Formal inquiries and reviews relating to the delivery and regulation of the NDIS are initiated in response to events and incidents, as well as emerging issues and trends. They may be conducted by the NDIS Commission itself, or by an independent external party.
The Commissioner can initiate a review relevant to the Commissioner’s functions under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013.
Own Motion Inquiries
Platform Providers in the NDIS Market
The Own Motion Inquiry’s purpose was to identify trends and issues with Platform Providers operating in the NDIS market, and explore their impact on the quality and safety of services delivered to participants using Platform Providers.
Support coordination and plan management
This Own Motion Inquiry examines the NDIS Commission’s complaints and reportable incidents data to identify quality and safeguarding concerns in support coordination and plan management, and to identify the positive contribution good support coordination and plan management can make to quality and safeguarding in the NDIS.
Aspects of supported accommodation in the NDIS
The Own Motion Inquiry examined the experiences of participants living in supported accommodation through examining Reportable Incidents and Complaints that have occurred in connection with the supported accommodation services provided by a small number of NDIS providers that are large providers of supported accommodation.
Independent Reviews
Review into services provided by Irabina Autism Services
Review into circumstances relating to death of Ann-Marie Smith
Human Rights Guidance
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission) has worked with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to consider how the NDIS Commission can further enhance its human rights approach as a regulator.
The NDIS Commission developed an internal Human Rights Guidance paper, to support enhancement of organisational culture and amplification of human rights in administrative practice and policy development.
As a result, a set of duties and action statements, outlined in the Human Rights Guidance poster, are being included in the NDIS Commission's operational and strategic plans, and operationalised in our day-to-day work. These duties include:
- A Positive Duty: We consider human rights in all our decisions.
- A Participation Duty: We include impacted groups and individuals in decision making.
- A Duty of Candour: We are open and transparent with people receiving services from the NDIS Commission.
From our consultations over the past year we have heard that a human rights approach includes:
- Supports should be participant centred and tailored to personal goals, needs, preferences and values.
- Supports should be communicative, transparent with information and decisions, and create opportunities for meaningful feedback.
- Providers should have sound governance processes in place, care about more than money, and create a positive organisation culture.
- Providers should be action orientated, follow through with what they say, and make sure the participant’s needs come first. This included being responsive to individual cultural needs.
- Supports should focus their attention on an approach to service delivery that is centred on the human rights of people with disability. This includes being flexible and recognising the need for supporting participants with social activities to promote independence.
Participants told us through our recent consultations on Quality and Consumer Information that quality meant workers and providers genuinely investing in a participant’s goals and approaching participants through a rights based lens. The NDIS Commission encourages all providers to read the insights from NDIS Commission’s inquiries and reviews and use the existing resources and tools, including our practice guidance and the Workforce Capability Framework, to continuously reflect and improve their ways of working with participants and embed a rights-based approach in their services and supports.