Commonwealth Ombudsman

Investigation into the National Disability Insurance Agency’s preparation to meet the Participant Service Guarantee

June 2022

Report by the Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman, Penny McKay, under the Ombudsman Act 1976

REPORT NO. 02|2022

COMMONWEALTH OMBUDSMAN

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ………………………………………………………………… 1 RECOMMENDATIONS ………………………………………………………………….. 3 INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION ……………………………….. 5 Our role …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6 The role of the Commonwealth Ombudsman ……………………………………………………….. 6

Specific oversight of the PSG ……………………………………………………………………………….. 6 Investigation scope ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 7 Legislative operating environment …………………………………………………………………. 8 Investigation methodology …………………………………………………………………………….. 8 THE PATH TO IMPLEMENT THE PSG ……………………………………………… 9 Developing the NDIA’s Participant Service Charter ………………………………………. 9 Charter engagement principles …………………………………………………………………………… 10

Charter timeframes ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 10

Differences between the Charter, the Tune Review, and the draft Rules ……………. 12

Introducing the new timeframes ………………………………………………………………………….. 12

NDIA planning to support implementation of the PSG …………………………………………. 12

NDIA’s Charter Embedding Action Plan ……………………………………………………………… 14

Overarching implementation plan for the PSG ……………………………………………………. 15 UPDATING THE NDIA’S PERFORMANCE REPORTING FRAMEWORK ……. 16 NDIA PERFORMANCE AGAINST PSG TIMEFRAMES ………………………… 16 Reporting methodology ……………………………………………………………………………….. 16 Developing performance measures …………………………………………………………………….. 17

Pausing timeframes …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18 Incorporating target timeframes into performance requirements …………………. 18 Performance of Partners in the Community ………………………………………………………… 19 Reporting performance against target timeframes ………………………………………. 20 NDIA PERFORMANCE AGAINST THE ENGAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND SERVICE STANDARDS ……………………………………………………………….. 21 Reporting methodology ……………………………………………………………………………….. 22 Participant Satisfaction Survey ……………………………………………………………………………. 22

Short Form Outcomes Framework ………………………………………………………………………. 22

Participant Service Improvement Plan

APS Employee Census

Other sources

Reporting performance against the engagement principles…………………………. 24

PART 4: COMMUNICATING ABOUT THE PSG

Rollout of the Charter and preparation for the PSG …………………………………….. 26 Raising awareness of the Charter and PSG internally …………………………………. 26

Internal training …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 27

The NDIA’s evaluation of implementation ……………………………………………………………. 27

Internal guidance for decision-makers ………………………………………………………………… 28

External awareness raising………………………………………………………………………….. 28 Ease of locating PSG information on NDIA’s website …………………………………………. 29

Performance information on NDIA’s website……………………………………………………….. 29

Communication with cultural and linguistically diverse groups …………………………….. 30

PART 5: NDIA’S APPROACH TO EVALUATING PERFORMANCE ………….. 32

NDIA Quality Assurance Program and Continuous Improvement ……………….. 32 Pathway to Green ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 33 APPENDIX A – GLOSSARY ………………………………………………………… 34 APPENDIX B – SUGGESTIONS ……………………………………………………. 37 APPENDIX C – NDIA’S RESPONSE ……………………………………………… 38

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Participant Service Guarantee (PSG), proposed by Mr David Tune AO PSM in his Review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (the Tune Review) published in January 2020, has the potential to significantly improve participants’ experience of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

What is the PSG

The PSG responds to the issues commonly complained about by NDIS participants, such as delays in decision-making and lack of information. The PSG includes principles to guide engagement with participants, service standards and timeframes designed to improve the timeliness and quality of the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) decision-making, as well as strengthened performance monitoring and reporting requirements for the NDIA.

The Australian Government’s response to the Tune Review committed to legislate the PSG. The NDIA demonstrated its commitment to improving participants’ experience of the NDIS by agreeing to operationalise the PSG through its own Participant Service Charter (the Charter), which was released in August 2020.

The role of the Commonwealth Ombudsman in this investigation

We are pleased the Tune Review and the Government’s response considered the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman (the Office) best placed to monitor and report on the NDIA’s performance against the PSG.

This investigation considers the NDIA’s preparation to meet the PSG, focusing on the NDIA’s actions during the 2020–21 financial year to implement the PSG administratively through the Charter.

We considered the NDIA’s approach to planning for the PSG, monitoring and reporting the NDIA’s performance against the timeframes, engagement principles and service standards in the Charter, and actions taken to embed the PSG in how the NDIA delivers services to participants.

What we found

Our investigation found the NDIA is creating a solid foundation for delivering on the PSG to ensure the NDIA can deliver a timely and quality experience for NDIS participants. The NDIA is making good progress in measuring and reporting against, and meeting, the PSG timeframes. While the NDIA is also making good progress towards measuring and reporting on the engagement principles and service standards, we consider further development is required to enable the NDIA to report meaningfully on these qualitative elements of the PSG.

Strengthening the NDIA’s PSG implementation planning

The NDIA is making progress in preparing to implement the PSG. The NDIA’s commitment to meet the requirements of the PSG is recorded in its highest-level strategic planning document – the NDIA Corporate Plan – and it has begun putting those requirements in place through a range of existing and planned implementation activities.

At the same time, we think the NDIA’s approach to implementing the PSG could be strengthened by developing a single overarching implementation plan for the PSG, drawing together all its existing and planned implementation activities in one place. A consolidated implementation plan would provide greater assurance to participants and others that the NDIA has a plan to deliver against each specific requirement of the PSG.

The NDIA’s progress implementing the PSG timeframes

The NDIA is gradually introducing new target timeframes and publicly reporting on its performance. These timeframes set out how long the NDIA will take to make decisions that may impact participants including access, planning and plan reviews.

The NDIA is still developing some aspects of its quantitative performance methodology and is not yet reporting on a small number of timeframes publicly. The NDIA continues to make significant progress towards refining its quantitative performance framework including suring reporting is transparent and available to the public in a timely manner.

Strengthening the NDIA’s qualitative performance framework

While the NDIA is making progress towards developing a performance methodology to measure and report on the engagement principles and service standards, its focus on these requirements is less mature than the NDIA’s approach to target timeframes, with more work needed to establish a sound performance methodology.

We acknowledge qualitative measures about how the NDIA engages with participants may be more complex to measure and report on than quantitative measures, but as the Tune Review identified, qualitative measures are no less important. A robust performance framework that enables the NDIA to report on qualitative aspects of the PSG is key to ensuring the quality of the NDIS participant experience.

For this reason, we consider the NDIA should prioritise work to further mature its performance framework to ensure it can measure and report on the quality of services consistent with the engagement principles and service standards to meet the requirements of the legislated PSG.

Principles of good public administration applicable to all agencies

In considering the NDIA’s progress in preparing to implement the legislated PSG, this investigation identifies several principles of good public administration applicable to all Australian Government agencies. Agencies should:

• ensure all activities required to deliver a program are consolidated in an implementation plan to provide assurance about what activities will take place, including expected timing and ownership of deliverables, and how progress and program performance will be monitored
• establish clear performance frameworks and reporting requirements to enable meaningful performance reporting and support the agency to assess how well it is achieving its stated goals and objectives
• establish clear policies setting out requirements for the communication or publication of performance information to ensure publicly available information is as accurate and timely as possible
• ensure quality measurement and reporting is incorporated into program management and delivery, including to support continuous improvement.

Our recommendations and suggestions to the NDIA

The NDIA is committing significant time and resources to operationalise the PSG administratively through the Charter in circumstances where the final content of the PSG is not settled. While the PSG Bill was passed in April 2022, the detailed requirements set out in the PSG Rules remain in draft at this time.

While the precise timeframes, engagement principles and service standards proposed to be

included in the PSG were not legislated at the time of our investigation, we consider these features of the Charter represent good administrative practice and support the NDIA’s commitment to operationalise these requirements ahead of the legislated PSG.

We make 5 recommendations which are intended to support the NDIA’s ongoing work to meet the legislated PSG.

The NDIA accepted all 5 recommendations made in this report (see Appendix C) and provided timeframes to implement the recommendations. Having regard to the actions the NDIA must take to fully implement the recommendations, and noting the PSG is now legislated, we consider these timeframes are reasonable.

RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATION 1: OVERARCHING IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

We recommend the NDIA develop an overarching implementation plan to manage its delivery of the PSG, which draws together existing and planned implementation activities in a single place.

RECOMMENDATION 2: PAUSING TIMEFRAMES

We recommend the NDIA conduct regular and ongoing analysis of pauses to timeframes under the PSG. This information should be used to identify trends and risks and to inform mechanisms to safeguard against negative impacts on participant experience.

RECOMMENDATION 3: QUALITATIVE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING FRAMEWORK

We recommend the NDIA develop a PSG qualitative performance measurement and reporting framework, which includes at a minimum the sources of performance information, how each are used in reporting and details of how often each will be reviewed.

RECOMMENDATION 4: PSG TIMEFRAME PERFORMANCE ON WEBSITE

We recommend the NDIA develop a policy for publishing PSG timeframe performance information on its website. At a minimum, the policy should set out what information is published and how often the information will be updated.

