NDIS providers, disability advocacy organisations, and Western Australia’s Individualised Services will share in $5.5 million to transition to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
NDIS providers, disability advocacy organisations, and Western Australia’s Individualised Services will share in $5.5 million to transition to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
The state government announced $2 million would be available for providers to support them audit their restrictive practices, identify where behaviour support plans are required, develop and deliver a training program about working effectively with NDIS behaviour support practitioners, and provide instruction on convening an authorisation panel.
Four disability advocacy providers – Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre, Explorability, People with Disabilities WA, and Midland Information Debt and Legal Advocacy Service – received a share of $2 million in funding after they reported requests for support had increased significantly.
The government said the funding would allow the advocacy providers to address the heightened demand and curb waitlist growth for a further 12 months.
A further $1.5 million has been awarded to not-for-profit organisation WAiS, a recognised support provider of individuals self-managing their NDIS money, which has been given funding to develop self-managers’ knowledge about their responsibilities and obligations as direct employers of support workers.
WA is transitioning to the Commonwealth’s NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission today, a move requiring providers to meet national standards substantially more comprehensive than the current WA measures.
The transition date was moved from July 1 to December 1 in May, to allow WA providers more time to meet the new standards in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Disability Services Minister Stephen Dawson said that, as WA was formally transitioning to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission from today, it was more important than ever that people with disability, their families and carers, as well as the sector itself were well-prepared.
The announcement comes as the state government today launched a campaign to attract younger people to pursue careers in the disability sector.
The campaign, with the message ‘Disability support work is more than you think’, was designed to attract people aged 16 to 25 to become disability support workers and carers.
