News

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission) has published its latest activity report, covering the period 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2023 for all states and territories in Australia.

This report provides an overview of NDIS Commission activities, including complaints, registrations, reportable incidents, behaviour support, compliance, and engagement for stakeholders and participants, for the first quarter of the 2023 calendar year.

NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner, Ms Tracy Mackey said the report showed an increase in compliance and enforcement action, particularly in respect of banning orders, registration refusals and correction action requests.

“The joint crackdown on fraud under the Fraud Fusion Taskforce, as well as increased oversight of registered NDIS providers’ compliance with quality audit requirements, has resulted in an increase in compliance and enforcement actions this quarter.

“This should be a warning to fraudulent providers, and anyone who disregards their obligations under the NDIS Code of Conduct, that we are actively escalating stronger compliance and enforcement action,” Ms Mackey said.

The Commissioner said this latest activity report also provided an overview of the experiences of people with disability in accessing NDIS services and supports, including:

• a 7 per cent increase in reportable incidents (excluding unauthorised restrictive practices) and;
• a slight but significant decrease (1 per cent) in the number of NDIS participants subjected to unauthorised restrictive practices.

“The safety and wellbeing of NDIS participants must be front and centre of every decision and action we take, and the use of unauthorised restrictive practices (URP) by registered NDIS providers remains a significant concern.

“We are working with providers to reduce the rate of these incidents and increase the use of behaviour support plans, and additionally, we have taken swift action where the safety and wellbeing of NDIS participants has been put at risk,” Ms Mackey said.

Other notable points from this latest activity report include:

• There was a steady 4 per cent increase in the number of complaints received this quarter. Complaints figures on page 4 of the activity report reflect a change in reporting methodology to include out-of-scope complaints in the total number of complaints for the past four reporting periods.
• The NDIS Commission refused 809 registrations this quarter, representing a 300 per cent increase in refusals.
• The total number of registered providers decreased by 1,495 this quarter. This reflects increased compliance activity including refused and revoked provider registrations as well as decisions by providers not to seek a renewal of their registration.
• The number of NDIS behaviour support practitioners considered by the NDIS Commission to be suitable to deliver behaviour support services increased by 18 per cent.
• 15 per cent increase in NDIS Worker Screening clearances granted nationwide this quarter compared with last quarter.

The Commissioner said the quarterly activity reports were used in conjunction with feedback from participant and provider forums and Own Motion inquiries to identify areas where there needs to be an uplift in the quality and safety of services.

“These reports always present meaningful opportunities for us to engage with providers to ensure they understand and act on their obligations to fulfilling the rights of people with disability, including a recent forum that we hosted in Tasmania to hear from providers and understand any challenges they are facing in achieving compliance.

“We remain committed to elevating the experience of NDIS participants and will continue to set clear expectations for providers, behaviour support practitioners and workers so that participants rights are upheld and they receive safe and high quality supports and services.”

Visit the NDIS Commission Activity Reports page for more information.