NDIS workforce final report

Published 24th February 2022

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is one of Australia’s most ambitious public policy initiatives. Critical to the sustainability of the NDIS, is a workforce of sufficient size to meet demand, and which has the appropriate skills, qualifications and expertise to deliver safe, quality supports to participants.

It is estimated that the NDIS workforce will need to grow by an additional 83,000 full time equivalent 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, with the sector increasingly seen as overworked, underpaid, undervalued and poorly trained.

Evidence provided to this inquiry has demonstrated that ambitious action is needed to adequately address issues within the NDIS workforce and to safeguard the availability of safe and quality supports for NDIS participants into the future.

This final report for this inquiry makes a number of recommendations to further address such matters. The recommendations relate to:

• increasing NDIS workforce data collection
• consulting NDIS workers and other key stakeholders in all NDIS pricing review processes
• improving employment opportunities for people with disability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the workforce
• addressing the funding and resourcing implications of new training and upskilling initiatives
• increasing student placement opportunities within the workforce
• developing clear and measurable outcomes for the initiatives in the NDIS National Workforce Plan 2021-2025; and
• developing a comprehensive consultation strategy for the implementation of measures under the Workforce Plan.

Note: The above abstract is copied from the APO website.

Source:
NDIS, 2022, APO (https://apo.org.au/node/316533?mc_cid=9cda8d008d&mc_eid=d4ed18284d)