processes/provision of human services make counting and measuring outputs and outcomes difficult.

In day services there are five separate units of funding: in a facility with predominantly lowcare needs, these figures represent a great result; in a facility with predominantly high-care needs the situation is dire.

Prices are based on hours worked in the past and don’t take into account increased demand.

The system is meant to be and should be flexible.

Some opportunities There may be unintended sector development benefits of a unit pricing exercise. Unit pricing may: •• Create more transparency and equity in the funding process.

•• Streamline the funding application process.

•• Generate a common language and matrix for NGOs to describe service provision.

•• Provide an opportunity for the community sector to describe the service delivery process and to detail overhead costs.

•• Provide a management tool that assists in service planning and benchmarking and comparison.

Some risks •• Unit pricing is meaningful only where outputs can be defined.

This is likely where service is predictable and regular. It is not possible where an agency is providing a multi-faceted service (different needs, intensity of services, lengths of services etc).

•• Outputs used to quantify unit costs risk oversimplifying the provision of service, providing little insight into quality or benefits derived to consumers and communities; they can also promote rigidity and prescription and work against innovation and flexibility, both of which are essential in the provision of human services •• Different approaches to delivering similar services have a range of cost implications.

For example, different service models may imply different cost structures.

•• Unit pricing may generate perverse incentives, that is, NGOs may be encouraged to skew their services to consumers with better prospects of good outcome.

The Industry Development Unit at TasCOSS works to build capacity in the community services sector.

Recent IDU activities:

Some options •• Benchmarking a range or number of standards to accommodate service models as opposed to a static measure.

•• A weighting system to take account of complexity of need, location and other cost drivers.

•• Explore an FTE model that focuses on identified outcomes expected of the community service organisation and the number of staff and relevant skills required to achieve the stated outcome/s.

This is an updated summarised version of the original TasCOSS paper. For a detailed version go to the TasCOSS website www. tascoss.org.au and click the Industry Development pulldown menu then select Info, Resources, Links.

For more information about the DHHS unit pricing process go to www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/disability/ projects/development_of_a_ resource_allocation_and_unit_ pricing_framework

Elida Meadows Development Officer Industry Development Unit

Training and Skills Development Benefits on the Fringe workshop.

Fringe Benefit Tax rebate and exemption for community service organisations Putting Standards to Work workshop. How to get quality and standards working for your organisation Sustainability and Resilience workshop. Meeting the productivity needs for the future (to be held in May) Futures Forum for community service in Tasmania (to be held in June) Workforce Development and Planning Community Services Industry Workforce Development Plan Workforce Development Community of Practice Community Service Finance Community of Practice Peer Learning Circles Enterprise Facilitation Advocating and educating in the local economic development principles developed by Dr Ernesto Sirolli.

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Equal dignity in an unequal world University of Tasmania PhD candidate David Adair has set up a community collaborative inquiry in two Hobart state housing areas. The pilot project is being supported by the UTAS schools of Sociology and Social Work, History, Public Health and Geography, who see its potential as a way of conducting future research.

David shares the issues that informed his project.

I was raised in a public housing area in Perth, Western Australia, from the early 1950s to the early ’70s – a time of maximum employment and an apparent state housing policy assumption that everyone had a right to affordable housing, including ownership if that was wished. Most did so wish, and based on my stretch of street, at a rate of something like 90%.

I live in another state now, with a different history of public housing but I’m nevertheless very curious about the evolution of public housing from ‘working-class’ to ‘welfare’, along with the social problems these areas are reputed to exhibit.

This is a complex question, so I’ll confine myself to a few related clues that had a bearing on the genesis of my project and the ‘micro-sociology of emotion’ lens I am using.

One of these clues is William Julius Wilson’s The Truly Disadvantaged.

Although sited in inner-city black communities in the United States, Wilson’s observations and analysis ring bells for this Tasmanian fringe suburban inquirer.

In particular, I found intriguing his conclusion that a major cause of poverty was the unemployment of young working-class men (while the young women were having babies), largely due to the globalising economy (with much manufacturing work going overseas) and ‘labour-saving’ technological change in those industries remaining.

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TasCOSS Newsletter April 2012

A second clue came from a chance encounter with the manager of a leather-tanning factory which survived the loss to overseas of its main client, the Blundstone boot factory, but was a few years later finally broken by the global financial crisis.

He described his workforce mainly drawn from (to quote him) “the areas you are talking about”. Some of the men had been “inside” and some of the others were illiterate, alcoholic, authority-reactive or (in one case) of limited intellectual capability.

