NDIS Transitional Arrangements
and the ECEI approach
Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability
Insurance Scheme Inquiry August 2017
Submission by KU Children’s Services on behalf of the NSW/ACT and
QLD Inclusion Agencies and the National Inclusion Development Fund
Manager
About this submission
KU Children’s Services (KU), together with our partners, provides inclusion support to over 12,000 eligible early childhood and childcare (ECCC) services under the Australian Government funded Inclusion Support Program.
The Inclusion Support Programme assists ECCC services to include children with additional needs alongside their peers, through provision of tailored inclusion advice and support from state-wide Inclusion Agencies and access to funded support and specialist equipment where required.
The following agencies are represented in this submission:
NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency – KU, Include Me and Gowrie NSW www.inclusionagencynswact.org,au
Inclusion Support QLD – KU and Cairns and District ChildCare Development Association
www.inclusionsupportqld.org.au
National Inclusion Development Fund Manager – KU and Include Me www.idfm.org.au
As a combined group the above agencies have a unique perspective of the transition to the NDIS so far for the birth to 12 years’ age group through the lens of supporting children with disability and developmental delay to be included in mainstream Long Day Care, Family Day Care and Outside School Hours Care services.
We wholeheartedly endorse the introduction of the NDIS as a significant improvement in the funding available for people with disability and we welcome the principle of ‘choice and control’ for participants and their families. We have observed that lessons have been learned from the trial sites which have been embedded into the year 1 roll out and therefore some of the issues that occurred in the trial sites are no longer impacting on families.
The speed of the current transition to NDIS has led to some challenges and we have highlighted some areas below where action could be taken to improve the system for all.
NDIS transition
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NDIS transition timelines and resourcing
The milestones embedded in the planned rollout timeframes do not seem to have considered the scale of the change and the amount of resourcing the NDIA requires to effectively transition within this timeframe. In Year 1 areas of NDIS rollout, the expectation of how many children would receive plans within the given timeframe has not been fulfilled and has led to wait lists and confusion and anxiety for families.
Impact of transition from block funding to a market driven model
We have observed that the significant change to the early intervention sector from a block funded model to a ‘user pays’ marketplace has created considerable challenges for providers. They need to maximise their ‘billable hours’ to sustain financial viability and this has led to a significant reduction in the ability for early childhood intervention organisations to meet with ECCC service staff to discuss the best way to support a child’s therapy goals within the educational program. It has also led to a decrease in organisations being able to continue to attend interagency networking meetings which is resulting in a decrease of community wide collaboration, impacting on outcomes for children and families.
We have also observed that when areas implement the NDIS rollout, there is a marked increase in the number of early intervention providers in a region, some of whom have no experience providing services in the locality and have less experienced staff. This has resulted in a growing number of providers who do not follow the National Guidelines for Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention, again impacting on the outcomes for children and families. As there is no quality assessment rating for NDIS providers, it is difficult for families to be able to assess the quality of providers when they are making their choice of provider.
‘Soft entry’ programs
It is unclear how families will access ‘soft entry’ supports under NDIS and whether this role will be the remit of the ECEI providers. Many families are encouraged to attend the programs operated by current providers by ECCC staff, particularly if the family is reluctant to seek a diagnosis for their child but staff have developmental concerns for the child. The continued availability of these services is at risk as they will no longer be block funded and it is unclear how they will be supported under the NDIS model.
Impact of NDIS on early childhood education services
One area of the transition to NDIS that appears to be frequently overlooked is the impact on early childhood education services of the significant increase in the number of therapists and other early intervention professionals seeking to provide early intervention and therapy to children whilst they attend their preschool/long day care or outside school hours’ care
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service. As children can spend up to 50 hours per week attending an ECCC service, families often want their early intervention supports delivered in the ECCC environment. This can have a detrimental impact on the service curriculum as multiple therapists and early intervention professionals disrupt the play and learning for all children. Timing for these visits is often dictated by the maximising of billable hours for providers, with little consideration given to the impact on the service. Furthermore, therapy that occurs without family participation has reduced efficacy, increasing the need for further therapy sessions and consequently the costs.
The NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency was a key contributor to the collaborative ‘Working together’ project based on a similar project in the Hunter region which has produced a set of resources to enable ECCC services and early intervention professionals to develop a memorandum of understanding across the different organisations called the Working
Together Agreement
There is a pressing need for the early childhood sector to be recognised as a key community stakeholder in the roll out of NDIS as they are often the first point of contact for families who are confused about whether their child needs early intervention assistance and the NDIS planning process.
There is also confusion around what supports NDIS will fund and what supports are funded through other avenues e.g. the Inclusion Support Programme can provide funding for an additional educator or free specialist equipment loan.
ECEI approach
Conflict of interest The different approach to ECEI that is being taken in NSW compared to other jurisdictions has resulted in challenges due to the inherent conflict of interest that exists when an NDIS provider is also supporting the family to develop their NDIS plan. This results in a sub optimal planning process, which decreases choice and control for families of young children with disabilities and developmental delay.
Multiple providers In NSW, the use of multiple ECEI providers in any given region causes confusion amongst families, paediatricians and ECCC services regarding which ECEI provider they should contact. There is no single point of contact for families in NSW (other than the NDIS hotline) to support them to access supports.
Communications and engagement
The Inclusion Support Programme providers can assist the transition to the NDIS in the early childhood sector. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further with NDIA as to date there have been very few opportunities to collaborate due to the scale of the change and the resourcing constraints within NDIA.
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Recommendations:
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The current timetable for transition to NDIS be reconsidered to allow the scale of change to be managed and an effective transition to occur over a longer time period
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More resources need to be allocated to the NDIA to be able to facilitate the transition effectively
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The ECEI approach in NSW to be reviewed and aligned with the national approach to ECEI
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The ECEI approach to be followed up with mentoring support from the Inclusion Support Programme to eligible centres.
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ECE sector to be involved in each region as the NDIS transition occurs.
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Inclusion Support Programme to work collaboratively with NDIA to assist the transition
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The provision of soft entry programs be recognised as a valuable support to children and families and appropriate funding be made available under the NDIS
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