RECOMMENDATION 5: END-TO-END QUALITY REVIEW GUIDES

We recommend the NDIA review End-to-End Quality Assurance review guides used to measure performance against the engagement principles, so that where possible, all service standards are rephrased as questions.

We note the NDIA stated that it implemented recommendation 4 through action taken to publish quarterly reports on its website. As noted in this report, the NDIA began publishing timeframe performance information on a dedicated webpage in August 2021, in addition to the publication of the quarterly reports. In our view, this is a positive step that increased transparency of the NDIA’s performance by providing an easy way for participants to find and view this information. We encourage the NDIA to ensure any departure from this approach to publishing performance information maintains transparency and ensures participants can continue to access this information easily.

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We also make 7 suggestions in this report for the NDIA to consider. These suggestions relate either to actions the NDIA is planning to take, or may take in future, or relatively minor changes to the NDIA’s current approach where we consider small adjustments may be beneficial. These suggestions are captured in Appendix B to this report.

INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION

1.1 In June 2019, the Australian Government commissioned a review of the National

Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (the NDIS Act) to examine participants’ experience of the NDIS and find opportunities for improvement. In December 2019, independent expert Mr David Tune AO PSM delivered his Review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (the Tune Review) to the government. The Tune review was published by the Department of Social Services (DSS) in January 2020.

1.2 The Tune Review concluded the NDIS Act was broadly fit for purpose but made

29 recommendations aimed at removing red tape and improving participants’ experience of the NDIS through the introduction of a legislated Participant Service Guarantee (PSG). Eighteen of the 29 recommendations in the Tune Review suggested amendments to the NDIS Act and National Disability Insurance Scheme Rules (NDIS Rules) made under that Act, including enacting legislation to give effect to a PSG.1

1.3 Specifically, the Tune Review observed that people with disability reported

frustration with the administration of the NDIS by the NDIA, and that transparency, consistency and timeliness in decision-making are critical issues the NDIA should address. To this end, the Tune Review recommended the NDIA improve transparency and accountability of decision-making processes, including making information about the time it takes for the NDIA to make decisions publicly available.

1.4 The Tune Review also recommended the NDIA introduce engagement principles to

eensure the NDIA is accountable for the way it engages with, and works alongside, people with disability.2 The Tune Review set out 20 timeframes within which the NDIA should make certain administrative decisions. It also suggested 5 engagement principles, each with proposed service standards setting out what the NDIA must do to meet each engagement principle.

1.5 In August 2020, the Government delivered its response to the Tune Review. The

Government’s response supported 27 of the 29 recommendations made in the Tune Review and supported in principle the other 2 recommendations (related to the management of planning meetings and funding arrangements) but did not specifically commit to implementing those recommendations as made in the Tune Review.

1.6 The Government initially committed to legislate the PSG by 1 July 2020. However, the

introduction of a Bill to legislate the PSG was delayed, including due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the absence of a legislated PSG, the NDIA agreed to implement the PSG administratively, and report publicly on its performance against the PSG timeframes and service standards, to the extent possible, from 1 July 2020.3

1.7 The NDIA demonstrated its commitment to implement the PSG by releasing the

Participant Service Charter (the Charter) in August 2020, which contains the PSG timeframes and engagement principles.

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Section Heading: Our role

The role of the Commonwealth Ombudsman

The Office was established under the Ombudsman Act 1976 (the Ombudsman Act) to investigate complaints and provide independent oversight of public administration by Australian Government agencies and certain private sector entities. If the Ombudsman finds errors or areas for improvement during this oversight work, the Ombudsman may make recommendations to agencies to help improve government administration.

The Office is confined to investigating ‘action that relates to a matter of administration’. In practice, this means, the Office does not investigate the policy decisions made by the government of the day, rather, we consider whether government departments and statutory agencies act with integrity and treat people fairly in administration.

As part of its oversight role, the Office takes complaints about the NDIA’s administrative actions and decisions. We can also consider complaints about the NDIA’s Partners in the Community (PiTC), which include Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) and Local Area Coordinator (LAC) services.

Specific oversight of the PSG

The Tune Review recommended the Office have responsibility for monitoring and reporting on the NDIA’s performance against the PSG, including using our capacity to investigate individual complaints about timeframes for decision-making set out in the PSG, and monitoring complaints with a view to identifying systemic issues.

As the development of a Bill to implement the PSG was delayed, the former Ombudsman, Mr Michael Manthorpe PSM, commenced an own motion investigation under s 5(1)(b) of the Ombudsman Act to assess and report against the NDIA’s preparation for the implementation of the PSG in 2020–21.

Section 1: Context

The Ombudsman’s Report under s 204A of the NDIS Act

Background

1.16 The recent amendments to the NDIS Act introduced a new s 204A which requires the Commonwealth Ombudsman to prepare and give to the Minister a report about matters prescribed by the NDIS Rules as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year. The report will also be tabled in the Australian Parliament. In preparing the report, our powers under the Ombudsman Act will apply as if preparation of the report were an investigation under s 8 of the Ombudsman Act.

Scope of Annual Reports Under New Legislation

1.17 The draft PSG Rules$ set out the matters to be contained in the Ombudsman’s annual report under the new s 204A of the NDIS Act. Under the draft rules, the report can cover some or all of the following:

• The collective performance of the NDIA during the relevant year against one or more of the engagement principles and service standards in the PSG Rules.

• The performance of the NDIA against one or more of the timeframes that apply to the NDIA and its CEO under the NDIS Act or the PSG Rules.

• Other matters relating to the experience of participants, or prospective participants, relating to decisions by the NDIA or CEO under the NDIS Act or the PSG Rules.

Collaboration with the NDIA for Report Preparation

1.18 The Office will continue working with the NDIA both to monitor the NDIA’s performance as it implements the legislated PSG, including identifying opportunities for the NDIA to improve its approach to administering the PSG, and to prepare for the first report under new s 204A, pending introduction of the new NDIS Rules.

Investigation Scope

1.19 This investigation assesses the NDIA’s performance against the PSG during $2020─$21$, in relation to:

• The NDIA’s progress in implementing the PSG administratively against the timeframes, engagement principles and service standards it set for itself in the Charter.
• The NDIA’s preparations and readiness to implement the PSG once legislation commenced (that is, their preparation to meet the requirements set out in the PSG Bill and the draft PSG Rules).

Focus on Administrative Performance Assessment

1.20 The Office was mindful to ensure the focus of this investigation does not duplicate the NDIA’s obligations to report its performance against the PSG. Instead, our investigation aims to provide assurance in relation to the NDIA’s administrative performance, including its ability to monitor and report on how delivery against the PSG contributes to an improved participant experience of the NDIS.

Structure Overview

1.21 Part 2 of this report provides a summary of the NDIA’s actions to implement the PSG administratively through the Charter. Part 3 of this report considers how the NDIA embedded the Charter into its performance reporting framework. Part 4 assesses how the NDIA is communicating about the PSG, particularly with staff, participants, and prospective participants. Finally, Part 5 looks at how the NDIA is working to improve its performance against the PSG.

Glossary Reference

1.22 A glossary of key terms is provided at Appendix A.

Legislative operating environment

1.23

Given legislation to enact the PSG had not passed during the period that this investment covers, we did not assess the NDIA’s performance against the requirements of the PSG Bill (now enacted) or draft PSG Rules. At the same time, broadly speaking, we considered the NDIA’s preparation and readiness to implement the PSG once legislated, noting the NDIA had already committed to adopting many of the requirements in the PSG Bill when we commenced our investment.

1.24

Any reference to the specific components of the PSG, refer to the publicly available versions of the PSG Bill and draft PSG Rules. We use the text of the PSG Bill as it was introduced into the Australian Parliament on 28 October 20218 and the exposure draft of the PSG Rules published by DSS during public consultation.9 Whilst the PSG Bill was amended prior to being passed by the Australian Parliament on 30 March 2022, those amendments did not materially affect the provisions dealing with the PSG.

Investigation methodology

1.25

Prior to commencing the investigation formally, the Office met with multiple business areas in the NDIA to gather preliminary information about the NDIA’s administrative arrangements to implement the PSG. This information assisted the Office to tailor a request for information under s 8 of the Ombudsman Act.

1.26

In response, the NDIA provided a large volume of primary documents accompanied by a written response to our questions. These documents formed the basis of our review of the NDIA’s preparations to meet the PSG. We engaged with the NDIA during the investment to address information gaps and confirm our understanding of the information the NDIA provided to the Office.

1.27

Our observations, findings, recommendations, and comments are based on our assessment of the material provided by the NDIA and the issues we identified during the investigation.

1.28nThe Office provided the CEO of the NDIA with the opportunity to comment on a draft

of our investigation report. The NDIA’s formal response is attached to this report as Appendix C.

1.29The Office sincerely thanks those staff from the NDIA who provided information to

assist with this investigation.

THE PATH TO IMPLEMENT THE PSG

Developing the NDIA’s Participant Service Charter

2.1 In August 2020, the then Minister for the NDIS, the Hon Stuart Robert MP, announced that until the PSG was introduced into legislation, the NDIA would implement the PSG administratively.

