Commissioner’s functions

Commissioner’s functions

As the leader of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, the Commissioner is an advocate for the health, wellbeing and safety of people who access the NDIS and related services.

The Commissioner is responsible for the investigation, management, conciliation and resolution of complaints relating to the supports and services of NDIS providers, as well as promoting nationally consistent approaches and higher standards.

There are a number of ways that NDIS participants, NDIS service providers, and other stakeholders in the sector can interact with the NDIS Commissioner.

Anyone – including an NDIS participant or their family and support networks – can complain to the Commissioner about issues with supports and services from an NDIS provider, even if the provider isn’t registered with the Commission.

The Commissioner also has the power to initiate his or her own investigations into the supports and services provided to an NDIS participant under their NDIS plan, if it is suspected that there are issues.

Thirdly, it is a requirement of registered providers to report certain types of incidents to the Commissioner, which may result in further investigation or action.

The core functions of the Commissioner are determined under the NDIS legislation, and extend both outside of the sector and to policy issues.

For example, many NDIS participants receive services that are not provided under the NDIS (known as “mainstream services”) such as dental or hospital care, and the Commissioner can ask questions about these if necessary to deal with a complaint or reportable incident.

The Commissioner leads policy, such as development of a national approach to quality and safeguards for people with disability; developing and promoting delivery of higher standards; and overseeing design for a national workers screening framework.

All NDIS providers and their employees are required to abide by the NDIS Code of Conduct which sets out expectations for how providers and workers conduct themselves when providing supports and services.

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Scope of Commissioner's functions