Branch Manager National Access and Reassessment Position Description

FOI 25/26 - 0341

Approved: 17 August 2021

Owner: People and Culture Division

Position Details

The NDIA welcomes and encourages applications from people with disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and people with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Position Name	Branch Manager National Access and Reassessment
System Job Title	NDIA SES1 Branch Manager
APS Classification	SES Band 1
Group	Participant Experience Delivery
Division	National Delivery
Branch	National Access and Reviews
Reports to	GM National Delivery
Location	Various
Tenure	Ongoing
Security Classification	Negative Vetting Level 1

Position Purpose

About the NDIA

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is an independent statutory agency that is responsible for implementing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which will support a better life for hundreds of thousands of Australians with a significant and permanent disability and their families and carers. The NDIA values a positive contemporary attitude to disability.

As a Federal Agency, we work within a legislative and regulatory environment. We adhere to the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct as set out in section 13 of the Public Service Act 1999.

Our work is driven by the Corporate Plan which provides strategic direction to achieve our purpose of making a difference so that people with disability can choose and achieve their goals.

The NDIA Values are:

We value people – We put participants at the heart of everything we do.
We grow together – We work together to deliver quality outcomes.

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We aim higher – We are resilient and always have the courage to do better.
We take care – We own what we do and we do the right thing.

Our values reflect our passion and commitment to building a positive, participant-centred culture.

The NDIA welcomes and encourages applications from people with disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and people with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Where possible, the NDIA will make reasonable adjustments to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role.

About the Role

The Branch Manager National Access and Reassessment is a SES Band 1 position. It is accountable to plan, lead and deliver highly complex outcomes, projects and work programs that have strategic and operational significance to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The Branch Manager National Access and Reassessment is a Functional leadership position within the NDIA and has defined independence to make decisions within their area of accountability. It will lead and contribute to the strategic planning of the NDIA’s objectives and will set operational direction, developing short-medium and long-term plans that implement operational strategies aimed at achieving the NDIA’s mission to ‘build a world leading National Disability Insurance Scheme’.

The primary responsibilities of this position include:

Leading and managing the National Access and Reviews teams located in various regions areas across Australia.
Providing the first point of contact for intake and assessment, and works with a range of stakeholders including people with a disability, family members, carers’, partners, service providers and mainstream services to collect objective evidence in order to determine access to the NDIS.
Ensuring the effective integration of, and coordination between, core and remote teams; managing relationships between these teams and other NDIA functions.
Managing the allocation of outbound access work to the National Contact Centre for access related activities.

(NOTE: the key responsibilities of the role are based on current priorities and may change over time)

The Branch Manager National Access and Reassessment position provides an important leadership role within the NDIA. It is responsible to provide the leadership, control, planning, resource management, performance management and decisions for the Team Leadership, Team Membership and assigned Contractors working within their National Access and Reviews Branch.

Relevant Duties

Leadership (Knowledge)

Applying a comprehensive understanding of the first point of contact sensitivities in a call centre environment, for people with disabilities, their families’ and carers’; providing expert guidance and expectations to deliver a positive experience.
Acquiring, maintain and deliver the expert subject matter knowledge and direction for the operation and performance of the National Access Team that is receiving and managing a high-volume of calls from potential participants and existing participants.
Acquiring, understand and apply a deep understanding of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 and the legislative requirements to provide the standards and expectations to the National Access Team to enable them to work through and achieve outcomes in a high-volume work environment ensuring that access management processes are applied consistently across the country.

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Leadership (Accountability)

Accountable to provide first point of contact for intake and assessment and for a range of stakeholders including people with a disability, their family members, carers’, partners, service providers and mainstream services to collect information in order to determine access to the NDIS.
Accountable to provide a high-level of support to the NDIA planners through the access management process; providing advice as required on complex cases that require expertise in legislation, policy and NDIS requirements.
Accountable for the Functional leadership of the National Access and Reviews Branch, including the management responsibility for the allocated human, financial and physical resources, performance management, conflict resolution, identification of capacity, capability and training requirements of the Branch.
Responsible to plan, lead and manage the functions, negotiating and allocating resources between competing priorities, forecasting resource requirements, creating plans, establishing appropriate progress reviews and performance measures.
Accountable to meet identified targets in accordance with bilateral phasing agreements.

Diversity and Span

Working with the service delivery teams and State Managers to ensure that access requests submitted by planners on behalf of participants are evaluated and deliberated on in a timely manner.
Working across PPE to establish and maintain effective communication and pathways with both service delivery teams and specialist teams for tailored pathway access management to receive information to forecast workload.
Providing direct points of contact within the Branch to coach, mentor and provide the coordination, support and advice to manage access requirements.

