NDIS correspondence: Request Acknowledgement - FOI 24/25-0830

Our reference: FOI 24/25-0830

GPO Box 700 Canberra ACT 2601 1800 800 110 2 May 2025 ndis.gov.au

Elias

By email: foi+request-12394-5dfebdd0@righttoknow.org.au

Dear Elias

Freedom of Information request — Notice of Decision

Thank you for your correspondence of 27 November 2024, seeking access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request.

Scope of your request

You have requested access to the following documents:

“All published and draft internal policies, knowledge articles, standard operating procedures, checklists, forms, templates, or other internal guidance pertaining to:

1. Identifying participants for ‘eligibility reassessment’
2. Conducting an ‘eligibility reassessment’
3. Finalising an ‘eligibility reassessment’
4. Internal review of an ‘eligibility reassessment’ decision
5. External review of an ‘eligibility reassessment’ decision
6. Reinstating a participant after an ‘eligibility reassessment’ decision is overturned on appeal
7. Assessing and deciding whether a participant who was previously removed as a result of an ‘eligibility reassessment’ is eligible for NDIS upon receiving a new access request Please include all identified documents in full, I consider all parts of a document to be relevant. This also includes the ‘version control’ information for every document.”

Timeframe

The FOI Act provides 30 calendar days for the processing of an FOI request after it is received. As your valid FOI request was received on 27 November 2024, the original due date for your FOI request was 27 December 2024.

I acknowledge that this time has lapsed and as a result we are deemed to have refused your request under section 15AC of the FOI Act. The effect of this is that you do not have a right

seek an internal review of my decision. However, I confirm that you retain your right to seek external review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

I note that despite this, I have continued processing your request and I extend my apologies for the delay in providing you with a decision on access.

Request Consultation

On 22 January 2025, the FOI team, initiated a formal request consultation process under section 24AB of the FOI Act and provided you with a letter for your consideration and action. In our letter we advised you that we intended to refuse access to your request on the grounds that processing your request would unreasonably and substantially divert the Agency’s resources from its other operations. My letter, which I have attached separately from this decision notice, detailed the reasons for my view.

However, before I made a final decision, I provided you with an opportunity to revise your request.^1

On 29 January 2025, you revised the scope of your request to the following:

I request the following documents from the NDIA Intranet and PACE:

1. Standard Operating Procedure - Complete the plan reassessment (full)
2. Internal FAQ - Eligibility Reassessment FAQs
3. Knowledge Article - When to refer the participant for an eligibility reassessment
4. Knowledge Article - Complete the eligibility reassessment check
5. Knowledge Article - Finalise eligibility assessment
6. Knowledge Article - Finalise a revocation after an eligibility assessment
7. All other published, current knowledge articles in PACE that have “eligibility reassessment” or “eligibility assessment” in the title

I also request a search for the following documents held by the NDIA - knowledge articles, standard operating procedures, or guides pertaining to:

A. Reinstating a participant after an ‘eligibility reassessment’ decision is overturned on appeal (internal review or external review at the ART)

B. Assessing and deciding whether a participant who was previously removed as a result of an ‘eligibility reassessment’ is eligible for NDIS upon receiving a new access request

Search efforts

The FOI Guidelines provide that agencies and ministers should undertake a reasonable search on a flexible and common-sense interpretation of the terms of the request. At a minimum, an agency is required to have regard to the following in undertaking these searches:

^1 Section 24AB of the FOI Act.

• the subject matter of the documents
• the current and past file management systems
• the record management systems in place
• the individuals and line areas within an agency or minister’s office who may be able to assist with the location of documents, and
• the age of the documents.

Having regard to these Guidelines, I engaged in search consultations with the following internal business areas to obtain documents within their possession which may fall within the scope of your FOI request:

• Service Design Branch
• Service Delivery Branch

I advise that senior staff in the business area conducted searches for the documents and have located 22 documents relevant to the scope of your request.

Decision on access to documents

I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act. My decision on your request and the reasons for my decision are set out below.

I have identified 22 documents, which fall within the scope of your request, and I have decided to grant access to 21 of those documents in full, and 1 document in part.

Access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant material deleted (section 22)

I have identified that Document 22 contains material that is irrelevant to your request. The irrelevant material relates to names and contact details of NDIA information which is not relevant to the subject matter of your request.

In accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act, I have considered whether it is possible to delete the exempt and irrelevant material from the documents and have concluded that it is reasonably practicable to do so. Accordingly, I have prepared an edited copy of the documents with the exempt and irrelevant material removed.