In practice, this meant the NDIA would introduce the timeframes, service standards, and engagement principles contained in the PSG and report on these before the legislation to enact the PSG was formally introduced.

2.2 To achieve this, the NDIA updated its Charter following consultation with key stakeholders, including NDIS participants, the NDIA Employee Disability Network, staff from PiTC, the Independent Advisory Council, and the NDIS CEO Forum over a period of 3 months.

The NDIA introduced the revised Charter in August 2020, followed closely by a Participant Service Improvement Plan (the SIP). The Charter sets out what participants should expect when interacting with the NDIA, while the SIP sets out what activities the NDIA needs to undertake to deliver the NDIS in a way that effectively meets participants’ expectations.

2.3 At the time the Charter was released in August 2020, the Minister explained that including service standards and clear timeframes for the NDIA would make navigating the NDIS easier for participants and their families.

The PSG, and the Charter, aim to respond to the issues most commonly complained about by participants – including delays in decision-making and a lack of information – by establishing principles for engagement and setting clear timeframes for the NDIA to take certain actions.

Figure 1: Components of the PSG

Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Media Release: Landmark reforms to deliver on the promise of Australia’s NDIS, 28 August 2020.

Charter engagement principles

Engagement Principles and Timeframes in the Charter

Overview

The Charter contains five engagement principles designed to give participants, prospective participants, and their representatives certainty about how the NDIA will engage with them.

Each principle is accompanied by a broad statement explaining what it means in practice (see Table 1 below) and includes three-to-four specific statements outlining actions that the NDIA will take to meet each principle.

Table 1: PSG Engagement Principles in the Charter

Charter timeframes

In addition to these five engagement principles, the Charter sets out target timeframes for the NDIA to deliver its services. These provide clarity regarding when key decision-making processes occur within participant interactions at various stages of involvement such as during initial contact or ongoing reviews.

There exist twenty distinct timelines outlined specifically relating primarily towards major points where individuals might interact directly either currently enrolled participants or those considering joining later on through different phases like application submission phase planning discussions etc., all covered under one comprehensive framework established via detailed documentation provided publicly accessible resources available online today!

Table 2: PSG Timeframes in the Charter

Timeframe

Category | Description | Timeframe

| — | — | — | | Number16

3 | Allow sufficient time for prospective participants to provide information, after NDIA has requested further information | 90 days

4 | Make an access decision, after the final information has been provided | 14 days

5 | Planning - Commence facilitating the preparation of a plan, after an access decision has been made | 21 days

6 | Approve a participant’s plan, after an access decision has been made | 70 days

7 | Approve a plan for ECEI participants, after an access decision has been made | 90 days

8 | Implementation - Offer to hold a plan implementation meeting, after the plan is approved | As soon as reasonably practical

9 | If the participant accepts the offer, hold a plan implementation meeting | 28 days

10 | Provide a copy of the plan to a participant, after the plan is approved | 7 days

11 | Plan review - Commence facilitating a scheduled plan review, prior to the scheduled review date | 56 days

12 | Decide whether to undertake a participant requested plan review, after the request is received | 21 days

13 | Complete a participant requested review, after the decision to accept the request was made | 42 days

14 | Plan variations - Vary a plan, after the receipt of information that triggers the plan amendment process | 28 days

15 | Vary a plan, after receipt of information relating to a complex quote that triggers a plan amendment process | 50 days

16 | Provide a copy of the plan to a participant, after the plan is amended | 7 days

17 | Reviewable decisions - Complete an internal review of a reviewable decision, after a request is received | 90 days

18 | Implement an Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) decision to vary a plan, after receiving notification of the AAT decision | 28 days

19 | Nominee - Cancel participant requested nominee | 14 days

20 | Cancel CEO initiated nominee | 14 days

Differences between the Charter, the Tune Review, and the draft Rules

2.8

The timeframes and engagement principles contained in the Charter broadly align with the recommendations in the Tune Review, with some differences.

2.9

While both documents define what a participant can expect from, and how services should be delivered by the NDIA, the current version of the Charter is less detailed than the engagement principles set out in the Tune Review.17

2.10

The Charter provides a broad definition for each engagement principle, followed by 3 to 5 ‘we will’ statements indicating what the NDIA will do to give effect to the engagement principle. By comparison, the Tune Review includes a similarly broad definition and between 3 to 7 proposed service standards against each principle.

2.11

At the same time, we note the NDIA adopted 4 additional timeframes in the Charter that were not recommended in the Tune Review. These set out timeframes for action required by the NDIA’s National Contact Centre and complaint handlers.

2.12

The draft PSG Rules are aligned more closely with the Tune Review’s approach rather than the NDIA’s current Charter, with the content of the service standards in particular aligning closely with the Tune Review’s proposals.

2.13

While the Charter in its current form demonstrates the NDIA’s commitment to meet the legislated PSG, the NDIA also needs to remain mindful the draft PSG Rules are more prescriptive. For this reason, the NDIA should start considering how to address the gaps between the service standards in the Charter and those set out in the draft PSG Rules.

Introducing the new timeframes

2.14

The Tune Review observed that limitations in the NDIA’s workforce and ICT systems may impact the NDIA’s ability to meet the PSG timeframes from 1 July 2020, when it was originally expected the PSG legislation would commence. The Tune Review therefore recommended the NDIA introduce the target timeframes progressively – beginning with longer timeframes during 2020–21 – to allow the NDIA additional time to make decisions affecting participants.

2.15

While this investigation did not assess actions taken by the NDIA in relation to its workforce preparedness or ICT systems capability in advance of the legislated PSG, we note the Charter includes the longer timeframes, which is consistent with the Tune Review’s approach. We also observed during our investigation that despite the Charter including these longer timeframes, the NDIA made significant progress towards reporting its performance against the Tune Review’s shorter timeframes in the NDIA’s quarterly reports during 2020-21.

2.16

The NDIA recognises it will need to update the Charter to ensure alignment with the legislated PSG requirements set out in the NDIS Act, and the Rules once introduced.

NDIA planning to support implementation of the PSG

2.17

The NDIA’s commitment to implement the Charter and the PSG is captured in the NDIA’s highest level strategic planning documents and in some operational planning documents. These are summarised below and discussed further from 2.18.

Summary of key NDIA documents incorporating the PSG

NDIA Corporate Plan

The NDIA’s Corporate Plan 2021–25 sets out the high-level action the NDIA will take to deliver the PSG and commits the NDIA to:

• embed the Charter in 2022, and

• maintain focus on strategic improvements by delivering the actions in [the] Participant Service Charter.

NDIA Service Charter

This sets out the PSG timeframes and engagement principles and explains how participants will know if the NDIA is delivering against the Charter.

NDIA Participant Service Improvement Plan (SIP)

This sets out what the NDIA is doing over the next two years to deliver a NDIS that meets participant expectations. The NDIA says the SIP is the key to making real the promises in the Charter and the PSG.

Charter Embedding Action Plan

An internal document which sets out various operational activities the NDIA is undertaking to implement the PSG.

2.18

In addition to the NDIA’s Corporate Plan and annual and quarterly reports, the NDIA developed or updated key operational documents to reflect PSG requirements. These documents link the NDIA’s strategic vision with operational requirements and set out how the NDIA will achieve its PSG commitments under the NDIA’s Corporate Plan.

2.19

The key operational planning documents include the Charter and the Service Improvement Plan (SIP) (discussed above from 2.2). The NDIA intends for those documents to complement one another. The Charter states its ‘what you can expect from us’ service commitments are taken from the SIP and the introductory paragraph of the SIP explains it is ‘the key to making real’ the NDIA’s promises in the Charter and PSG.

2.20

The SIP contains important commitments aimed at improving the participant experience of the NDIS. However, we are uncertain about the extent to which some of these commitments could be said directly to achieve the requirements of the engagement principles in the PSG.

2.21

In our view, the link between the PSG and the SIP would benefit from further clarification, as the NDIA has not outlined explicitly how delivering on each SIP commitment demonstrates delivery of certain elements of the PSG. For example, one of the Charter commitments is to ‘communicate in your preferred format’, but there is no SIP commitment focused on ensuring participants receive communication in their preferred format.

2.22

At the same time, we recognise some Charter commitments align closely with the SIP. For example, one of the Charter commitments is to ‘provide you with a staff member to contact so you only need to tell us information once’ and the SIP contains a commitment to ‘have a current contact name for all your interactions with us’.

2.23

In our view, developing a clearer and more explicit link between the SIP and PSG will enable the NDIA to clearly provide assurance to participants and others that implementation of the SIP will deliver against specific PSG requirements. We consider further efforts to

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provide this level of assurance and build confidence amongst participants and others will become more important as the NDIA implements the legislated PSG.

2.24

The NDIA advised the Office that in addition to the high-level strategic planning documents mentioned above, its Pathway to Green project is a key part of its planning to support implementation of the PSG. Pathway to Green is a project initiated by the NDIA in October 2020 to help improve its performance against PSG timeframes. Pathway to Green is discussed further in Part 5.

