For many NDIS service providers, some key areas of interest revolve around what will happen with worker and provider registration for the NDIS.
Here’s the latest update, based on the response from the Federal Government dated Tuesday 30th July 2024.
Here’s a dot point summary, with a table of excerpts below:
- Worker Registration still needs further discussion.
- New mandatory registration/enrolment accepted in principle, but details may differ from what recommended initially.
- Data around unregistered providers to be published.
- More activity around compliance monitoring accepted.
Recommendation | Response | Explanation | Response Detail |
10.8: A national disability support worker registration scheme | Subject to further consideration | Indicates the Australian Government is still considering the recommendation. This might be due to the need to wait for the outcomes of related inquiries, or to allow for further consultation and engagement to inform a response. | The NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce will provide a report with advice and recommendations to Government in mid-2024. This will inform the response to this recommendation. In addition, HumanAbility has been established as the Jobs and Skills Council responsible for identifying the skills and workforce needs for the care and support sector, mapping career pathways across education sectors, developing contemporary Vocational Education and Training products, supporting collaboration between industry and training providers to improve training and assessment practice, and acting as a source of intelligence on issues affecting their industries. This includes considering job roles and career pathways for disability support workers. |
10.21: Registration and audit process | Accepted in principle | Accept / support the overarching policy intent but may consider different approaches to implementation. | The Australian Government and state and territory governments support reform to the registration and audit process to enable a strengthened but risk-proportionate approach to regulating and monitoring the quality and safety of services delivered by NDIS providers. On 12 February 2024, the Minister for the NDIS announced the establishment of the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce to provide advice on the design and implementation of a new graduated risk-proportionate regulatory model for all providers and workers in consultation with the disability community. The Taskforce reported in mid-2024. All governments also support appropriate changes to clarify that the NDIS is able to share relevant information with quality auditors and will consider appropriate rule or guideline changes following receipt of the Taskforce’s report. Approaches to implementing this recommendation are being considered alongside Recommendation 17 of the NDIS Review to develop and deliver a risk-proportionate model for the visibility and regulation of all providers and workers, and to strengthen the regulatory response to long-standing and emerging quality and safeguards issues. |
10.23: Publishing data about the unregistered provider market | Accept | Accept / support the recommendation in full. | The NDIS Commission currently collects and publishes a series of data relating to unregistered providers and a range of data related to NDIS Commission regulatory activity, for example: • Unregistered providers and compliance activity outcomes from July 2022 to December 2023 (including banning orders, banning order variations, compliance notices, corrective action requests, education, other registration decisions, warning letters issued) (NDIS Commission Quarterly Reports). • Unregistered providers and workers seeking NDIS worker screening check clearances. The NDIS Commission’s Data and Regulatory Transformation (DART) project, announced as part of the 2024-25 Budget, will support the NDIS Commission’s capacity to collect and report on a broader range of items. The NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce will provide a report with advice and recommendations to Government in mid-2024. The outcomes of Government consideration of this advice may change the unregistered provider market which in turn will impact the information collected and published by the NDIS Commission. |
10.25: Strengthened monitoring, compliance and enforcement | Accepted in principle | Accept / support the overarching policy intent but may consider different approaches to implementation. | The NDIS Commission continues to strengthen monitoring, compliance and enforcement, including through the establishment of an inter-departmental Fraud Fusion team and teams focused on litigation and dispute resolution, place-based compliance activity, high intensity responses and risk, intelligence and delivery. The NDIS Commission also sits on the Fair Pricing Taskforce with the National Disability Insurance Agency and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to collaborate on delivering strengthened approaches to upholding NDIS participant consumer rights. The NDIS Commission’s compliance priorities are developed on an annual basis, are evidence based, and risk informed (noting historical constraints in the NDIS Commission’s ability to gather intelligence). The NDIS Commission undertakes a range of enforcement and compliance campaigns which involve specific areas of focus where regulatory issues have been identified by the NDIS Commission. For example, a recent campaign has targeted unregistered providers implementing unauthorised restrictive practices. While the NDIS Commission coordinates its response in accordance with its priorities, it will pursue any safeguarding matter that presents a serious risk to participants (even if that matter may fall outside one of the priorities). |
