Campus Review Vol 29. Issue 7 July 2019 | Page 19

industry & research campusreview.com.au Complying with the fast-evolving NDIS requirements is challenging enough on its own. Combined with additional scrutiny through the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, and the pressure is well and truly on service providers. Feedback from the industry has been that the new NDIS compliance landscape is jarring, confusing and expensive. WHAT ROLE DOES THE EDUCATION SECTOR PLAY? Joining forces How educators can keep up with the fast pace of industry change. By Walter Tran The education sector plays a critical role in supporting the disability services industry to meet the challenges of fast-paced change. To achieve the highest quality NDIS service delivery, we need to start by upskilling the workforce. Failing to educate staff and managers about their compliance obligations under the NDIS is an organisational risk for the providers, participants and community. If staff don’t comply, service providers may fail their NDIS audit, fail to become registered, have their registration revoked or even be prosecuted. It makes sense to expose future and existing employees to these requirements – even before they enter or work in the industry. They need to be equipped to comply from day one. As a result, higher education providers are reacting by offering a range of courses to introduce or upskill students in the requirements of the NDIS. HOW CAN EDUCATORS KEEP PACE WITH CHANGES? T he National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is an ambitious and much needed undertaking. By 2020, 460,000 people will participate in the scheme. That’s roughly one in every 40 Australians. The NDIS will give people with a disability choice and control over the services they receive through a person-centric approach. People will be able to pick and choose between NDIS service providers to mix and match services, creating a personalised plan. There are currently 19,000 disability service providers in Australia, with hundreds more entering the market each month. Most are planning on delivering services under the NDIS. A COMPLEX REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT Such a big initiative requires a big investment in time, energy and money from the disability services industry. To deliver services under the NDIS, organisations will need to register as an NDIS service provider – an onerous and expensive process – and then meet tight ongoing compliance measures. Service providers are required to uplift their understanding of quality practices to ensure the community is treated fairly and safely. The new Quality and Safeguarding Framework, which is overseen by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, covers new practice standards, codes of conduct, worker screening, complaints, incident management and behaviour guidelines that NDIS service providers must comply with. Each comprises multiple chapters of documentation. Providers must translate legislation into policies and processes that apply to their business. On an ongoing basis, they need to ensure their staff understand and operate based on these. The NDIS is a good example of where industry changes are in danger of outpacing the education requirements for that industry. The speed at which the industry is changing makes it challenging for educators to adapt and develop a curriculum and coursework that is up-to-date and relevant. One way educators can keep up is by working closely with the private sector to leverage innovation and learnings. An example is the University of New England, which has recently updated its NDIS postgraduate law certificate to better enable students to gain a sound grasp of the complex legislative frameworks underpinning the scheme. They’ve partnered with my team at Centro ASSIST to allow students to access our centralised online compliance system for NDIS service providers. Students will have access to NDIS policies, processes, forms, guides and registers via the platform. The overarching goal is to give students real-world experience with the audit and compliance documentation that they will see in their workplaces. By partnering with the private sector, the University of New England has lessened the burden of updating the ever-changing policy and compliance components of the coursework. WHERE TO FROM HERE? The partnership between Centro ASSIST and the University of New England is a great example of where the private sector, the education sector and the care services sector can join forces to deliver better outcomes for industry, the community and individuals. I’m hopeful that we will continue to see more cross-sector collaboration to meet the challenges of sweeping changes like the NDIS. ■ Walter Tran is executive director, health and social care, at Centro ASSIST. 17