NDIA’s Charter Embedding Action Plan

2.25

The NDIA’s Charter Embedding Action Plan (the CEAP) sets out in detail the activities the NDIA needs to complete to embed the Charter and assigns each activity to an owner. Some of the actions set out in the CEAP include updating and delivering internal training, developing and implementing internal communication, updating procedures, and reviewing the NDIA’s quality management framework.

2.26

Based on our assessment, the NDIA has completed or made progress against most of the activities it committed to in the CEAP. These are discussed throughout this report. Some of the more significant actions taken by the NDIA against the CEAP include:

• Updating Operational Guidelines to provide staff and the public with clear information about how long it will take the NDIA to do certain actions listed in the Charter, for example, start preparing a plan, hold a meeting with a participant or send a participant a copy of their plan.$
• Finalising the Charter eLearning module to assist staff to understand the importance and purpose of the Charter and PSG and how both apply to their work.
• Developing the Charter Toolkit, a guidance document for team leaders designed to encourage teams to consider independently how decision-makers should apply the engagement principles in everyday work.
• Incorporating the engagement principles into the NDIA’s awards to recognise staff and Partners in the Community (PiTC) when they deliver services that align to the engagement principles.

2.27

We suggest the NDIA continue to deliver on the activities in the CEAP that are outstanding. Some of the more significant outstanding activities that will position the NDIA to deliver the PSG include:

• Updating the NDIA’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) and Operational Guidelines to include direct references to the PSG, to ensure staff can access information about how the PSG applies to their decision-making (discussed further in Part 4).
• Updating the NDIA Access Request Form to include links to information about the PSG and Charter, to connect prospective participants to information about what they can expect from the NDIA.

• Incorporating the PSG into the NDIA’s Quality Management Framework, to enable the NDIA to gain assurance about how it is performing against the PSG (discussed further in Part 5).

Overarching implementation plan for the PSG

2.28 The NDIA’s efforts to include the PSG in various planning documents is a significant and positive step that demonstrates the NDIA’s commitment to, and vision for, delivering the PSG. This vision forms the foundation for several operational documents outlining some of the improvements the NDIA will make to deliver the PSG, and ultimately improve participants’ experience of the NDIS.

2.29 While the NDIA’s high-level strategic commitment and vision is clear from these documents, the NDIA is yet to develop a consolidated and comprehensive implementation plan for the PSG drawing together in a single document all elements of the work it will undertake to deliver the PSG.

2.30 We recognise the NDIA is making meaningful progress via a range of existing plans and activities, with a view to delivering the legislated PSG. While these documents each serve a purpose as part of a broader, theoretical framework to support implementation of the PSG, there is no overarching implementation plan for the PSG, which captures all relevant activities in a single place.

2.31 In our view, consolidating existing work in a single comprehensive implementation plan would assist the NDIA to bring together the various projects already underway or planned to meet the legislated PSG. This would enable the NDIA to identify key deliverables and milestones, describe core capabilities and outcomes required to support delivery, assign clear points of responsibility, clearly define outputs, and identify risks to effective delivery of the PSG. This would also create a single reference document enabling the NDIA to track the progress of and provide assurance of activities in support PSG implementation.

Recommendation 1

We recommend the NDIA develop an overarching implementation plan to manage its delivery of the PSG, which draws together existing and planned implementation activities in a single place.

UPDATING THE NDIA’S PERFORMANCE REPORTING FRAMEWORK

Our investigation considered whether the NDIA has incorporated the requirements set out in the Charter and PSG appropriately in its performance framework.

We also considered actions taken by the NDIA to improve transparency in its performance reporting during 2020-21. The NDIA’s progress against both are instrumental to the NDIA’s preparedness to fully implement the legislated PSG.

Under s 174 of the NDIS Act,

the NDIA must produce a quarterly report about its operations for the Ministerial Council.21

Consistent with the recommendations in the Tune Review,

The amendments to the NDIS Act proposed by the PSG Bill, combined with the draft PSG rules (which are yet to be made at the time of this investigation), expand what the NDIA must report on publicly to include specific aspects of the NDIA’s performance against the PSG, including performance against each engagement principle and related service standards, as well as how the NDIA is performing against each of the timeframes.22

Effectively embedding the PSG into the NDIA’s performance framework is a crucial step for the NDIA as it prepares for the PSG to be legislated.

The following section first considers the NDIA’s progress in measuring and reporting its performance against the PSG timeframes consistent with this commitment. The subsequent section then considers how the NDIA is incorporating the engagement principles and service standards into its performance framework.

NDIA PERFORMANCE AGAINST PSG TIMEFRAMES

Reporting methodology

During 2021 the NDIA progressed work to strengthen its approach to measuring performance against PSG timeframes. The NDIA identified a start and end date to calculate most of the target timeframes, with the exclusion of those the NDIA identified as ‘automated’.

Where the NDIA identified calculation methods to be strengthened, it flagged planned amendments to its approach, including refinements to reporting methodology with a view to ensuring consistent, reliable reporting that can be easily compared across multiple reporting periods.

At the end of the 2020–21 financial year, the NDIA was not yet reporting publicly on its performance against 3 of the 20 PSG timeframes because the reporting methodology for those was still in development. In relation to Timeframe 8 (offering to hold a plan implementation meeting), the NDIA advised it is yet to identify a reliable data measure for this metric. For Timeframes 10 and 16 (providing a copy of a plan to a participant either following plan approval or amendment), the NDIA advised it could not yet report on these

Performance Reporting

Timeframes and Progress Against Proposed Shorter PSG Timeframes

In our view the NDIA made good progress in 2020–21 towards reporting against the shorter PSG timeframes proposed in the Tune Review as discussed above at 2.15.

By the first quarterly report for 2021–22, the NDIA was no longer reporting against the longer timeframes suggested by the Tune Review and was reporting against all the proposed shorter timeframes. These timeframes are consistent with those in the PSG Bill and draft PSG Rules.

We did observe, however, that the NDIA’s website and Charter were not updated to make clear the NDIA had shifted from reporting against the longer timeframes to reporting against the shorter timeframes in the first quarterly report for 2021–22. We suggest that if the NDIA’s reporting methodology changes in future, it updates relevant documents to reflect these changes.

Developing performance measures

At the time of our investigation, the NDIA’s methodology for measuring performance against some timeframes was still in development.

In relation to how the NDIA will measure its performance against specific timeframes, we note Timeframe 8 of the Charter holds the NDIA accountable for making an offer to a participant to hold a plan implementation meeting, after the participant’s plan is approved. In practice, the offer to hold the meeting could be made by a PiTC. This means the actions of the PiTC could impact whether the NDIA meets certain timeframes. This is discussed further below at 3.29.

There is a separate timeframe (Timeframe 9) for holding the meeting, if the participant accepts the offer to meet. The timeframe for making the offer for the meeting is ‘as soon as reasonably practical’ and the timeframe for holding the meeting is 28 days following the participant accepting the offer. This timing is consistent with the proposed PSG.

Given the absence of a specific target for Timeframe 8, we asked the NDIA how it will determine what is a reasonable timeframe for offering this meeting to participants. The NDIA noted it considers ‘a reasonably practical timeframe to be as soon as possible in terms of what best suits a participant’ and that reporting against this timeframe is deferred, to allow the NDIA to develop a definitive timeframe that best meets participants’ need. In our view, it is appropriate for the NDIA to develop and implement a standard timeframe by which it must make the offer to hold a plan implementation meeting.

While the NDIA is not yet reporting publicly on Timeframe 8, the NDIA advised Timeframe 8 increased from an average of 8.7 days in October 2020 to an average of 15.1 days across February, March, and April 2021.

At the time of our investigation, the NDIA was working to identify the reasons for the increase in the average time taken to make the offer to hold a plan implementation meeting, but noted that once anticipated reforms to NDIS planning are introduced, the offer for a plan implementation meeting would be made during the course of finalising a participant’s plan or plan review, which would remove any delay.

Despite these anticipated changes, which may address concerns about potential delay, the Office encourages the NDIA to work towards understanding increases it observes in these timeframes and develop a clearly defined target against which it can measure performance.

Developing guidance for staff about how to interpret ‘a reasonably practicable timeframe’ would also assist the NDIA to make performance expectations clear and encourage consistency in decision-making.

Pausing Timeframes

3.19

In calculating its performance against all the timeframes in the PSG, the NDIA will also need to consider how it accounts for circumstances that it considers to be outside of its control. The Tune Review stated ‘the timeframes prescribed in the [PSG] should only apply to ordinary NDIA administrative processes. Where a participant is gathering additional information or is otherwise unavailable for a period (for instance they are on a holiday), the timeframes applied to the NDIA should be paused’.23

Pausing timeframes

3.20

The draft PSG Rules provide for some timeframes to be paused where the NDIA makes a request for additional information from a participant under specific sections of the NDIS Act.24 This means where the NDIA makes a request, the calculation of the timeframe is paused until the participant provides the requested information. Once the information is provided, the calculation then resumes. If the participant provides the information more than 14 days before the timeframe was originally set to end, the NDIA is not given additional time to complete the relevant action or decision. However, if the participant provides the information to the NDIA less than 14 days before the timeframe was originally set to end, The NDIA is given an additional 14 days to complete the relevant action or decision.25

3.21

During our investigation, the NDIA noted it is not currently pausing timeframes when it calculates its performance. Not being able to ‘stop the clock’ on PSG timeframes for participant-initiated delays would negatively impact the NDIA’s ability to meet PSG timeframes for those participants.