Additionally, I have decided to refuse access to some information you have requested on the basis that the documents are non-existent or unlocatable pursuant to section s24A of the FOI Act.

A detailed statement of reasons for my decision can be found at Attachment A.

In reaching my decision, I took the following into account:

• your correspondence outlining the scope of your request
• the nature and content of the documents falling within the scope of your request
• the FOI Act
• the FOI Guidelines published under section 93A of the FOI Act
• consultation with relevant NDIA staff

Release of documents

The documents for release, as referred to in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment B, are enclosed.

Rights of review

Your rights to seek a review of my decision, or lodge a complaint, are set out at Attachment C.

Should you have any enquiries concerning this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at fox@xxxx.xxx.xx.

Yours sincerely

Wendy (WNN633) Senior Freedom of Information Officer Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch Reviews and Information Release Division

Attachment A

Statement of Reasons

FOI Application FOI 24/25-0830

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Refused information

I have refused access to the information you requested under section 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that documents containing such information are unlocatable or do not exist.

Relevant law

Under the FOI Act, a person has a right to be given access to documents of an agency. However, the right of access is subject to limitations, including grounds for refusal of access. Section 24A(1) of the FOI Act states that an agency may refuse a request for access to a document if all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document and the agency is satisfied that the document cannot be found or does not exist.

Searches for documents

After reviewing the scope of your FOI application, I identified the need to make enquiries with the NDIA’s Service Design Branch and Service Delivery Branch for documents relevant to the scope of your request.

In response to my enquiries, the business areas have informed me, regarding point 2 of the request, that the NDIA does not hold ‘Internal FAQ - Eligibility Reassessment FAQs’ on the NDIA Intranet page or PACE website. Alternatively, the business area utilises a shared internal OneNote containing commonly asked questions for NDIA staff in Eligibility Reassessment team.

Conclusion

In conclusion, based on the information I received from internal business area; I consider there are reasonable grounds to be satisfied that documents containing the information you seek do not exist. I therefore refuse access to the information under section a 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that the information is does not exist.

Attachment B

Schedule of Documents for FOI 24/25-0830

Document number	Page number	Description	Access Decision	Comments
1	1-12	SOP Complete a plan reassessment (full) v5 Date: 30 June 2022	FULL ACCESS
2	13-21	KA When to refer the participant for an eligibility reassessment v6 Date: 19 September 2024	FULL ACCESS
3	22-29	KA Review the referral information and complete the eligibility reassessment check v6 Date: 19 September 2024	FULL ACCESS
4	30-42	KA Finalise eligibility reassessment decision v6 Date: 19 September 2024	FULL ACCESS
5	43-52	KA Finalise a revocation after an eligibility reassessment v2 Date: 20 February 2025	FULL ACCESS
6	53-60	KA Accept a case from the eligibility reassessment queue and complete procedural fairness check v1 Date: 31 March 2023	FULL ACCESS
7	61-69	KA Action evidence extension request for eligibility reassessment case v6 Date: 21 June 2024	FULL ACCESS

Attachment C

Your review rights

As this matter was a deemed refusal, internal review of this decision is not an option. However, if you have concern with any aspect of this decision, please contact the NDIA FOI team by email foi@ndis.gov.au or by post:

Freedom of Information Section Complaints Management & FOI Branch General Counsel Division National Disability Insurance Agency GPO Box 700 CANBERRA ACT 2601

Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

The FOI Act gives you the right to apply to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to seek a review of this decision.

If you wish to have the decision reviewed by the OAIC, you may apply for the review, in writing, or by using the online merits review form available on the OAIC’s website at www.oaic.gov.au, within 60 days of receipt of this letter.

Applications for review can be lodged with the OAIC in the following ways:

• Online: www.oaic.gov.au
• Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
• Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
• Phone: 1300 363 992 (local call charge)

Complaints to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or the Commonwealth Ombudsman

You may complain to either the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the OAIC about actions taken by the NDIA in relation to your request. The Ombudsman will consult with the OAIC before investigating a complaint about the handling of an FOI request.

Your complaint to the OAIC can be directed to the contact details identified above. Your complaint to the Ombudsman can be directed to:

• Phone: 1300 362 072 (local call charge)
• Email: ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au

Your complaint should be in writing and should set out the grounds on which it is considered that the actions taken in relation to the request should be investigated.