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Contact attempts and unable to contact in a plan change case

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Document 7 FOI 25/26-1985 OFFICIAL SGB Knowledge Article Template

The contents of this document are OFFICIAL.

Contact attempts and unable to contact in a plan change case

Guidance in this document is not approved for use unless you view it in PACE.

This article provides guidance for a planner delegate or review officer to understand:

  • contact attempts in a plan change case
  • what to do if you’re unable to contact (UTC) a participant in a plan change case.

Recent updates

15 April 2024

New guidance on:

  • contact attempts and milestones in a plan change case
  • how to record UTC attempts
  • what to do if you’re UTC the participant.

Before you start

You have read and understood:

Understand contact attempts in a plan change case

You must make every attempt to contact the participant (or their authorised representative). This is to further understand what changes they’ve requested, and to let them know once you’ve made a decision about their plan change request.

You’ll attempt to contact the participant at least 3 times over 2 days. Make sure you contact them on different days of the week and at different times of the day. Use their preferred contact method and at least one other communication method. For example, SMS, email, or

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phone. If the participant’s preferred correspondence method is email or letter, still try to call them to clarify the request.

Note: the exception is if the person has requested no phone calls (for example, if they are Deaf or hard of hearing and have requested written communication only).

You may not be able to contact if:

  • the person has Do Not Contact on their Person Account
  • you need to contact them via the National Relay Service
  • they haven’t provided a valid phone number.

You may also receive further evidence or information from the participant about their plan change request. For example, they may send you a provider report or assessment by email. You’ll need to record this in the activity log or upload the requested information to the person account. Go to article Add documents to a case. If the requested information is related to evidence, link the evidence to the Plan Change case. Go to article Add and link evidence to a case.

All contact attempts must be recorded in the plan change case before marking them as unable to contact (UTC). You can’t use contact attempts made as part of another case, like an enquiry case. This guidance is for a plan change case. There are different milestones and next steps for other cases.

Contact methods

Make and record contact attempts in a plan change case using the following contact methods:

Phone contact

If you’re contacting the participant by phone, from the plan change case:

  1. Before you call, send an SMS to let the person know you’re going to call them from a private number, within an hour. Go to article Send an SMS in PACE.
  2. Select Outbound Phone Call for Activity Type.
  3. Select one of the following options so the system recognises the contact attempts:
    • No Answer.
    • Left Message. Leave a brief message asking them to contact the NDIA on 1800 800 110, only if the person identifies themselves on the voicemail.
    • Successful Contact.
  4. Select Contact Attempt in the Subject field.

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  1. Select Save.

SMS contact

You can send an SMS from the plan change case to let the person know you are going to call them. To do this:

  1. Select Send SMS from the Activity panel.
  2. Select the relevant template from the drop-down. To learn more, go to article Send an SMS in PACE.

Email contact

If you’re contacting the participant by email, from the plan change case:

  1. Select Send Email from the Activity panel. Do not use Outlook to send emails from your own personal email address.
  2. Follow the steps in article Send and receive an email in PACE.

Every time you attempt to contact a participant, you must log an activity in the plan change case. Each attempt must have its own Contact Log or Log Activity. To learn more, go to article Log an activity or internal note. To check details of all recorded contact attempts, go to article View the Person Account Timeline.

What to do if you’re UTC a participant in a plan change

case

If all contact attempts with the participant are unsuccessful:

  1. Look through the Person Account details to identify any reason why you may not be able to contact the participant. For example, they may be in hospital, overseas or they may work in the daytime.
  2. Identify any informal, community, mainstream or funded support providers and check consent is recorded. Only contact those people the participant has given us consent to contact and may be able to reach the participant. For example, a family member, a representative from an organisation, or a support coordinator.
  3. Record each of these additional contact attempts separately in the Log Activity tab in the plan change case. Record any relevant information in the Comments free text field. For example, who you’ve contacted, when you contacted them and any follow-up actions.

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If you have any concerns about the safety or welfare of the participant, you should speak with your line manager. To learn more about risks, go to article Identify and escalate risks in a plan change request.

Next steps

  1. Send an SMS to the participant to let them know you’ve been unable to contact them. Select the Unable to contact template and follow the steps in article Send an SMS in PACE.
  2. Once you’ve made and recorded a plan change request decision, but you’re unable to contact the participant:
    • Continue to progress the plan change case. To learn more, go to the Next steps section of Make a plan change decision.
    • In instances where the plan change request hasn’t met the Participant Service Guarantee timeframe of 21 days, go to article Progress a plan change (s47A and s48) request over 21 days to continue.
    • For decisions not to vary or reassess a plan change request, PACE will automatically send correspondence to the participant.

Article labels – internal use only

PACE user role names

Add:

  • dc_users_plannerdelegate
  • dc_users_reviewofficer

Topics

Add:

  • t_planchanges

Case names

Add:

  • dc_case_planchange

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