3.22

The NDIA noted it is currently analysing the impact of these types of participant- initiated delays on its performance against specific timeframes. Once this analysis is complete, it will recommend how this might be addressed. The NDIA acknowledges there needs to be ‘safety mechanisms’ to ensure participant experience is still timely and responsive, even when pauses are used.

3.23

Given the draft PSG Rules provide for the timeframes to be paused in some circumstances, we consider the NDIA should capture data about how often pauses occur, and the length of such pauses, to ensure transparency about how the NDIA’s actions may impact participants and whether there are actions it can take to assist participants to provide information in a timely manner.

Recommendation 2

We recommend the NDIA conduct regular and ongoing analysis of pauses to timeframes under the PSG. This information should be used to identify trends and risks and to inform mechanisms to safeguard against negative impacts on participant experience.

Incorporating target timeframes into performance requirements

3.24

In July 2020, the NDIA reviewed its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for its Participant Experience Delivery (PED) Branch, considering requirements in the NDIA

Corporate Plan 2020–24

actual performance against previous KPIs, and the requirements in the PSG.

3.25

The review identified the need for new performance targets and measures. The NDIA introduced 10 new KPIs, one relating to the PSG, requiring the NDIA to measure and report on the percentage of PSG timeframes the NDIA met or exceeded. The remaining KPIs cover broader aspects of the NDIA’s performance, including the NDIA’s approach to compliance and quality assurance. As part of our investigation, the Office received several documents relevant to how the NDIA rolled out the new PED KPIs.

3.26

to support the rollout of NDIA’s new performance targets, the NDIA developed a PED KPI Implementation Summary in May 2021 and a PED KPI Project Communications Plan in August 2020. These documents outline the stages of implementation, those responsible for implementation actions, basic supporting messages for staff and details of staff training. The NDIA undertook a series of internal training sessions to introduce the new KPI requirements, from August 2020.

Performance of Partners in the Community

3.27

The NDIA’s PiTC are responsible for providing services to 80 per cent of the NDIA’s customers and perform key functions including Local Area Coordination (LAC) and Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) services. In practice, PiTC are responsible for aspects of plan preparation and plan reviews and are in considerable contact with the public. This means the NDIA’s performance against the PSG is necessarily dependant on the performance of its PiTC.

3.28

The NDIA manages, monitors, and supports the performance of PiTC using an Outcomes Assurance Framework (OAF). The OAF sets out performance targets for PiTC and the methods the NDIA will use to monitor PiTC performance and respond to performance issues.

3.29

In the NDIA’s PED KPI Implementation Summary, the NDIA identified the actions of PiTC could impact the NDIA’s performance of half of the PSG timeframes. Timeframe 8 which requires a PiTC to offer to hold a plan implementation meeting – is one example of where the NDIA’s performance depends on the actions of a PiTC. Another example is Timeframe 19, which requires a partner to submit a request to cancel a participant nominee within a certain timeframe.

3.30

in April 2021, the NDIA updated the performance targets and measures in the OAF to include 2 targets to match the Charter timeframes. The NDIA set a target for its PiTC to commence facilitating the preparation of 95 per cent of plans within 21 days after a participant’s access decision is made. This mirrors the requirement of Timeframe 5 in the Charter. Additionally, the NDIA included performance targets for first plan approval (from access approval date), reflecting target Timeframes 6 and 7.

3.31

In addition to the OAF, the NDIA has contractual agreements with its PiTC, which includes performance requirements. The NDIA updated these agreements to include a clause requiring PiTC to deliver services in line with the Charter.

3.32

We consider the NDIA is making positive steps to incorporate the PSG timeframes into its existing performance criteria for staff and PiTC. The NDIA advised our Office it is considering whether additional KPIs should be included in the OAF, due to the PSG requirements. Given the NDIA identified that half of the PSG timeframes are either partly or wholly dependent on partner performance, we agree the NDIA should continue to review the OAF to ensure the actions of its PiTC contribute to the NDIA meeting PSG timeframes.

Reporting Performance Against Target Timeframes

3.33 Consistent with the government’s commitment to report on the NDIA’s performance prior to the legislated PSG, the NDIA began reporting against the Charter timeframes from November 2020, when it published its first quarterly report for 2020–21.

3.34 The NDIA’s quarterly reports contain 6 parts, covering participant outcomes, agency performance, and scheme financial sustainability. In the PSG section of these quarterly reports, the NDIA notes it aims to meet PSG target timeframes 95% of the time. This means, for example, that for Timeframe 6 the NDIA is aiming to approve plans (for non-ECEI participants) within 70 days of an access decision for 95 out of 100 plan approvals.

3.35 The NDIA reported on the majority of the 20 target timeframes in each of the 2020–21 quarterly reports. Across the 2020–21 financial year, the number of timeframes the NDIA reported against increased from 11 of 20 in the first quarterly report, to 17 of 20 in the fourth quarterly report of 2020–21 (published in August 2021).

Figure 2: NDIA Performance Reporting on PSG Timeframes 2020–21

3.36 For timeframes not included in a quarterly report, the NDIA included information about when it expected to be able to report on that target timeframe. In the fourth quarterly report for 2020–21, the NDIA advised it would start reporting against the remaining 3 timeframes in the second quarterly report for 2021–22.**26** The remaining 3 timeframes are discussed above at 3.8.

3.37 Of the 17 timeframes included in the fourth quarterly report for 2020–21, the NDIA reported the following performance:

• 7 of 17 timeframes met the NDIA’s 95% target,
• 5 of 17 timeframes between 85%-95%, and
• below 85% for the remaining 5 timeframes.

3.38 The NDIA acknowledges through commentary in this report that it has more work to do on 2 of the 10 timeframes below the 95% target – that is, the first plan approval timeframes for those aged 7 and above (91%), and participant requested review timeframes (72%). No additional commentary is offered on the other 8 timeframes that fell below the NDIA’s 95% target.

National Disability Insurance Scheme, ‘Q4 NDIS Quarterly Report to Disability Ministers’, 30 June 2021, pages 61-2.

3.39

We also acknowledge that to date the NDIA focused appropriately on meeting its 95 per cent target for the 20 timeframes. Despite this, it also commenced important work to understand the factors which contribute to it not reaching 100 per cent. We consider this work valuable, as even when the NDIA reaches its target timeframe for 95 per cent of participants, there will a portion of people for whom the timeframe is not met.

3.40

We suggest the NDIA continue its work in this area to identify themes or trends where a timeframe is not met and opportunities to improve the experience for all participants.

NDIA PERFORMANCE AGAINST THE ENGAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND SERVICE STANDARDS

3.41

The Tune Review recommended the PSG include engagement principles, as ‘the qualitative aspects of the PSG [which] focus on, principles-based outcomes statements supported by underpinning service standards’.27 The Tune Review saw the benefit in including qualitative aspects in the PSG because ‘a Guarantee based solely around timeframes for decision-making is likely to result in perverse outcomes for participants and risks compromising the quality of the NDIS participant experience’.28 This approach is supported in the government response to the Tune Review and is reflected by the NDIA through the inclusion of the engagement principles in the Charter.

3.42

While the Charter includes the engagement principles, it does not detail how the NDIA will report its progress against the engagement principles, beyond conducting the NDIA’s quarterly Participant Satisfaction Survey. The Charter informs participants that: ‘You will experience a service that is transparent, responsive, respectful, empowering and connected, as measured in the quarterly Participant Satisfaction survey.’ [emphasis added]. It further states that: ’We will aim to reach 90 per cent for all stages of your engagement with us.’29

3.43

The NDIA advised us the Participant Satisfaction Survey is one of the primary ways the NDIA determines how it is meeting the engagement principles in the Charter. The Participant Satisfaction Survey is discussed in more detail below from 3.46.

3.44

The legislated PSG requires the NDIA to follow prescriptive reporting requirements in relation to its PSG performance. Prior to the amendments in the PSG Bill, s 174(3) of the NDIS Act allowed the Minister to set out by legislative instrument what must be included in the NDIA’s quarterly reports. Section 15 of the draft PSG Rule lists the specific performance metrics that must be included in quarterly reports. Specifically, in relation to the engagement principles, the NDIA must report on activities undertaken or improvements made in the quarter about each engagement principle and service standard.

Reporting Methodology

3.45 The NDIA uses a variety of sources to evaluate participant experience, including the delivery of the ‘what you can expect’ commitments in the Charter. These include:

• the Participant Satisfaction Survey and the Short Form Outcomes Framework (SFOF)
• the SIP
• the Australian Public Service (APS) Census as it applies to the NDIA, and
• Performance Management and Quality Reviews.

Participant Satisfaction Survey

3.46 The NDIA’s Participant Satisfaction Survey is administered by Australian Healthcare Associates, following a specific recommendation in the Tune Review for the previous survey to be re-designed and conducted independently from the NDIA.

