Issue 47 | 22 August 2005
Performance Reporting requirements for 2005-06 are outlined in the current Disability Employment Assistance Programme Procedures (see Clause 14 [Block Grant] and Clause 18 [CBF]). Essentially all that will be required are the Census reports. The FaCS Online Funding Management System (FOFMS) will monitor other aspects of performance such as 90 per cent Outlet Capacity.
To report on the year ending 30 June 2005, you will need to complete Annexure D of the Special Terms & Conditions of your Funding Agreement in relation to block grant clients, in conjunction with the Census report.
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ISO 9001: 2000 is a quality management system, which goes beyond the scope of Disability Employment Services QA certification. While ISO 9001: 2000 is not a requirement for Disability Employment organisations to complete, a group in the New England North West Disability Services Group (NSW) involved in the recycling business, decided to proceed with this additional level of certification.
Through the support of the FaCS IDEAS Group Continuous Improvement Initiatives Funding, the participating organisations proceeded down the track of ISO 9001: 2000 certification. They found that while there were common standards to adhere to, each site had individual processes to document for their policies and procedures. The sites are: Northhaven in Inverell; Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises; Challenge Armidale; Glen Industries in Glen Innes; Gwydir Industries in Moree; and Challenge Disability Services in Tamworth.
Working with a consultant from Directions Australia, the managers prepared their recycling businesses for audit in June 2005. While some non-conformances were expected, all six sites made the grade and have been awarded their certification.
Some of the benefits of being part of this project have been reflected upon by those involved:
“It has been good because it forced us to become much more organised and controlled. It ties in with some of the Disability Services Standards, so is beneficial for that as well. A recommendation…is to tie a process like this in as much as you can with your current Disability QA - don't create two totally separate systems.”
- Tabitha Collins - Human Resources & Quality Control Coordinator - Glen Industries.
“The implementation of a new system in such a short time was a bit of a challenge but the principles of the ISO standard are clearly defined and once the procedures were created everything pretty well fell into place.
We will benefit through a number of ways…one being that our employee training will be more consistent as we now have set training plans for each task. The emphasis on continual quality checking is built into every procedure, training plan, meeting agenda and anything to do with product. We have sent out customer surveys and these have…given us some good feedback but also informed some customers about other services we provide.
I love the way the procedures in the quality manual are inter-related - everything is so organised - my sort of stuff. Our QA system is still in its early stages and we…feel it is going to be a great asset to the business from here on in.”
- Lorraine Maddigan - Training and Development Coordinator - Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises.[ top ]
A number of services have recently raised the issue of office accessibility for people with mobility problems.
Under funding agreements and Disability Services Standards 12 (Key Performance Indicator 12.2), disability employment services must have appropriate physical access and should comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (‘the Act’).
The Act states that it is unlawful for a disability employment service to discriminate against a person with a disability in relation to that person's access to premises. However, the Act also states that services would not be required to make alterations if the cost of those alterations would place them in financial hardship (referred to as 'unjustifiable hardship').
For example, a disability employment service may be approached by a potential consumer who could only be assisted if the provider undertook costly alterations to the building to make it accessible. If the provider couldn't make those alterations due to the cost, which would impose 'unjustifiable hardship' on the organisation , they may not be considered to be in breach of the Act.
It is important to note that the definition of 'unjustifiable hardship' will depend on the particular circumstances in each individual case, taking into account relevant considerations such as cost, or the practicality of making alterations to a specific structure.
However, where possible, Business Services that operate in inaccessible premises need to identify ways to make their premises accessible for potential consumers with mobility problems.
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To help services plan for the 1 January transition, the FOFMS "Conversion Capacity" field, located in the "Transition" Tab under "Agreement Schedules", has been updated. This field now contains the maximum number of Block Grant funded cases your service can move to Case Based Funding (CBF) at the next transition point, which is 1 January 2006.
Services need to move 25 per cent of their original Block Grant Outlet Capacity (BGOC) by 1 January 2006. However, if your service has not yet transitioned 50 per cent of customers, you will need to catch up so that you have transitioned a total of 75 per cent at 1 January 2006. If your service does not have enough Block Grant Workers available to meet your "Conversion Capacity", then just transition all your Block Grant Workers to satisfy your funding obligations.
