21 September 2018
Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Inquiry into the ICT infrastructure employed by the NDIA
Carers NSW wishes to thank the Joint Standing Committee for the opportunity to provide a submission to its inquiry into the ICT infrastructure employed by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). Our brief submission will focus on what carers in New South Wales (NSW) have told us about interacting with the MyPlace portal and NDIS website and with NDIA staff using internal ICT systems.
A carer is any individual who provides care and support to a family member or friend who has a disability, mental illness, drug and/or alcohol dependency, chronic condition, terminal illness or who is frail. Carers NSW is the peak non-government organisation for carers in NSW. Our vision is an Australia that values and supports all carers, and our goals are to: Be a leading carer organisation in which carers have confidence Actively promote carer recognition and support Actively support carers to navigate a changing service landscape that will be characterised by ongoing policy reform Promote connected community experiences and opportunities for carers that are inclusive of diverse carer groups Lead and advocate for carer-specific and carer-inclusive policy making, research and service delivery Continue to be a quality-driven, responsive and carer-focused organisation.
Carers NSW conducted our biennial statewide Carer Survey between May and July 2018, eliciting a total of 1,830 respondents, including 713 carers of NDIS participants. Drawing on data from an open response question on the NDIS from this survey, as well as case studies collected by the Carers NSW Policy Team, the following key issues have been identified by carers in NSW regarding the NDIA’s ICT infrastructure: The NDIS website is difficult to navigate, with only a limited range of resources produced in plain English and community languages NDIS resources and the 1800 number often direct people to the website, even when they are unable to access it for language, disability or digital literacy reasons Technical glitches and slowed access to the MyPlace portal due to high traffic Complex yet restrictive user interface within MyPlace portal and inadequate information presented, making it difficult to track expenditure and reconcile payments
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Inadequate supports from local area coordinators (LACs) with plan implementation for people who are not digitally literate or do not have internet access Web based contact (email and online form) often goes unanswered or gets lost in the system
Below are a number of direct quotes from respondents to the Carers NSW 2018 Carer Survey on the matters identified above:
“The website is impossible to navigate you go round in circles and still can’t get answers.”
“It isn’t very easy to understand. When searching the website for providers you practically have to already know the name of the business to search.”
“I was not able to download the forms and I found the web site complicated and hard to understand.”
“We always have problems accessing the portal. Some days it just does not work. This happens regularly. A new plan was just commenced without any input from the family or NDIS coordinator. We were not aware, [we] just accidently found new plan on portal. New plan does not take into account the changes needed as no one was consulted.”
“I have sent contact requests through the NDIS website, and I have had no contact from
NDIS.”
“[There are] little or no detailed statements to check/monitor expenditure paid to services.”
“Portal is difficult to navigate and not a true representation of funds spent and available.”
“I had a problem with the portal I put the wrong date in for a service request for an organisation of $5000 and no one could delete, change date or assist with accessing this funding. I could only access it when the date came up which is ridiculous!”
Carers NSW is pleased that the Joint Standing Committee is inquiring into these important matters and recommends that the above issues raised by carers in NSW be taken into consideration in the resulting report. For further information regarding this submission, please contact
Yours sincerely
Elena Katrakis
CEO
Carers NSW
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