3.47 The current version of the Participant Satisfaction Survey covers 4 main stages of participants’ interactions with the NDIA: access, preplanning, planning, and review. It includes a base survey which remains consistent and additional modules which can be added or removed.

3.48 At the time of our investigation, the NDIA was not meeting its 90 per cent target for participant satisfaction, as measured by the Participant Satisfaction Survey. In the fourth quarterly report for 2020–21, the NDIA reported the following satisfaction results:

• planning process 83 per cent
• access 77 per cent
• pre-planning 77 per cent
• review process 71 per cent.30

3.49 While the Participant Satisfaction Survey results are published in the NDIA’s quarterly reports, the results are not referenced in Part 3 of the quarterly reports, which is dedicated to the NDIA’s PSG performance.

3.50 Noting the NDIA’s commitment to use the Participant Satisfaction Survey to measure its performance against the engagement principles, we suggest the NDIA consider including information about its performance in the Participant Satisfaction Survey in the PSG section of the quarterly reports.

Short Form Outcomes Framework

3.51 In addition to using the Participant Satisfaction Survey, the NDIA advised us that it uses questions from its SFOF to form a view about how it is performing. After reviewing the supporting documents provided by the NDIA, we did not identify how the SFOF results inform the NDIA’s view of how it is performing against the engagement principles.

3.52 While the NDIA demonstrated it considers how the engagement principles align with specific questions in the Participant Satisfaction Survey or the SFOF, based on the information provided during the investigation, we are not satisfied the NDIA has a methodology for measuring its performance using either measure.

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3.53

We are concerned that in the absence of a clear performance methodology, the NDIA will miss opportunities to use existing or other potential sources of information or feedback to measure and evaluate its qualitative performance.

3.54

The Office is aware the NDIA is currently focused on linking the Participant Satisfaction Survey questions with the engagement principles in the Charter. We suggest the NDIA review this work now the legislation has passed to ensure the Participant Satisfaction Survey aligns with the legislated PSG and can take account of the requirements in the PSG rules when they are made and take effect.

3.55

The NDIA advised no specific changes are planned to the Survey in response to the introduction of PSG. It is working with the Independent Advisory Council (IAC) to build on the Participant Satisfaction Survey to develop a more comprehensive picture of participant satisfaction and will continue to work with the council on additional modules which could be introduced over time to target areas of interest.

Participant Service Improvement Plan

3.56

As discussed above, the Participant Service Improvement Plan (SIP) outlines the activities the NDIA will do to improve participant experience over a 2-year period. The NDIA currently reports on implementation of the SIP through regular updates on the NDIS website and social media channels, and through the quarterly reports to Disability Ministers and the Annual Report. In the 2020–21 Annual Report, the NDIA reported it delivered 16 of the 51 improvements listed in the SIP during the financial year.$

3.57

In response to our investigation, the NDIA advised the SIP was not developed specifically to support implementation of the Charter and does not directly measure service standards but noted the alignment between delivering SIP activities and meeting the ‘what you can expect’ commitments in the Charter. In the NDIA’s view, its successful completion of SIP actions is a positive indicator that it is effectively meeting the engagement principles set out in the Charter.

APS Employee Census

3.58nThe NDIA uses the APS Employee Census as another indicator to measure its performance against the engagement principles. In October 2020, the NDIA used APS Census results to measure whether its staff understood the engagement principles and the connection to their work. Eighty five per cent of staff indicated they could identify a clear connection between the Charter engagement principles and their work.

Other sources

3.59

While the NDIA identifies several sources of information relevant to the engagement principles, we consider these are indicators of performance, rather than formal performance measures. The sources outlined do not enable the NDIA to report specifically on performance against each of the engagement principles and service standards. For example, while the SIP aligns with elements of the PSG, it does not directly measure service standards.

3.60

In our view, the NDIA would benefit from developing performance measures that draw clear and explicit links between the engagement principles and results achieved. The actions required by the NDIA under the engagement principles and service standards in the draft PSG Rules are in many cases straightforward and easily translated into a performance metric.$

$ National Disability Insurance Agency 2020–21 Annual Report, page 36.

Reporting performance against the engagement principles

3.61 For example, under the engagement principle of ‘Transparency’ the service standard

‘keep participants and prospective participants informed about the progress of decision-making processes under the Act that affect them’ could be measured by defining what are the appropriate frequencies for contact with a participant about progress. Existing processes can then be used to measure if these were being met. Additionally, under the engagement principle of ‘Respect’, there are 2 service standards relating to staff training on various topics. We consider the NDIA should be able to identify meaningful measures for both service standards.

3.62 We observed progress by the NDIA in this area in the fourth quarterly report for

2020–2021, where the NDIA measured its commitment in the Charter to ‘communicate in your preferred format’ by reference to a set of activities undertaken to achieve the commitment. This included making changes to the MyPlace Portal to allow participants to update their preferred contact methods.

3.63 In the following quarterly report for the first quarter of 2021–22, the NDIA did not

include reference to this service standard and did not report any further actions. It is therefore unclear if the NDIA is doing more to deliver on this commitment.

3.64 As the NDIA’s implementation of the PSG matures, the NDIA would benefit from

further reviewing the appropriateness of the qualitative metrics it uses, including considering the weightings being applied and if there is a need to introduce or explore additional metrics.

3.65 The NDIA acknowledges the need to develop further meaningful performance

measures to enable the NDIA to measure its performance against the engagement principles and service standards. The NDIA advised our Office the engagement principles are driving the design of many of the processes the NDIA is introducing, including expanding the NDIA’s approach to performance measurement to include the engagement principles. The NDIA also advised it intends to use additional sources of qualitative feedback, including complaints and participant feedback, as indicators of performance against the engagement principles.

Reporting performance against the engagement principles

3.66 In the first 3 quarterly reports of 2020–21, the NDIA reported its performance against

timeframes only and did not report against the engagement principles.

3.67 The fourth quarterly report for 2020–21 was the first time the NDIA reported publicly

on how it was performing against the engagement principles. In that report, the NDIA set out each engagement principle and the ‘what you can expect from us’ commitments included in the Charter and reported on the various activities it was taking, or planned to undertake, to meet the commitment. The NDIA specifically referred to the SIP commitments to demonstrate delivery of the engagement principles, consistent with the NDIA’s view that the actions listed in the SIP underpin the Charter. In this report, the NDIA also noted was looking for opportunities to ‘improve [its] participant service in line with the Engagement Principles’.

3.68 This is an improvement on the first quarterly report for 2021–22, where the NDIA

reported its progress against SIP commitments without links to the corresponding engagement principle. Instead, the NDIA included a blanket statement that, ‘…these activities are aligned to each of the “what you can expect” statements in the Participant Service Charter.’

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Section Heading: Review of Communication and Reporting Practices

Finding 3.69

The Office considers the way the NDIA communicated the connection between SIP commitments and progress against the relevant engagement principles in the fourth quarterly report for 2020–21 was appropriate. This reporting gives the Office confidence the NDIA is progressing important work ensure it can report on qualitative performance against the engagement principles.

Finding 3.70

In our view, there is considerable room for improvement before the NDIA can meaningfully report on the engagement principles and service standards under the legislated PSG. A focus on maturing its qualitative performance framework will enable the NDIA to provide assurance it can deliver a timely, and quality, participant experience.

Recommendation 3

We recommend the NDIA develop a PSG qualitative performance measurement and reporting framework, which includes at a minimum, the sources of performance information, how each are used in reporting and details of how often each will be reviewed.

PART 4: COMMUNICATING ABOUT THE PSG

Rollout of the Charter and preparation for the PSG

4.1 In the lead up to the release of the Charter and the SIP, the NDIA set out how it would communicate the high-level requirements of the Charter to internal and external audiences through a SIP Communication and Engagement Plan 2020.

The plan was designed to describe the approach for the rollout of the Charter, and ensure NDIA staff, PiTC, participants (including prospective participants) and their representatives were aware of the PSG timeframes, engagement principles, the Charter, and the SIP.

4.2 The plan was published in August 2020 and set out the key stages of communication and engagement including, circulation and promotion of the Charter and SIP, and a commitment to establish regular communication about the NDIA’s performance against the PSG.

4.3 In our view, the plan identifies relevant stakeholders, risks and mitigation options, and sets out reporting and evaluation requirements for the communication activities delivered as part of the plan.

4.4 The NDIA developed a second SIP Communications and Engagement plan to support delivery of an internal promotional campaign from April to May 2021.

The second plan was designed to further promote and embed the Charter and engagement principles across the work of all staff and PiTC.

4.5 At the time of our investigation, the NDIA advised it was moving from phase 1 of its communication approach under the Service Charter Project Implementation Plan: ‘launch, introduce, create and drive activities’, to the phase 2: ‘embed in culture’.

Raising awareness of the Charter and PSG internally

Figure 3: NDIA’s Change Approach to the PSG

4.6 We considered how the NDIA planned and delivered communication to its staff about the rollout of the Charter and its requirements.

Our aim was to determine whether the NDIA’s approach to communicating with staff about the Charter and the PSG was reasonable, in the context of the rollout and the pending commencement of the legislated PSG.