He described a close-knit work community that carried and protected weaker members, and a management style of carefully expressed respect that was necessary to help settle in those young men who tended to be reactive to perceived disrespect.

When asked how these men would fare in a service industry, he only half jokingly replied: “There’d be a punch up within the first day!”

The third clue comes from my first research conversations with citizens in a state housing area.

Here was exhibited a roughly similar range and incidence of ‘problem’ characteristics as was described in the tanning factory.

In the earlier type of labour market exemplified by the tanning factory (which had become a living fossil by the time of its demise), many of the people who are currently relegated to ‘welfare’ were able to find niches of productive and reasonably well-paid work.

From pride in doing a hard, dirty job reliably and uncomplainingly they have gone to the cumulative humiliation of being a ‘welfare’ recipient, due in part to insensitive institutional policies and procedures of Centrelink, Housing Tasmania, police, schools and other agencies.

The working-class hero is now a ‘welfare bum’. Well of course this isn’t always so, except as a subterranean source of humiliation that will be drawn on by some, whose adaptive responses are, I suggest, a major way in which large-scale economic inequality expresses itself in local social harm.

Exploring the effects of inequality through collaborative inquiry I reckon I’m not alone in that my greatest difficulty with working in the community services sector has been the constant tension, the fundamental contradiction, between the ethical underpinnings of our work as learned in TAFE or university and the political realities of the roles assigned us when we hope to put our models of practice to work.

On one level, there are the contradictions often found between an agency’s (or its funder’s) stated aims and methods and what is actually practised.

But overshadowing all these local tensions is one big mother of a contradiction: the contradiction between our much-touted democracy and the historic regrowth of socio-economic inequality since the late 1970s. This is a contradiction that the bandaid design of social work cannot begin to address.

the inquiry is occurring provide administrative support.

We hope to establish an ongoing network within and beyond the university that will nurture the current community inquiry groups and extend the work into other communities.

This inquiry is in its early stages, but a theme is emerging, which I will allude to through questions like these:

David Adair

To my way of thinking, the normal practice of social research replicates this contradiction, with “professional” researchers researching on citizens, extracting their “perspectives” and returning to the ivory towers to process them into career-enhancing products.

It is effectively a subset of the larger, deeply hierarchic social structure, even when its products are critical of the extent of the inequality we are seeing.

In the community collaborative inquiry currently gathering way, we have university researchers mentoring seven community researchers – all local residents – in the conduct of social inquiry into matters of importance to their communities.

A university community engagement grant awarded to Max Travers and colleagues in the University of Tasmania School of Sociology and Social Work has equipped the community inquirers and provides a modest financial recognition of their work, while the SSSW and the Neighbourhood Houses in the two areas where

•• What does it feel like to be constantly one step behind the bills?

•• What does it feel like to be identified in X social position?

•• What sorts of things (inner and outer) protect us from unfavourable social comparison?

•• What sorts of things (inner and outer) make us more vulnerable to unfavourable social comparison?

•• Is equal dignity a practical possibility in an unequal world?

(That is, discounting individual exceptions).

•• If so, what can we do to work towards it?

We look forward to sharing the results from this inquiry later this year.

David Adair is a PhD candidate at UTAS, and a member of TasCOSS.

True community engagement It is heartening to read through David Adair’s research project which has the intent to relate to consumers and community and consumer groups in a new way.

It is commendable to see an approach that is, firstly, actively seeking to engage with consumers or service recipients and, secondly, seeking to involve consumers in the design, planning and implementation of the study.

While research often aims to identify data, trends and qualitative information, it can also have integrative, dynamic functions built into an approach: to bring people together, bridge gaps and generate empathy and understanding.

This study aims to achieve this function and in this way every interaction offers a chance to empower, engage and educate.

This more grassroots project design has the capacity to facilitate another important element: for us as researchers, policy people or policymakers to learn and understand issues, needs and challenges in ways that are closer to the needs and issues of consumers. That will hopefully put us in a better position to address systemic causes in both policy and service delivery toward more sustainable solutions.

It is a pleasure for the TasCOSS consumer engagement section to be involved in David’s project. All the best to him and all involved!

Klaus Baur, TasCOSS HACC and Community Engagement

TasCOSS Newsletter April 2012

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welcome to new members Welcome to the six new members to have joined TasCOSS since our last newsletter. Like the membership as a whole, they come from a broad cross-section of the NGOs doing great work in the Tasmanian community services sector.

