The NDIA is committed to the co-design of improvements to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
For us, co-design is about working alongside people with disability, the disability community, and other interested groups.
We do this by collaborating on specific problems, issues and situations requiring improvement or change.
You can find out more about our commitment to strengthening our engagement with the disability community in our Engagement Framework.
The NDIA is currently progressing with a number of co-design projects, including:
Home and Living
We are developing a policy to inform how we support participants to pursue their home and living goals.
We want to give participants more choice and control over where they live, who they live with, and how they are supported.
To help us create this policy, we completed a 12-week national consultation in 2021. We heard from over 1,500 people, and commissioned research from the University of Sydney.
Since March 2022 we have:
- Established a Steering Committee, which is meeting regularly to provide guidance for the project including representatives from the NDIS Independent Advisory Council, Disability and Carer Representative Organisations and participants.
- Developed an engagement approach with support from the Steering Committee and The Australian Centre for Social Innovation.
- Started co-design activities with a ‘Design Group’ made up of participants, disability providers and representative and carer organisations. Alongside these design activities we will also be holding running larger testing activities with a range of stakeholders.
Participant Safety
We are developing an overarching policy on participant safety to guide the work of the NDIA in supporting the ongoing safety of participants and to empower them to take control over this aspect of their lives.
To help us create this policy, since March 2022 we have:
- Established a Steering Committee, which is meeting regularly to provide guidance for the project including representatives from the NDIS Independent Advisory Council, Disability and Carer Representative Organisations, participants, Commonwealth agencies and states and territories.
- Started a series of virtual workshops with participants, families, carers, NDIA intermediary Providers and NDIA operational staff.
- Started developing a plan to hear from diverse communities.
- Started work on the research protocols.
Supported Decision Making
We are creating a policy and implementation plan to guide how we support participants to make decisions, enable opportunities to make decisions, and build the knowledge and skills of people with disability (and people who support them) to make decisions.
To help us create this policy, since March 2022 we have:
- Established a Steering Committee, which is meeting regularly to provide guidance for the project including representatives from the NDIS Independent Advisory Council, Disability and Carer Representative Organisations, participants, Commonwealth agencies and states and territories.
- Developed an engagement approach.
- Started a partnership with Inclusion Australia to work with people with disability who most benefit from supported decision making to co-design the policy.
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) Strategy
We are working on refreshing our CALD strategy to answer the question: How do we measurably improve outcomes for CALD participants over the next 4 years?
To help us with this refresh we have:
- Held roundtable meetings with key sector stakeholders to finalise areas of focus.
- Started to build and test solutions and actions to support improved outcomes for CALD participants.
- Begun face-to-face activities with participants and families who speak languages other than English.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy
We are also working on refreshing our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy to answer the question: How can the Agency measurably improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants over the next 4 years?
To help us with this refresh we have:
- Reviewed stakeholder feedback about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants and community.
- Reviewed recommendations from government and organisations including the Disability Royal Commission and First Peoples Disability Network.
- Started discussions with peak bodies to develop a plan to work together on refreshing the strategy.
Information Gathering for Access and Planning (IGAP)
We are working with people with disability and the broader disability community to co-design a new person-centred model of gathering information for access and planning decisions.
This is called the IGAP project.
To help us create this project, since March 2022 we have:
- Established the IGAP Steering Committee, which is meeting regularly to provide guidance for the project including representatives from the NDIS Independent Advisory Council, Disability and Carer Representative Organisations, participants, Commonwealth agencies and states and territories.
- Began engaging with the disability community to understand people’s access and planning experiences. This includes through targeted focus groups and an online survey which is open to everyone.
- Started planning the establishment a Professional Advice Panel which will provide expert advice and guidance to the Steering Committee.
- Commenced two research projects to build a shared understanding with stakeholders of the NDIS and its challenges.
Participate – complete our survey
To support the co-design activities, the NDIA has developed a Survey about Information Gathering for Access and Planning.
This survey is now open. It asks about experiences gathering information for NDIS access and planning processes.
Whatever you tell us will be anonymous if you would like to participate. Your support or funding will not be affected.
You do not need to be a participant to carry out the survey. We want to hear from people with disability, carers, advocates, and treating professionals about how we can improve information gathering for access and planning.
The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete and can be done on a computer, smartphone, or tablet.
Join Participant First
If you are interested in getting involved in co-design activities, you can sign up to Participant First.
Participants, family members and carers will be paid for participating in accordance with our Participant Engagement Payment Policy.
Next steps
We will provide regular updates on how the co-design process is going.
Contact
For more information about these projects, please email [email protected].