4.7 We note the NDIA took appropriate steps to ensure its staff and PiTC are aware of the PSG and the Charter.

For example, the engagement principles are highlighted at the highest level through CEO emails to staff and PiTC. Each fortnight, a CEO email is sent to staff showcasing an engagement principle. Further, the NDIA published presentations, webinars and an e-learning module on the intranet. The NDIA is also promoting the engagement principles through the Agency Culture Champions and Agency Annual Awards.

Internal training

Consistent with the CEAP

The NDIA included training on both the engagement principles and the timeframes to support staff to understand PSG requirements. On 30 April 2021, the NDIA released a Charter eLearning module for all NDIA and PiTC staff. The module is designed to help NDIA staff and PiTC better understand the purpose of the Charter and the PSG, how the Charter and the 5 engagement principles apply to the work they do and how the NDIA is held to account to deliver the Charter. The NDIA advised, 9.3 per cent of the NDIA and PiTC staff completed the eLearning module within the first 5 weeks of release. The Office expects this figure will increase by the time this report is published.

The NDIA is also developing a Charter Toolkit

for PED leadership sign-off to be introduced to the frontline team in the first quarter of 2021–22. The Office reviewed this toolkit and notes that it encourages teams to discuss and think about the engagement principles. The toolkit requests PiTC and NDIA staff consider their day-to-day work and document a continuous improvement approach to the engagement principles.

While this approach has merit

there is currently no clearly defined expectation on PiTC and NDIA staff to change the way they work in response to the engagement principles. Instead, NDIA staff and PiTC are encouraged to develop their own thinking and actions. This may result in inconsistent application of the engagement principles and a missed opportunity to identify better practice approaches.

The NDIA’s evaluation of implementation

Monthly Evaluation Reports

While the requirements for evaluation under the Charter (and SIP Communications and Engagement Plan) include a requirement for the NDIA to produce monthly evaluation reports, we did not receive copies of these. However, the NDIA provided an evaluation report from October 2020, covering the first stage of its promotional campaign about the PSG and Charter. This evaluation report looked at what worked well and identified opportunities for improvement including ‘in 2021, it will be important to embed the Service Charter and the SIP….to ensure that the Service Charter and SIP remain relevant and are seen to be guiding [the NDIA’s] improvement work’.

Assessment conducted in October 2020

The NDIA assessed many parts of the launch campaign were successful, including the variety of mediums used for communication and the engagement observed from various teams within the NDIA. The NDIA also identified opportunities for improvement, including actioning feedback from staff who indicated they needed additional guidance to make the connection between the Charter and their own work.

Second plan incorporated findings

from the evaluation of the first campaign and indicated how lessons learned could be applied to the planning stages for future campaigns. The NDIA identified that regular internal communications – including the ongoing use of CEO emails to promote engagement principles and allowing PiTC to create their own values posters – was successful in supporting staff and PiTC to embrace the engagement principles.

Value of all-staff CEO email campaign

and recommended it continue alongside team meeting ‘huddle’ messaging to increase awareness and understanding of the engagement principles amongst staff.

Office acknowledges extensive work

The NDIA put into promoting and training staff and PiTC on the Charter. As the NDIA was still in the early stages of embedding the Charter at the time of our investigation, we consider the NDIA should - if it has not

Internal guidance for decision-makers

4.16

The Office considers the NDIA will need to fully incorporate the PSG timeframes and engagement principles into all relevant staff guidance and documents to appropriately communicate the actions staff must take to meet the commitments contained in the PSG.

4.17

The NDIA has 2 main sources of internal guidance designed to assist staff to make decisions and process their work:

• The NDIA’s Operational Guidelines explain what NDIA decision-makers must consider when making a decision, including applying legislative requirements.$^{32}$
• The NDIA’s standard operating procedures provide staff with step-by-step instructions, including guidance on how to process decisions, develop and approve plans, process access requests and record complaints.

4.18

The NDIA advised us it intends to update both sets of guidance to include requirements under the PSG, including updating SOPs to reference the Charter’s engagement principles and ‘what you can expect’ commitments, and the Operational Guidelines to make them ‘simple, clear and easy to use’.$^{33}$. At the time of the investigation, all Guidelines were available on the NDIA website.

4.19

We agree improving this guidance is an important step towards improving transparency about the NDIS for participants. The NDIA will also need to consider any variation between the Charter and the legislated PSG, as it updates these internal documents.

External awareness raising

4.20

Given the significance of the PSG for current and prospective participants and their representatives, it is essential the NDIA communicates effectively with interested parties to develop and maintain trust in the services delivered by the NDIA. Effective communication with the public is one way the NDIA can uphold its commitment to accountability and transparency about the services it delivers.

4.21

The NDIA uses a broad range of communication approaches designed to reach multiple audiences to communicate the release and existence of the PSG and the Charter to external audiences. The NDIA Communications and Engagement Plan is supported by an external communications campaign, delivered in 3 phases to inform participants and other stakeholders of PSG commitments. Communications aimed at participants, their families, carers and representatives include content on the NDIA website, posts on its social media accounts and email communication. In addition to a general digital campaign, NDIA also placed newsletter articles in provider and participant newsletters, and targeted communication to participant – including direct emails and SMS messages to over 60,000 participants – based on the participant’s preferred contact method.

4.22

The NDIA advised us that all external communication products will be reviewed and updated to include information on the Charter and PSG in all relevant participant products.

4.23

As with internal communication activities, the NDIA evaluated its external communications to identify opportunities for improvement. As part of the evaluation, NDIA identified learnings and made several recommendations aimed at maximizing audience

Engagement with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Audiences

The NDIA recommended re-writing internet content, working with specified branches to identify the best way to communicate and distribute information about the PSG to CALD audiences and revising social media posts to include specific and tangible participant outcomes.

Ease of locating PSG information on NDIA’s website

We reviewed the sections of the NDIA website with information about the PSG and the Charter, to determine how easy this information is to locate.

We note that multiple steps are required to locate the Charter page, via the NDIA’s ‘About Us’ and ‘Policies’ pages. Searches in the free text box on the website for the phrase ‘Service Charter’ or ‘PSG’ yield results relevant to those searches. The Charter page lists the 5 engagement principles and contains links to a PSG page. The PSG page lists the timeframes the NDIA aims to meet, as contained in the Charter. The NDIA lists the number of days for each timeframe under the heading, ‘The most days it will take us’.

In our assessment the NDIA includes relevant information about the PSG on its website. However, the NDIA can improve the ease of navigation and clarify what PSG timeframes mean for participants in practice.

To improve ease of navigation, the NDIA could make the Charter and PSG pages easier to locate. For example, the NDIA could provide a link on its home page, under ‘For Participants’, as the information is directly relevant to them and explicitly designed to improve their experience of the NDIA. We consider the way the NDIA describes the timeframes on the PSG page may be misleading to participants, who may reasonably expect the NDIA will not take longer than the number of days listed for each action or decision. It may be of benefit for participants to make clear that the timeframes may be exceeded in some circumstances.

We also consider the NDIA could improve how clearly it describes the timeframes. The timeframes are currently presented as a list with a brief explanation for when a timeframe might apply. In our view, the current description of the timeframes may be confusing. For example, Timeframe 15 reads: ‘Vary a plan, after receipt of information relating to a complex quote that triggers a plan amendment process’. In the absence of further explanation to assist participants to understand how the timeframes apply to them, this may be confusing for participants.

Performance information on NDIA’s website

Prior to mid-August 2021, the NDIA did not publish its performance against the PSG timeframes on its website. This information was only contained in its quarterly reports (which is where it will be required to report its performance under the legislated PSG) but begins multiple pages into the report. The reports are available from the NDIA website by downloading a PDF document, but there is no clear path to the reports from the PSG or Charter webpages.

Section Heading

4.31 We acknowledge the work the NDIA undertook in mid-August 2021, to improve the transparency of its PSG performance information by publishing its performance against the PSG timeframes for the 2 most recently completed quarters on its PSG webpage.

This is a particularly important step, because the NDIA does not currently have the systems capability to proactively communicate to individual participants where it expects an action or decision will not be completed within the relevant PSG timeframe. The NDIA advised that it is exploring options that will allow this form of information to either be delivered to or obtained by participants. In the meantime, while this is being established, the NDIA is taking a good first step to improve the transparency of its performance information. As the NDIA only recently commenced publishing this information on its website, we are unaware of how often the NDIA plans to update this information or if it has appropriate policies and procedures in place for doing this.

Recommendation 4

We recommend the NDIA develop a policy for publishing PSG timeframe performance information on its website. At a minimum, the policy should set out what information is published and how often the information will be updated.

Communication with cultural and linguistically diverse groups

4.32 It is important that service delivery agencies provide services that are accessible to and inclusive of all members of the community and communicate in culturally appropriate ways. As at March 2021, more than 30,000 participants identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander$^\text{36}$ and over 40,000 participants identify as culturally or linguistically diverse.$^\text{37}$. We know for some participants in these cultural groups, English may not be their first language. The NDIA made the Charter available in English and 12 other translations. As of March 2021, the Charter was downloaded 216 times in languages other than English.

