National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024 [Provisions]
Submission 166
I am writing to share with the commission my concerns regarding the NDIS as a nominee for my 40 yr old daughter’s NDIS plan. This issue has bugged me for some time now, but has become a regular situation that I feel needs addressing. Especially if there is money to be saved within the NDIS. I have self managed my daughters plan for over 30 years under the West Australian Disability Services Commision, then the WA NDIS that was implemented as a trial (this was a good concept) and now the NDIS.
Living in a rural area gaining staff has always been an ongoing issue and unlike many people in my area I seek to find the best support for my daughter. I’m one of a very few who actually advertise and go through the process of interviewing people rather than approaching other peoples staff (poaching of my staff happens a lot) so that in a small way I may widen the pool of support workers in the area. I don’t necessarily employ people with experience, as I like to train staff to suit my daughters needs. I look for particular traits in people like their perspective on health and nutrition, ethics and if they have a compassionate nature. Other than one staff member (who has worked on and off with us for over 13 years) all our staff are employees and are on the payroll. When advertising for staff I make it clear that I’m looking for an employee. This last round of interviews I spoke to 10 candidates. What has become very clear to me, not just this round of interviews but on 3 other occasions when I have been required to advertise, is that there are some very pushy people wanting to work in this field. Sadly the NDIS felt it was okay to advertise the NDIS Price Guide. This has opened the door to support workers demanding the full rates be paid to them. I had one application tell me I was in need of support myself as I tried to explain to her that my daughters budget 24/7 fell very short of me being able to pay those amounts and that as a nominee it was my task to obtain value for money. In this last round of interviews I had 3 out of the 10 tell me that they were Sole Traders and that they would not work for wages. I explained that this work was as an employee (as advertised) but enquired how much they charged per hour for Mon to Fri day time hours. What shocked me and what is becoming more common, was that 1 applicant was seeking $55.00 an hour and she had no experience at all. She had put herself on Mable and that was as far as her disability experience went. Applicant 2 wanted $53.00 an hour and had some experience but no qualifications at all. Infact I had trained her a few years prior and found out before the interview that she had left a participant unattended at the local gym so she could get her exercise done. Applicant 3 charged $63.00 an hour. Her experience was 5 hours a week for the last 6 months with a gentleman who she took to the shop and then just hung out at his place. She said that she got the work through a friend and that her friend told her to charge that much and just lodge her invoice with the Plan Manager. I asked if she did cooking,cleaning or gardening whilst with her participant and she said no I don’t do any of that as that’s not my job.
The above are examples of what we have to compete with to get staff. As more independent support workers (sole traders) push up their hourly rate it’s becoming increasingly difficult to employ people. Why would someone want to work for $38.00 an hour who has to help with personal care, take out into the community to support a participant to volunteer, work, clean, cook, garden and be involved in community activities, when they could earn $63.00 an hour taking someone to the shop and then hang out with them at home. I think I get value for money. I also think that $38 an hour is reasonable for the type of work, and that those working with more complex needs like peg feeding and all personal care deserve more. Our plan only covers 33 weeks of the year and I have to budget for the rest of the year. We are farmers who work 7 days a week and we do informal support about once a week, along with self managing the plan. My beef is not about not enough funding, as we are grateful for what we have, but if the govt wishes to cut back on spending then I hope they take a serious look at what really is just SHAM contracting and see what Independent Support Workers are charging. $63.00 for very little
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024 [Provisions]
Submission 166
experience and no qualifications. I get why some participants pay it. It’s because it’s difficult to find staff and by being Plan Managed the participant doesn’t get to see the real cost and are easily persuaded by pushy ISWs . Maybe they get more funding also and don’t care that they are pushing prices up by paying such large amounts. ISWs dont have high business costs like large Service Providers. I know I do well with budgeting and I do get value for money. This last round of interviews I employed someone fully qualified with extra qualifications that suit our needs at an hourly rate of $42.00. I value our staff and most have come and gone and then come back again. That $42.00 an hour shows I am saving over $20.00 an hour which gives my daughter another half hour of support so over 8 hours I have gained another 4. I’m not sure what the answers are but I see a lot of self managed participants/nominees stressing because most support workers are now becoming sole traders. They are ignoring the nominees when they tell them that superannuation has to be paid separately and I’m concerned how vulnerable people are going to stand up to these pushy demands. Under the older systems that were in place prior to NDIS there was an agreement by our LACs that self managed participants would not pay more than agencies and would not be seen as luring staff away. We all pretty much paid the same with those requiring extra care, behavioural issues etc gaining a few extra dollars per hour. Im not sure how changes can be made now the horse has bolted, but I do know dollars can be saved in this area.
Also there is talk about giving participants less if they don’t spend their funding. This creates over spending as people say if you don’t use it you lose it. In our situation over Covid I cared full time for well over 5 months and then we only employed 1 support whilst I did the rest. We presently don’t have enough staff and I really don’t want to stress that funding will drop as we near retirement.
Thank you for reading my submission.