A parliamentary committee has called for better working conditions and more employment opportunities for people with disability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS published its NDIS Workforce Final Report this week. This report follows the NDIS National Workforce Plan: 2021–2025 in June.
The Committee’s report estimates that the NDIS workforce needs 83,000 more staff to support participants at the scheme’s projected peak.
“However, attracting and retaining a suitably skilled, qualified workforce continues to prove a significant challenge,” the report states. “The sector [is] increasingly seen as overworked, underpaid, undervalued, and poorly trained.”
The committee is concerned the Workforce Plan does not address working conditions, and that the NDIS price guide and the Cost Model for disability support workers do not reflect the value and complexity of disability support work.
The report recommends that the government collect more NDIS workforce data, including data about new employment models, to better understand “the impacts of an increasingly casualised, contract‑based workforce”. The government should also consult NDIS workers through all regular pricing review processes.
The committee wants the Australian Government to co-design employment opportunities for people with disability in the NDIS workforce. Although there are government initiatives to increase employment opportunities for people with disability, the report states the Workforce Plan lacks targeted measures to specifically increase the number of workers with lived experience of disability within the NDIS workforce.
The report also recommends increasing the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the NDIS workforce; more student placements in the workforce; and clear and measurable outcomes for the initiatives in the Workforce Plan, and a comprehensive consultation strategy to implement measures under the Workforce Plan.
ACTCOSS calls for more investment in the NDIS
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) welcomed the report. Dr Emma Campbell, the organisation’s CEO, said: “The NDIS funding model has consistently led to the undervaluing of the NDIS workforce, low pay rates, and the inability to recruit staff of sufficient seniority and skill levels.
“Low pay rates for frontline community sector staff, combined with Canberra’s high costs of living, means that the workforce is under significant financial stress. Recruitment and retention of staff is increasingly difficult as financial imperatives force disability and other community sector workers into jobs that attract higher salaries and better conditions.
“We also need to better recognise and support the professionalism of the NDIS and community sector workforce. We welcome recommendations in the report calling on the Australian Government to support improvements to training and upskilling.
“It is vital that we have a workforce that understands and reflects the community it is serving. We need more investment in the growth and development of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander NDIS workforce and in expanding employment opportunities for people with disability within the NDIS workforce.”
ACTCOSS made a submission to the inquiry, urging the Australian Government and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to work closely with state and territory governments so that strategies and plans to attract people to the aged care, disability and community services sector are coordinated across jurisdictions, Dr Campbell said.
ACTCOSS received funding from the Australian Government to establish a Community Services Careers Hub to attract more workers to the health and community sectors, and help workers reach their full potential.
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