4.33 The NDIA does not have specific strategies related to the PSG aimed at culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups, but at times undertakes initiatives to encourage new participants from identified communities to access the Scheme, including the use of Community Connectors.

4.34 The NDIA advised it plans to update its Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy (2018) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy (2017) to ensure PSG requirements are appropriately incorporated in strategies designed to address the additional challenges these groups may face accessing the NDIS.

4.35 The NDIA is also developing a targeted communications and engagement plan to further promote the Charter, PSG and SIP amongst specific cohorts, including participants from CALD, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

4.36 As the NDIA moves towards a legislated PSG, we agree with the NDIA assessment that it must mature its approach to communication. In our view, the NDIA must move from promoting the PSG and increasing awareness, to embedding the PSG requirements, by translating those requirements into expectations for service delivery and decisions made by

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delegates to produce results. It will be important for the NDIA to ensure the engagement principles are appropriately incorporated into business processes, in addition to the PSG timeframes.

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PART 5: NDIA’S APPROACH TO EVALUATING PERFORMANCE

NDIA Quality Assurance Program and Continuous Improvement

5.1

The NDIA’s Performance Management and Quality (PM&Q) Branch is responsible for the NDIA quality assurance function. To deliver this function, the PM&Q Branch operates a monthly cycle of performance reviews, reports, analysis, and improvements. The NDIA uses quality assurance review guides which compare specific characteristics of a plan with NDIA requirements set out in the NDIS Act, NDIS Rules, OGs, and SOPs.

5.2

PM&Q Branch provides monthly quality reports to the NDIA executive about compliance and quality of decision-making for developing and approving plans. These monthly reports measure the agency performance against key metrics and identify the source of issues impacting performance.

5.3

The NDIA provided the Office an example of its quality assurance process in practice, which demonstrates it has in place quality assurance processes which allow the NDIA to identify issues and areas of concern, feeding into the continuous improvement program.

5.4

In approximately February 2021, the NDIA commenced work to consider how it could adapt or amend its existing quality assurance processes to incorporate the engagement principles.

5.5

Initially, the NDIA considered if the specific requirements of the engagement principles could be measured through quality assurance activities. Where the NDIA determined that quality assurance activities could be used to perform this measurement, it then considered how the existing questions in its End-to-End Quality Assurance review guide for participant experience could be used to assess whether staff actions met the requirements of the engagement principles, or if new review questions were needed.

5.6

Further work was done to the review guide to refine the questions used and the updated guide was used in quality reviews conducted during May 2021.

5.7

Incorporating the engagement principles into the NDIA’s quality assurance processes is an important step towards the NDIA gaining assurance the individual actions of its staff meet the specific requirements of the engagement principles. As the NDIA’s work in this area is in its early stages, we can provide some comments on how it may wish to build on the work it is taking to bring the engagement principles into its quality assurance work.

5.8

We viewed the review guide and the questions the NDIA linked to the engagement principles and the service standards. Our observation is that in some instances the link between the question and the service standard is not clear. There are instances in the review guide where the NDIA includes a blanket reference to an engagement principle (without a service standard), but it is not clear why a particular engagement principle is referenced.

5.9

If the PSG is not incorporated into the quality assurance review questions appropriately, it is possible that PSG service standards will be measured inconsistently by the quality assurance process or the NDIA will miss opportunities to gain assurance that it is performing at the standard required by the engagement principles.

5.10

The NDIA stated it plans to implement these changes in line with the launch of the legislated PSG but noted delay to implementation of the PSG will not affect end to end review guide questions being trialled and tested.

5.11

Overall, the NDIA has taken positive first steps towards incorporating the PSG into its existing quality assurance processes, but we encourage the NDIA to review how the engagement principles are incorporated, to ensure it can obtain assurance about how it is performing against each aspect of the engagement principles (including all service standards).

Recommendation 5

For example, we observed that in the End-to-End Quality Assurance review guides

provided by the NDIA, each aspect of the legislative criteria for reasonable and necessary decision-making are included in the guide as statements for checking. The NDIA should consider applying this approach to the way it incorporates the engagement principles and service standards into its review guides.

Recommendation 5

We recommend the NDIA review End-to-End Quality Assurance review guides used to measure performance against the engagement principles, so that where possible, all service standards are rephrased as questions.

5.13 Aside from these specific concerns about how the NDIA incorporated the

engagement principles into its existing quality assurance work, we remain unsure if and how this quality assurance work will feed into the NDIA’s reporting of its performance against the engagement principles (as discussed in Part 3). It is also unclear how the NDIA plans to assure itself that it is meeting the service standards for the engagement principles, in circumstances where it determines that quality assurance processes cannot be used to gain assurance of the requirements being met.

Pathway to Green

5.14 The NDIA is monitoring its performance against the timeframes in the Charter and

has taken action to uplift performance when required. The Pathway to Green (PtG) project was established in October 2020 to identify PED and PSG Key Performance Indicator (KPI) metrics requiring specific performance uplift and action plans to achieve targets prior to 30 June 2021.

####### 5.15 The PtG project categorises each PSG timeframe according to whether a timeframe is being met and should therefore be monitored, is not being met and therefore requires uplift, or system changes are required. PtG meetings are held monthly and plans for performance uplift are workshopped at the National Delivery Strategy Days.

######## 5.16 As part of our investigation, we reviewed documents relating to the PtG project, but did not receive an overarching project plan. It is therefore unclear how long PtG is anticipated to operate. The documents we did review included a brief provided to the PED executive leadership group and presentations from 2 Strategy Days (in February and May 2021). The content of these documents confirms that where the NDIA is not meeting timeframes, it is using cause data to identify possible remedial actions.

######### 5.17 The PtG project demonstrates how the NDIA can review its own work and set out and commit to a plan for continuous improvement. The Office encourages the NDIA to continue to review its own performance and identify and communicate to staff ways to improve its performance on both the PSG timeframes and engagement principles.

APPENDIX A – GLOSSARY

Term Definitions

Participant Experience Delivery (PED) Branch | Measure and report performance on the quality of practices and interactions with participants.

Participant Satisfaction Survey (PSS) | Survey administered by Australian Healthcare Associates to gauge how participants feel about the NDIS.

Participant Service Charter (the Charter) | A document that describes what participants can expect from the NDIA and was updated to reflect the PSG.

Timeframes and engagement principles the NDIA must meet during various interactions with participants throughout the access, planning and review stages. | Participant Service Guarantee (PSG)

Rules that administer the PSG and sit below the NDIS Act. These Rules are currently not legislated but are available to view on the DSS website as an Exposure Draft. | Participant Service Guarantee Draft Rules (Draft Rules)

Primary piece of draft legislation to amend the NDIS Act to help reduce red tape and make the NDIS easier for participants. | Participant Service Guarantee Legislation (PSG Bill)

List of commitments the NDIA is making to help improve service delivery and participant experience | Participant Service Improvement Plan (SIP)

Includes ECEI and LAC partners, contracted by the NDIA to perform access and planning functions. | Partners in the Community (PiTC)

A project managed by the Performance Management & Quality Branch, to monitor and improve the NDIA’s performance against the PSG timeframes. | Pathway to Green (PtG)

An internal business area within the NDIA responsible for quality assurance. | Performance Management and Quality Management Branch (PM&Q)

Principles the NDIA must abide by when interacting with participants, prospective participants and their representatives. See also ‘Service Standards’. | PSG engagement principles

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Definitions

APPENDIX B – SUGGESTIONS

SUGGESTION 1

We observed the NDIA’s website and Charter were not updated to reflect the NDIA’s shift from reporting against longer timeframes, to reporting against shorter timeframes in the first quarterly report for 2021–22. We suggest that if the NDIA’s reporting methodology changes in future, the NDIA update relevant documents to reflect these changes.

SUGGESTION 2

At the time of our investigation the NDIA had not yet completed all the actions listed in its Charter Embedding Action Plan. We suggest the NDIA complete the outstanding actions.

SUGGESTION 3

The timeframe for offering a participant a plan implementation meeting is currently ‘as soon as reasonably practical’. We suggest the NDIA consider setting a target timeframe for when it will make this offer to participants.

SUGGESTION 4

The NDIA has commenced work to understand the factors which contribute to it not reaching 100 per cent performance against the timeframes. We consider this work valuable, as even when the NDIA reaches its target timeframe for 95 per cent of participants, there will be a portion of people for whom the timeframe is not met. We suggest the NDIA continue its work in this area to identify themes or trends where a timeframe is not met and opportunities to improve the experience for all participants.

SUGGESTION 5

Noting the NDIA’s commitment to use the Participant Satisfaction Survey to measure its performance against the engagement principles, we suggest the NDIA consider including information about its performance in the Participant Satisfaction Survey in the PSG section of the quarterly reports.

SUGGESTION 6

We suggest the NDIA review the links between the Participant Satisfaction Survey and the engagement principles, particularly once the legislation passes, to ensure the Participant Satisfaction Survey aligns with the legislated PSG.

SUGGESTION 7

As part of the investigation we did not request information on how many of the identified learnings or recommendations the NDIA actioned from its evaluation of external engagement. If any of these are outstanding, we suggest the NDIA progress its work in this area.

Appendix C – NDIA’s Response

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