15 May 2020
Committee Secretariat
Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
By email: ndis.sen@aph.gov.au
Joint Submission to the NDIS Workforce Inquiry
Australian Services Union (ASU), Health Services Union (HSU) and United Workers Union (UWU)
collectively represent the interests of workers in the disability sector across Australia. While our coverage of the sector varies by jurisdiction, the three unions have a shared commitment to advancing the industrial and professional standing of workers in the disability sector throughout the country. For this reason we are providing this joint submission to the inquiry.
With our shared interests in mind the three unions commissioned research from the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to examine the experience of workers in in the disability sector in the context of the NDIS. This research follows a report the three unions commissioned from SPRC in 2017 about the impact of NDIS pricing on workforce conditions1. The new report, Working in new disability markets: A survey of Australia’s disability workforce is attached.
The report highlights the lived experience of the workforce operating under the NDIS and the resultant impacts on service delivery. The findings were gathered from the biggest ever survey of disability workers with 2,341 respondents. The report found:
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Many workers expressed concern about the NDIS with only just over a quarter believing it provided quality support for participants. Only 1 in 5 workers agreed the NDIS had been a positive experience for them as a worker.
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Working time arrangements contributed to much concern for workers, over half work less than full time across multiple jobs, most reported doing vital tasks in unpaid time and many report constant shift changes and unstable rostering arrangements.
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Many report dissatisfaction with low pay rates and significant periods of unpaid work. Workers are not paid for travel time between clients and many are not reimbursed for out of pocket expenses incurred in the course of their work.
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Workers report a lack of supervision, which was reinforced by respondents who were supervisors advising they have too many people to supervise effectively.
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Many workers report a lack of access to training and training is rarely provided in paid time. 1 Both reports can be found at https://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/social-policy-research-centre/our-projects/ndis-prices-and-disability-workforce
Together the above workforce conditions, and those described in the report, serve to undermine the capacity of the disability workforce to provide quality disability support. These workforce conditions only exacerbate attraction and retention to a sector that needs to grow rapidly. Findings in the report that 25% of the workforce do not intend to be working in the sector in five years highlight the need for urgent action on these workforce issues.
Each of the three unions will provide a submission outlining ways to improve working conditions for the disability workforce. Unless and until these are remedied poor workforce conditions risk undermining the goals of the NDIS.
We commend the entirety of this report to the committee as it undertakes this important inquiry.
We look forward to the outcome of this inquiry. Should the committee wish to speak directly with disability workers the three unions are able to facilitate this.
Sincerely,
Robert Potter Lloyd Williams Demi Pnevmatikos
National Secretary National Secretary National Director
Australian Services Union Health Services Union United Workers Union