Disclosure Log - FOI 24/25-1362
DOCUMENT 3
| Field | Content | Reference Documents |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Behaviour Supports | |
| Purpose | This document is part of a suite of guidance documents for case managers to use in formulating their approach to managing individual cases before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). | |
| Scope | Behaviour Supports are supports which are intended to help reduce or eliminate behaviours of concern exhibited by a participant living with disability. Behaviours of concern refer to any behaviour which results in an adverse impact on the person’s quality of life. This can include physical and verbal aggression, property damage, inappropriate sexual behaviour, disinhibited and impulsive behaviour, as well as self-injurious behaviour (whether intentional or not). Please note the term ‘self-harm,’ when used in mental health settings, typically refers to intentional harm without suicidal intent, such as neglect, cutting, ingesting objects and self-poisoning. |
Understanding Behaviour Support and Restrictive Practices - For Providers | NQSC Fact Sheet 5: Behaviours of Concern (Challenging Behaviour) | The Bridging Project, Scope Australia |
| Escalation to Hearing Oversight Committee (HOC) | If a matter is within the parameters of this document, the AAT Case Management Branch Manager may approve proceeding to hearing. Where there is substantial risk or the matter is outside the parameters of this document, the matter should be referred to HOC. | |
| Current National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) policy on the subject | The AAT process is often seen as stressful and adversarial by the participants and our focus should be on resolving issues as practicably and quickly as possible. The role of the NDIA is to assist the AAT and the participant in reaching the best possible resolution for the participant by agreement. The NDIA will fund all reasonable and necessary behaviour supports which meet the NDIS funding criteria, in line with a participant’s behaviour support plan (BSP). All participants who exhibit behaviours of concern should have a BSP in place. However, the NDIA is only able to fund behaviour supports which are delivered by providers who are |
NDIA Dispute Resolution Policy Appendix B to the Legal Services Directions 2017 Section 34 (1) of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 |
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Disclosure Log - FOI 24/25-1362
| Field | Content | Reference Documents |
|---|---|---|
| (Continued from previous page) | registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NQSC). The NDIA is unable to fund behaviour supports which are delivered by any other, non-registered provider. The NDIA will not fund supports of any kind, under any circumstances, which cause, or are likely to cause, harm to the participant or others. |
Rule 5 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Supports for Participants) Rules 2013 What supports can we fund? | NDIS Section 3 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018 National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS Behaviour Support Practitioner Application) Guidelines 2020 |
| NDIA Posture in relation to this subject | The NDIA will fund all reasonable and necessary behaviour supports, so long as they are delivered by a registered behaviour support practitioner. The NDIA will refer to the available evidence when considering the appropriate level of behaviour support funding needed to address a participant’s unique behavioural complexities. Behaviour support funding is tiered, such that: Level 1 includes * specialist behavioural intervention support, usually not exceeding 45 hours per annum (approx. 3 - 4 hours per month) * training in behaviour management strategies, unusually not exceeding 20 hours per annum (approx. 1 - 2 hours per month); and Level 2 includes * specialist behavioural intervention support, usually not exceeding 90 hours per annum (approx. 7 - 8 hours per month) |
How do we decide what reasonable and necessary supports to include in your plan? | NDIS Section 34 (1) of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 |
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Disclosure Log - FOI 24/25-1362
| Field | Content | Reference Documents |
|---|---|---|
| (Continued from previous page) | * training in behaviour management strategies, usually not exceeding 30 hours per annum (approx. 2 - 3 hours per month) * individual social skills development, usually not exceeding 40 hours per annum (approx. 3 - 4 hours per month) The NDIA will need to consider whether behaviour supports would most appropriately be funded by another service delivery system (typically Justice, Education or Mental Health). |
|
| Evidence recommended to inform NDIA position in a specific matter before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) | The appropriate level of behaviour support funding will be informed by the extent and severity of a particular participants’ behaviours of concern. Behaviours of concern will be set out in a comprehensive BSP. Most participants exhibiting behaviours of concern will already have a BSP in place. Where this is not the case, in order to obtain a comprehensive BSP, a full functional behaviour assessment should be performed by an occupational or speech therapist, outlining those behaviours of concern; being the behaviours which behaviour supports seek to reduce or eliminate. The NDIA refer to evidence from health and allied health care providers, occupational therapists, speech pathologists and physiotherapists (as appropriate) to aid its determination as to the reasonable and necessary level of behaviour support funding. Above all, the NDIA will carefully consider a participant’s context and journey with disability, placing a participant’s safety at the heart of the NDIA’s decision. The NDIA will also account for a participant’s own choices and preferences regarding the provision of behaviour support(s). The NDIA will not fund any support which causes, or is likely to cause, any harm to the participant, or any other person (including psychological harm and trauma). |
Submitting behaviour support plans and reports | NQSC Understanding Behaviour Support and Restrictive Practices - For Providers | NQSC Persons Giving Expert and Opinion Evidence Guideline | Administrative Appeals Tribunal |
| Other considerations | ||
| Previous matters that | The AAT was satisfied that behaviour support funding (110 hours per annum) met the reasonable and necessary criteria under section 34 ’because there | Castledine and National Disability Insurance Agency [2019| AATA |
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Disclosure Log - FOI 24/25-1362
| Field | Content | Reference Documents |
|---|---|---|
| may advise the NDIA position | was no evidence presented’ that the requested supports ‘were not aligned with “current best practice”’. The AAT set aside a decision of the NDIA. | 4240 (16 October 2019) at [311] - [330] and [336] |
| Document admin | Quality, Strategy and Training | 4 January 2023 |
| Approved | Matthew Swainson, Chief Counsel |
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