Stakeholder Management

Building and maintaining effective stakeholder relationships, focusing on maintaining the quality and integrity of the access processes by delivering a well-managed access experience to potential participants, participants their families and carers.
Setting the standard and expectations for discussions and negotiations between the National Access and Reviews Team and potential participants and participants ensuring that the communication style and language of the National Access and Reviews Team is tailored according to persons level of knowledge and understanding of the NDIS.
Communicating and engaging with internal and external stakeholder on changes to the delivery of the access functions; manage stakeholder expectations and putting into place strategies ensuring that the transition of the change is achieved with minimal disruption to the delivery of outcomes of the National Access and Reviews Team.

Job Context and Environment

Establishing, communicate and maintain the first point of contact functions for intake and assessment for people with a disability, their families, carers’, service providers and mainstream services to collect information in order to determine access to the NDIS.
Managing and coordinate the integration and coordination between the core and remote access teams; managing relationships between these teams and other Agency functions.
Identifying and coordinating a continuous improvement requirement and facilitate the sharing of best practice access management practices and knowledge across the NDIA.
Managing the allocation of outbound access work to the DHS smart centre the main service to the agency in access related activities.

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Judgement and Independence

Exercising a high level of judgement and discretion in making decisions on complex access cases, while ensuring that the best interests of the participant and the NDIA’s legislative requirements are balanced.
Operating with a significant amount of independence and apply a high-level of judgement to evaluate and select the best option from a range of potential and specific legislative solutions to make the decision that resolves highly complex and sensitive access requests.
Providing the standards, direction and requirements to the National Access and Reviews Team enabling them to make decisions relating to potential participants requesting access to the NDIS; providing guidance and potential solutions on ways forward to resolve divergent views and conflicting technical, sensitive and complex issues.

Capabilities of the Role

The NDIA work within a capability framework aligned to the Australian Public Service (APS) Work Level Standards. The capabilities detailed below are specific to the SES Band 1 and SES Band 2 levels.

Facilitating Change Encouraging others to implement better approaches to address problems and opportunities; leading the implementation and acceptance of change within the workplace.

Customer Orientation Placing a high priority on the internal or external customer’s perspective when making decisions and taking action; implementing service practices that meet the customers’ and own organisation’s needs.

Building Organisational Talent Establishing systems and processes to attract, develop, engage, and retain talented individuals; creating a work environment where people can realise their full potential, thus allowing the organisation to meet current and future business challenges.

Execution Ensuring others contribute to organisation strategies by focusing them on the most critical priorities, measuring progress, and ensuring accountability against those metrics.

Coaching and Developing Others Providing feedback, instruction, and development guidance to help others excel in their current or future job responsibilities; planning and supporting the development of individual skills and abilities.

Operational Decision Making Securing and comparing information from multiple sources and uses this as the basis for identifying operational business issues; committing to an action after weighing alternative solutions against important decision criteria.

Influencing Using effective involvement and persuasion strategies to gain acceptance of ideas and commitment to actions that support specific work outcomes.

Driving for Results Setting high goals for personal and group accomplishment; using measurement methods to monitor progress toward goals; tenaciously working to meet or exceed goals while deriving satisfaction from that achievement and continuous improvement.

Positive Approach Demonstrating a positive attitude in the face of difficult or challenging situations; providing an uplifting (yet realistic) outlook on what the future holds and the opportunities it might present.

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Work Level Expectations

The NDIA work within the Australian Public Service (APS) Work Level Standards. This position is aligned to the duties of the SES Band 1 classification.

Role Specifications

The role is required to be performed in a work environment that has the following core characteristics and requirements:

Working in an open office environment (exposure to general workplace chatter)
Working from home on occasion
Working in a hot desk environment
Significant periods of sitting at a counter or desk
Operating a telephone
Computer/screen-based work
Ability to use computer/software applications including Microsoft Office and NDIA business applications such as NDIA’s client records management system (CRM)
Assistance animals may be in the work area

In addition to the above, the role requires:

Driving a vehicle to attend external locations which are not otherwise accessible by public transport

Security

The following essential checks/clearances are required to perform the role:

Working with Children Check
NDIS Worker Screening Check
Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) clearance - a vetting process undertaken before an individual may have access to classified information and resources. This is only applicable to some positions within the NDIA that require the occupant to have access to classified Australian Government information
Pre-Engagement Check - this is a mandatory pre-employment security screening process. All employees and contractors of NDIA must undertake a Pre-Engagement Check. This check is undertaken for any individual who will have non-public access to agency resources (information, buildings, systems, assets, staff and customers)

Organisational Responsibilities

The occupant of this position will be responsible for the identification, management and mitigation of risks related to their business functions.

The occupant of this position is accountable to provide leadership in the implementation, promotion of and compliance with the Work Health and Safety Act (Commonwealth) 2011 within their work area; and in addition identify, evaluate and manage risk that ensures that team members and other persons within the work area:

take reasonable care for their own health and safety;
take reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons; and
comply with reasonable instruction, policy or procedures given or notified by the NDIA relating to health or safety across the NDIA.

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