Key messages
The Framework outlines developmental, preventative and corrective measures focused on NDIS participants, workers and providers, with measures intended to be mutually supporting and reinforcing. Implementation of the Framework has focused more heavily on preventative and corrective measures, with less focus on developmental strategies.
The Framework consists of ‘domains’ of measures, and ‘sites’ (which we refer to as ‘focus groups’) to which these measures are applied.
The domains of the Framework are:
- Developmental measures to strengthen the capability of people with disability, workers and providers to reduce the risk of harm and promote quality.
- Preventative measures to proactively regulate providers and workers to reduce the risk of harm and promote quality.
- Corrective measures to resolve problems, enable improvements to be identified, and avoid the same problems recurring.
Across these domains, measures are targeted at three focus groups – individuals (NDIS participants), workers and providers.
Measures can be described as regulatory (where rules are applied and enforced) or non-regulatory (where knowledge and capability is built and behaviour is encouraged through education and training, information provision, incentives and other programs). Measures are intended to interact to create a system that is mutually supporting and reinforcing. For example, investment in the developmental and preventative domains is intended to limit the risk of harm, so that less corrective action is required.
We have heard and identified:
- Strategies implemented under the Framework have focused on the preventative and corrective domains, particularly for providers and workers; with limited focus on the developmental domain, particularly for individuals (NDIS participants).
- There may be other focus groups that were not considered in the development of the Framework but that could improve the operation of the Framework. For example, a separate focus group for
- families and carers or a participant’s community networks (separate from the existing focus group for individuals), as these groups are distinct in the lives of participants and play a role in safeguarding participants
- intermediary services such as support coordinators (separate from the existing concept of providers), as intermediary services vary significantly from direct support delivery and could be expected to play a different role in quality and safeguarding
- mainstream services such as health, education and child protection services to better embed effective interfaces in relation to quality and safeguards.