Thank you for your email of 11 August 2018 to the former Minister for Social Services, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, about the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and registered behavioural clinicians. Your correspondence has been referred to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) for reply. I apologise for the delay in responding.

The NDIA appreciates the time you have taken to provide us with your feedback. The NDIA has a strong commitment to learning from feedback to assist with the continual improvement of NDIS services. I would like to acknowledge your commitment to NDIS participants by ensuring they receive the best possible supports for their needs.

The NDIA acknowledges many providers are able to provide behaviour support to NDIS participants. As per Ms Gunning’s correspondence with you, I can further confirm the list of professionals in which you mention is not exclusive or exhaustive. The list was not intended to exclude the professionals listed in your correspondence. I can confirm as per Ms Gunning’s advice that it is not possible to list all of the qualifications available for every registration group in every field of study. As such, only the major qualifications are listed.

I can advise the NDIS price guide does not influence the types of supports funded within a participant’s NDIS plan. The NDIA funds reasonable and necessary supports which assist a participant to reach their goals, objectives and aspirations, and to undertake activities to enable the participant’s social and economic participation. Reasonable and necessary supports also take into account any informal and mainstream supports already available to the participant.

NDIA staff make decisions based on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act) and the Rules made under the NDIS Act. The Operational Guidelines also provide practical guidance for delegates when making decisions reasonable and necessary decisions.

Where capacity building supports have been funded within the budgets of CB Daily Activity, or CB Improved Relationships within a participant’s NDIS plan, participants can exercise their choice and control to access either a psychologist or specialist behavioural practitioner to provide supports with behaviour management.

For those participants whose funding is agency-managed, providers must be registered with the NDIA, in order to be able to claim for their services. Providers requesting to be registered with the NDIA must meet the NDIA’s Guide to Suitability for the items they are registering for. The NDIA’s Guide to Suitability can be found publically on the NDIS website: https://providertoolkit.ndis.gov.au/

Thank you for raising this matter. Yours sincerely

Branka Carter

Branch Manager
Complaints Resolutions Branch

17 September 2018

The email that A4 sent to the Minister on 14/8/2018 is here: http://a4.org.au/node/1839