NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework issues paper

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Is the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework ok?

The NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework (the Framework) says what governments will do to keep NDIS participants safe and make sure the services they receive are good quality.

The Independent Review of the NDIS (the Review) wants to improve the Framework.

The Framework was put in place in 2016. We wonder if the Framework is still useful and how to make it better for people.

So far people have told us that the Framework is:

• outdated because there are:
  • more participants self-managing their NDIS funding;
  • more participants using unregistered providers; and
  • new types of supports available, such as people that help participants use their funding or find supports, and services that connect people to workers.
• too long, complex and not possible for participants and other people to use in their day to day lives;
• not clearly linked to other systems of support that also keep people with disability safe, such as mental health services and other disability services outside the NDIS;
• not clear about who does what and how people should work together to keep participants safe; and
• un-balanced, focusing on fixing things when they go wrong rather than stopping  things going wrong.

We also know that:

• different participants have different access to information and knowledge about safety and quality to make good decisions;
• trade-offs might need to be made between participant choice and control and the actions that will keep everyone safe;
• it's hard to understand and compare the quality of different services; and
• there are different views on the rules that should apply to providers and workers in the NDIS to keep participants safe.

The Review might make recommendations on issues such as:

• if the Framework is still useful, what it should do;
• how to make the Framework easier to understand and more useful to participants and other people;
• ways for governments to work better together to keep people safe;
• new strategies to work towards improving safety and quality such as about how to keep participants safe and the rules that should apply to providers and workers;
• and we would love to know what you think.