NDIS Transitional Arrangements
Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Inquiry
August 2017
Submission by KU Children’s Services
Abbi, 5 years
About KU Children’s Services
As Australia’s most experienced not for profit provider of quality early education and care, KU Children’s Services (KU) is committed to the inclusion of children with disability and developmental delay in high quality educational programs. KU’s vision is that ‘Every child has a right to feel safe, nurtured, valued and heard’.
KU operates almost 140 early education services across NSW, ACT, VIC and QLD. These services include long day care, preschool/kindergarten, out of school hours care, vacation care, occasional care, family programs, early intervention programs and other early childhood education and care services.
KU’s Education Support team supports over 750 children per year to actively participate in KU’s early education and care programs.
KU also provides a range of Early Intervention services in the Sydney and Nepean Blue Mountains area including:
Family Supported Playgroups
Early Intervention Preschool
Therapy services e.g. Speech therapy, occupational therapy
Autism specific services
Individualised support such as transition to school support
Community outreach
In addition, KU, together with our partners, provides inclusion support to over 12,000 early childhood education services across NSW, ACT, QLD and VIC under the Australian Government funded Inclusion Support Programs (refer separate submission).
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KU’s experience of the transition to NDIS
KU has been part of the transition to NDIS as an early intervention provider in the Nepean Blue Mountains early roll out site, a Year 1 transitioning provider in the South-Western Sydney region and a Year 2 transitioning provider in other Sydney regions. We wish to make comment on the following aspects of our experience in the transition process to date:
NDIS transition timelines and resourcing
Our experience in the early roll out in the Nepean Blue Mountains Region and the Year 1 roll out so far is that the milestones embedded in the planned rollout timescales do not seem to have fully considered the scale of the change and the amount of resourcing the NDIA requires to effectively transition within this timeframe. In KU’s Year 1 Early Intervention transition programs, over a year has passed since the beginning of their roll out and the block NSW ADHC funding was intended to cease completely at 30 June 2017. The KU programs still have 75% of families without a plan in place 13 months after the start date and over one month since the deadline for all children to have plans in place.
Requirements to operate as an NDIS provider
KU has been a registered provider of supports under the NDIS since September 2015. The registration process during that time was confusing as to what was required and there were issues with our organisation initially having been registered incorrectly by NDIA. This whole process took approximately three months. However, since the addition of new staff to access the Portal, the process has been far quicker and easier, particularly in the last six months.
Processing of payments under NDIS
Many changes to the Portal have occurred since we began accessing it in 2015. These changes have made it easier to navigate and claim and it has been obvious that feedback has been considered and responded to; however the support provided by NDIS when anomalies occur is inconsistent in response time, support and information. This is compounded by “gaps” in plans which cause stress to families and service providers as it is uncertain as to whether the gap in the plan dates means that service provision also needs to cease. The Provider Portal and the Participant Portal can have different information which is also stressful particularly for families.
ECEI approach
The implementation of the ECEI approach in NSW is flawed and has created significant levels of anxiety for families and confusion and lack of funding for providers. There is a significant risk in NSW that the implementation of the ECEI approach will lead to less choice of services available to families, not more. (Please refer to our comments to the Joint Committee in our separate ECEI submission for more details).
Group support programs
The NDIS set up of individual plans and the focus on individual supports has led to the situation where group support programs are not adequately funded and are no longer viable to operate.
KU Starting Points Macarthur, for example, relies heavily on NSW ADHC funding to provide support to over 90 families with children with high support disability or developmental delay and is an integral part of the referral pathways in the Campbelltown, NSW, area from Paediatricians, Community Nurses, education settings and the CATS Assessment team.
KU Starting Points Macarthur operates in a purpose-built building and provides group early intervention for children to support them to achieve their goals including the development of social and emotional skills and at the same time provides a psychologist facilitated support group for the families, many of whom are vulnerable, to share their successes and challenges. The program has operated for over 24 years and has enabled families to form strong peer support networks which help them navigate the often very stressful journey of supporting their child and family, with these relationships often lasting many years. It also has been an invaluable group for families when their child has been diagnosed and the grief process they go through, often saving relationships and keeping families together.
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It is critical that vulnerable families with children with high support needs can access community supports to support their own mental health needs but this seems to be a significant gap in the overall NDIS provision. Unless this is funded under the ILC, communities such as the Campbelltown area will lose access to long established programs, resulting in less choice and control for families; and some possible family break-downs, contradicting the fundamental tenet of the NDIS.
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 a significant increase in therapists providing early intervention to children whilst they attend their preschool/long day care or outside school hours care service. 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 from families who are confused about whether their child needs early intervention assistance and the NDIS planning process.
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 Early Childhood Education sector to be involved in each region as the NDIS transition occurs.
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The provision of group support programs be recognised as a valuable support to children and families and appropriate funding be made available under the NDIS.
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