St John Ambulance Australia (Tasmania) Inc is the well-known first-aid organisation, which trains many Tasmanians in delivering first aid and whose uniformed volunteers are a familiar and reassuring sight at big events. St John Ambulance also provides a range of community care services for the aged, the infirm, the immobile and lonely. www.stjohntas.org.au Community Connections Inc is a North-West Coast-based network of services which includes the Burnie Youth Accommodation Service, Burnie Youth Alcohol and Drug Service, health promotion and education, the SWOOPP Project for people who experience mental illness and an alcohol or other drug problem, and Project Turn-A-Round. www.ccinctas.org.au

NILS Network of Tasmania.

See the feature story opposite about NILS’ work of providing no-interest loans. www.nilstasmania.org.au Tasmania Recovery from Eating Disorders (TRED) is a group that advocates on behalf of people with eating disorders and their families. It provides broadbased information and support for individuals suffering from or at high risk of eating disorders, and assists people to engage in appropriate treatment. TRED also works to raise community awareness of eating disorders and engages in or assists with research into the causes, prevention and treatment of eating disorders.

campaigns, which succeeded in securing bipartisan commitment to increase foreign aid to $4.3 billion; Live Below the Line, a fundraising and awareness campaign which raised $2 million in its first two years; and It Starts at Home, a grassroots campaign that collects the stories of everyday Australians working to end extreme poverty.

Oaktree also helps to fund education projects run by local organisations in some of the poorest countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since 2003, Oaktree has invested $2.5 million in schools, teachers, scholarships, vocational education and more, directly benefiting more than 120,000 people in Cambodia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and South Africa.

www.tred.org.au The Oaktree Foundation is one of Australia’s fastest growing international aid and development organisations. Entirely run by volunteers under the age of 26, Oaktree has more than 104,000 members. The organisation has led some of country’s biggest anti-poverty campaigns: the 2006 Make Poverty History Concert in Melbourne; the 2007 and 2010 Make Poverty History Roadtrip

Oaktree Foundation flash mob in Salamanca Place, Hobart.

In Australia, Oaktree aims to inspire and empower young leaders through peer-to-peer education. The Schools 4 Schools program gives secondary students the chance to increase their understanding of the issues facing young people in developing nations. Generate, Oaktree’s university program, helps participants to gain development knowledge and run a fundraising or advocacy project.

Oaktree Tasmania began as a working committee in early 2009 and was granted official branch status after the success of the Tasmanian leg of the 2010 Make Poverty History Roadtrip and fundraising efforts for Live Below the Line. The branch now consists of more than 20 dedicated volunteers.

To find out more, visit theoaktree. org or contact Tasmanian director Robert Hortle on 0408 544 717, email r.hortle@theoaktree.org www.theoaktreefoundation.org

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no-interest loans James used a No Interest MicroBusiness loan to start up his own landscaping business. With five years’ experience working for other landscapers under his belt, a background in design and determination to spare, James accessed the loan so he could purchase equipment integral to his work.

Landscape gardener James.

This meant he could stop renting a compacter and laser leveller, lowering his costs and increasing his profits. James started Koa Landscapes in March 2011 and is already working most days of the week.

Ganga is a Bhutanese refugee who came to Tasmania about 18 months ago with his mother, brothers and sisters. He accessed a No Interest Loan for a laptop computer to help him complete his university studies in Information Technology.

These are just two examples of how Tasmania’s very successful No Interest Loans program is working for low-income Tasmanians.

The No Interest Loans program is a community-lending model based on circular credit: all monies lent are repaid and then lent again.

NILS is not a bank and does not charge any fees or interest. It does not provide cash loans and no cash changes hands, as goods and services are purchased directly

Flourish Mental Health Action In Our Hands is a mental health consumer organisation which began its work in August 2011. Health Minister Michelle O’Byrne, announcing its establishment, said the development of Flourish was “a key component in fostering mental health consumer and carer participation in Tasmania”.

Executive officer Miranda Ashby says Flourish works with mental health consumers to ensure that

from the supplier by NILS. There are no credit checks.

NILS depends on member agencies to help eligible applicants access the program. These agencies include community centres, neighbourhood houses, community service organisations and others.

NILS applications are fairly simple but do require some paperwork and thought from applicants about what they want money for. Part of the purpose of the application process is to give applicants a chance to think about their income and expenditure each fortnight, and the power they have to prioritise payments or adjust costs.

