Individualised funding and its implications for the skills and competencies required by disability support workers in Australia

ABSTRACT

Within Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been heralded as one of the most significant social policy initiatives of recent times. The introduction of the NDIS follows similar moves towards individualised funding and consumer-directed care in the aged care sector. International evidence provides examples of the implications of individualised funding for workers within the social care sector; however, little attention has been paid to how the shift to individualised funding impacts on the skills and competencies required by disability support workers and in an Australian context. Our study aims to provide such an examination. We use qualitative data from in-depth interviews with key stakeholders including disability support workers; people with disability, and their families and carers; disability service providers; and training providers to investigate the impact of the NDIS on the skills and competencies required by disability support workers. Findings suggest that disability support workers require new skills to support choice and control, to be more customer-orientated and, to move from task-focused to person-centred care. As a consequence of these changes, the training of disability support workers is adapting to take account of these new skills and competencies.

KEYWORDS:

• National disability insurance scheme
• individualised funding
• disability workforce
• skills
• Australia

Acknowledgments

The research upon which this paper draws was funded with assistance from a funding grant offered under the Australian National Disability Research and Development Agenda, jointly implemented by disability representatives from Commonwealth, State and Territory governments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Disability Research and Development Agenda.

Notes on contributors

Megan Moskos

Dr Megan Moskos is a Senior Research Fellow with the Future of Employment and Skills Research Centre at the University of Adelaide, where her work is in applied sociology and social policy. Megan’s expertise lies in the research and management of complex mixed methods projects, including leading research projects and evaluations in the fields of aged care, disability care, mental health and social inclusion. Megan was the lead of the qualitative strand of the NDIS evaluation which required extensive qualitative research and evaluation skills, including the integration with quantitative research findings.

Linda Isherwood

Dr Linda Isherwood is a Senior Research Fellow with the Future of Employment and Skills Research Centre at the University of Adelaide. Her research centres on the aged care, disability and healthcare sectors with a particular focus on workforce issues and program evaluation. Linda has expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and is an experienced clinical social worker.