For small services with an original BGOC of 20 or less, the figure in the "Conversion Capacity" field is only a maximum. Small services have discretion regarding the number of clients moved at each transition point, as long as they have moved all their clients to CBF by the last transition point. Small services are encouraged not to wait until the last transition point (1 July 2006) to move all their clients.
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FOFMS 15 August Upgrade Enhancements
The FOFMS upgrade on 15 August contained a number of enhancements that will help the management and administration of CBF, including the capacity to:
Other disability programs and funding streams will also be added from 15 August, including Carer Respite, Advocacy and Targeted Support. More information on these enhancements will appear in Issue#48 of the disAbility e-news, due out Monday, 29 August 2005.
Information to help you with the upgrade
You will soon receive an information pack detailing the new FOFMS functions and enhancements available with the 15 August 2005 upgrade. FaCS will provide task cards to help you with the new functions in FOFMS, as well as some new task cards to help you with existing parts of FOFMS (e.g. ‘Working with Columns’, ‘Changing Your User Profile Without Having To Log Off’ and ‘Printing Reports’).
FOFMS Helpdesk staff will be able to provide additional support to anyone requiring help with new functionality. The information pack will be sent to you by email, as well as a hard copy that was mailed to each organisation in the week commencing 8 August 2005. All information is available on the ‘Literature’ tab on FOFMS.
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The FOFMS Business Support Helpdesk received approximately 140 requests in the period April to June 2005 from providers, concerning performance issues with Release 2. From this feedback, several changes were made to the technical infrastructure supporting FOFMS, resulting in significant improvements in response times. An 'Internet Browser Configuration User Guide', designed to provide some optional fine-tuning information for service providers still experiencing problems, was sent to providers on 7 July 2005. All performance-related requests have now been met, except for two configuration-setting issues with two service providers, that FaCS is working to resolve.
If your organisation suffers performance-related issues with FOFMS or needs other support, please contact the FOFMS Helpdesk by phone on 1800 020 283, or by email at fofms@facsia.gov.au
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Please ensure that your Personal Profile in FOFMS contains your current email address. FaCS uses email updates to let you know when FOFMS may be offline, what changes have been made that could affect you, as well as other issues such as policy information. To update your email address, log onto FOFMS, click on ‘Profile’ at the top right of the screen, enter your email address and click ‘Save’.
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Access to popular DVDs, the subjects of which often form the basis of conversation in daily life, is an important contributor to feelings of social inclusion for Australians with a visual impairment. This year, the department funded the Australian Caption Centre (ACC) an additional $50 000 to build audio cues into ten latest-release DVD movie titles. These movies are:
Audio cues describe scenes, landscapes and the physical appearance of characters, allowing audience members with a visual impairment to feel more a part of the experience.
The great success of this pilot project has been due in large part to the enthusiastic participation of blind and vision organisations around the country, the media industry and levels of government working in partnership. The ACC has established an audio description facility at their Sydney headquarters, and their audio cue describers have been trained to international standards by the Audio Description Association of Scotland. This project represents an important starting point for DVD captioning in Australia, and supports the Australian Government’s commitment to improving the working and social lives of people with disabilities. For more information on audio-captioning and upcoming audio-captioned DVD titles in Australia, please visit http://www.audiodescription.com.au/
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If a business service is interested in accessing case management to help individual workers remain in employment and/or to consider targeted support, they must contact their State and Territory Office Project Officer and arrange to submit an application for case management by no later than 31 August 2005.
New information on case management is now available on the FaCS website.
Updated information on the targeted support standards for quality assurance (QA) certification and the obligations of third party providers is also now available. It is expected services have QA certification to ensure continued funding. For further information refer to the FaCS website.
Email disAbility e-news if you'd like more information on a particular issue or program or to let us know what you think of this e-newsletter.
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Your contributions to disAbility e-news are welcome. Do you want to let others know about your successes? Or how you engage with local businesses to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities? Email your story idea to disAbility e-news.
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