Although this method of instilling financial literacy doesn’t work with everyone, it can assist some to realise where their money is going and to decide against entering into long-term appliance rental, which can cost them up to three times the original price of an item. ...continued p18

their rights, responsibilities and opinions are respected by policymakers, service providers and the Tasmanian community.

their opinions and inform mental health services, and the wider community, about issues (and possible solutions).

Flourish does not deliver individual services; instead it works with consumers, government, service providers and families to ensure that the delivery of mental health services is a quality process that meets the needs and expectations of all consumers.

Flourish will also, from July, keep a register of people with mental illness with the necessary skills to participate on boards and in policy discussions as consumer representatives.

It will achieve this by holding consultation forums with consumers, advocates and service providers and building regional consumer advisory groups.

Consumers will get relevant training to enable them to voice

Flourish welcomes those interested in joining the register or participating in the advisory groups. Contact Miranda on 6223 1952 or email admin@flourishtas. org.au. www.flourishtas.org.au TasCOSS Newsletter April 2012

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...NILS benefits Underlying the program is a philosophy of respectful financial assistance that works to empower people with choice and to engender a sense of accomplishment.

Ganga with his NILS laptop.

Studies into the decision-making processes of low-income people have shown that their focus tends to be on the short term and that a “history of exclusion leads to mistrust”. Both these elements can apply to the financial experiences of those on low incomes.

goods and services they want.

They are encouraged to go shopping, to compare prices and models and to take charge of the item they purchase. NILS works to empower borrowers with the ability to select new goods that are warrantied and of a fair price.

NILS seeks to give the borrower incentive to think further ahead than day-to-day (their loan is paid over the course of 18 months at which point they can get a repeat loan for another item) and through a simple initial screening process that works to mitigate rejection of applications before any work is done by the client.

NILS, which started in Tasmania in 2002, is always looking for new supporters and partners. If your agency would be interested in promoting NILS to clients or would like to assist people to access NILS, please contact Nic or Dan on 1300 301 650.

About 98% of NILS applications are approved, in large part because of this preliminary screening process and the simplicity of the NILS eligibility criteria.

NILS is also about the power of choice. Borrowers choose the

Not a TasCOSS Member?

For 50 years TasCOSS has spoken out for the disadvantaged people in Tasmania. We offer members: •• A fortnightly e-news service •• A printed newsletter three times a year •• Opportunities to be involved in policy development and to have input in identifying budget priorities •• Representation to government and the public on issues affecting community sector organisations and their clients •• Support services for community sector organisations that require

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TasCOSS Newsletter April 2012

resources, information and assistance •• Reduced rates to TasCOSS events and functions •• Ongoing communication and consultation •• Types of membership – Organisational, Individual and Associate Membership (offered to those otherwise ineligible to be members including any individual elected to Federal, State or Local Government office.

Carries no voting rights).

For a membership form go to www.tascoss.org.au or phone 6231 0755.

Nic Dermoudy, NILS Marketing and Promotions Project Officer To qualify for a nointerest loan, borrowers must be: Over 18 years of age Have a current Health Care or Pension Card Live in stable accommodation (some exceptions can be made to this criterion)

Money can be borrowed to purchase goods and services such as: Household essentials (fridges, freezers, washers, driers) Education essentials (computers, text books, school trips) Medical and dental services Car maintenance (registration, tyres and repairs) Micro-Business Loans (up to $3000 to start or expand a small business)

Elida Meadows Development Officer, Industry Development Unit

Wynne Russell Social Policy and Research Officer

Tony Reidy Chief Executive Officer

Tim Tabart Development Officer, Industry Development Unit

Meg Webb Social Policy and Research Officer

Gabrielle Rish Communications and Membership Officer

Dale Rahmanovic Development Officer, Industry Development Unit

Jill Pope Finance Officer

The Tasmanian Council of Social Service (TasCOSS) was established in 1961.

It is the peak body for the community services industry in Tasmania.

Lure Wishes Adult Literacy Support Officer

Kath McLean Senior Social Policy and Research Officer Klaus Baur HACC Project Officer, Consumer Engagement

TasCOSS is supported by the Department of Health and Human Services:

OUR MISSION To provide a voice for Tasmanians affected by poverty and inequality and to act as the peak council for the community services organisations that serve, support and work for them.

Thank you also to our sponsors:

OUR VISION

Design by:

A fair, just and inclusive Tasmania.

Printed on 100% recycled paper.

TasCOSS

State Conference Hobart November 15–16 2012