An investigation by the Commonwealth Ombudsman into the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) communication with people seeking cover under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), has found that more work is needed to provide clear and transparent information.
Publishing The NDIA’s communication with participants about PSG timeframes for access and planning, the Ombudsman Iain Anderson said he investigated the NDIA’s performance against six Participant Service Guarantee (PSG) timeframes related to access and planning, in the context of the engagement principle ‘transparent’.
“These timeframes apply from when a person first makes an access request to the NDIA up until they receive their first plan as a participant in the NDIS,” Mr Anderson said.
“We considered how the NDIA communicates these timeframes on its website to prospective and current participants,” he said.
“We also considered the NDIA’s internal procedures, templates and guidance to assess whether these appropriately support staff to communicate with participants in letters and on the telephone about the progress of access requests or a participant’s first plan.”
Mr Anderson acknowledged that the NDIA had taken steps to include PSG timeframes in the communications his Office reviewed.
“However, we found there is further work required to ensure the NDIA provides participants with accurate, clear and consistent information about the PSG timeframes for access and planning,” the Ombudsman said.
He said the NDIA’s webpages and templated letters for access and planning did not consistently or clearly include reference to the relevant PSG timeframes.
“Internal procedures and guidance do not appropriately support National Contact Centre staff to provide participants with clear and transparent information about relevant PSG timeframe.” Mr Anderson said.
“The NDIA is not proactively communicating to participants where access or planning decisions are either unlikely to be met or have not been met.”
The Ombudsman made five suggestions to the NDIA aimed at improving the accuracy, consistency, clarity and transparency of the information provided to participants about the PSG timeframes for access and planning.
His 35-page statement can be accessed at this PS News link.
