Issue 50 | Monday 26 September 2005
There are a number of clients in the FaCS Online Funding Management System (FOFMS) with a case status of DPI, which means that they are still being funded under the old Case Based Funding (CBF) model. A significant proportion of these clients have already been paid the 10 DPI payments to which they are entitled. There are two options for these clients - they are:
To identify these cases in FOFMS:
Your local state/territory office Contract Manager will soon contact you about these clients, if they haven’t already done so.
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Some of you know that the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) changed its policy from 1 July 2005 and it no longer allows dual funding where a client is being assisted by a FaCS-funded Business Service.
However, we have clarified that DEWR will continue to pay funding to open employment services assisting a client who is also being assisted by a FaCS-funded Business Service. This will only occur in cases where the client was in that joint program at 30 June 2005. This 'grandfathering' provision only applies for as long as the client continues in that joint program (ie dual funding ceases when the client exits either or both the Business Service or open employment service) and subject to all other eligibility criteria.
This will be included in the next update to the Programme Procedures.
If you have any queries on this, please call your FaCS Contract Manager.
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Paragraph 25.11 of the FaCS Disability Employment Assistance Programme Procedures dated 1 July 2005 states:
'You must submit to Centrelink an Advice to Centrelink of outcome or program extension (SU525) within 10 business days of Suspending a client'.
As a result of process improvements made between FaCS and Centrelink, you are no longer required to advise Centrelink of client suspensions, or returns from suspension. You therefore do not have to complete the SU525 form and send it to Centrelink when a client is suspended from your service.
Please note: You are still required to advise Centrelink when a client starts or exits from your service.
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In the 1 August 2005 edition of the e-news 46 the wage assessment tools article indicated a number of tools had now been embedded into the Australian Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Worker Union (ALHMU) Supported Employment (Business Services) Award.
The ALHMU has asked that we clarify that three of the tools mentioned in the article have restrictions on their use, that is, they can only be used by their owners. The three wage assessment tools with restricted use are those belonging to: FWS, Hunter Contracts and Phoenix. If an organisation wishes to use another tool they should contact its owner.[ top ]
Enhancements to the CT&S program from 2006 will see a single national organisation develop a suite of information products and training materials in a range of formats to educate workers in Business Services.
The topics of products and materials to be produced will mainly be identified by the sector.
The training material and information products will use contemporary methodologies and be ed matched to the broad range of communication requirements of people with a disability. The successful tenderer will also undertake ongoing research about the communication needs of people with a disability.
The tender (FaCS/05/T475) can be found on the AusTender web site and closes at 2pm (EST) on 21 October 2005.
FaCS would like to take this opportunity to thank the current CT&S agencies for their efforts. The current program helped people with a disability understand service quality and involved them in quality assurance processes since 1993.
Current CT & S agencies will continue service delivery until 31 December 2005.
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Late last year the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) convened a technical committee to review Procedure 18, which governs the way certification bodies run the QA system for disability employment services. All stakeholders were represented on the technical committee and industry recommendations from the mid-term review of the quality strategy were considered.
Certification bodies are required to implement these revisions in current audits. This means that you may notice some changes to the way your next audit is conducted. One of the more noticeable changes was to the rating scale that audits use.
The new rating scale has omitted the 'commendable' rating of '3' and retains the existing ratings of '0' for major nonconformity; '1' for nonconformity and '2' for conformity. Audit reporting requirements for certification bodies provide that suggestions for continuous improvement and positive findings (noteworthy features) are reported as observations.
The revised procedure is available on the JAS-ANZ website at Procedure 18 and on the FaCS website. Any queries about Procedure 18 should be directed to Steve Keeling at JAS-ANZ on 02 62821296[ top ]
In 2004, Highlands Support Services in Victoria was given an IDEAS Group grant funded through FaCS to coordinate research into staff retention within the disability employment sector. A research team from the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, Deakin University, conducted the research.
The results of the research are contained in the report, Keeping Quality People Engaged: Workforce Satisfaction within the Disability Employment Industry, published in May this year and discussed at the ACROD 2005 Employment Forum Conference.
The report shows annual staff turnover in Business Services is around 15 per cent. Other research shows that the cost to an organisation of recruiting and training staff can be as much as 30 per cent of the annual salary of the position they are seeking to fill. This latest report from Deakin University provides important insights into factors contributing to staff turnover and valuable information on strategies that disability employment services could adopt to enhance staff retention.
The report also contains three special issues papers: ‘Attracting and Retaining Quality Staff’, ‘Industrial Relations: Remuneration Policies and Practices’ and ‘Staff Career Development and Individual Support’.
Background information on the research project and a copy of the report is available on the FaCS website
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The name for the eCommerce facility has been finalised - BizAbility. Branding for the BizAbility site is nearing completion.
We have carried out user testing of the BizAbility site and are preparing for the launch, which will be held in early October. Thank you to everyone who has completed and sent in their user access forms – you should have received your user access logon and password to the Administration area of the BizAbility website. Once you have received your access details please log into the BizAbility e Commerce site and verify that your organisation information (including contact details, products and services) is correct.
For anyone you who has not yet completed a user access form, please complete and return the eCommerce System Access Request form that was emailed to everyone on 28 July 2005 as soon as possible. If you need another copy of the form please email eCommerce.
As part of the BizAbility website development, we will create an individual website for those organisations that do not yet have one. We have already requested and will continue to request, information from individual organisations for each website. Please make sure you get the information back to us in a timely fashion when we contact you, otherwise your organisation’s website may not be created until the new year.
Stay tuned for further updates about BizAbility in the e-news.
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By 1 January 2006, all services must have transitioned at least 75 per cent of their original Block Grant Outlet Capacity (BGOC) to CBF.
You must complete two important tasks by Friday 25 November 2005 to ensure that your service has transitioned the correct number of clients by 1 January 2006.
By 25 November 2005 you must:
How do I determine how many cases I have to transition? View your:
Task cards for more assistance
To help you complete these tasks in FOFMS, FaCS has developed two task cards that will guide you through the process of completing DMIs and how to select cases for transition. You can find copies of these task cards attached under the 'Literature' section in FOFMS.
Exemption for Small Services
Please note: Small services (with an Outlet Capacity of 20 or less) are exempt from this requirement and can transition to CBF at any time up to 1 July 2006.
However, it is to your advantage to complete DMIs for your clients as soon as possible so you can get an insight into your future funding levels.
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Error message in FOFMS – “CRN is not unique”
Sometimes when you are entering in new client details on FOFMS you may receive the error message “CRN is not unique”. This occurs when the client details you are trying to enter are already on FOFMS, that is, the client already has a record on the system.
If you receive this error message, please contact the CBF Helpdesk. We will assist you to move the client onto your organisation.
The CBF Helpdesk can be contacted by email, or by phone on 1800 034 887.
Transferring FOFMS activities to other staff
Did you know that if you are leaving an organisation, or going on extended leave, you can transfer (or ‘allocate’) your activities to another staff member to ensure that they are not missed or forgotten?
To do this:
If you have any difficulties, contact the CBF Helpdesk
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Please note that all completed WBPA forms should now be faxed to 07 3005 6097. As advised in the previous issue of e-news, this is the new fax number for the CBF Helpdesk. Please do not send forms to the old (Canberra) fax number, as this number is now obsolete.
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Please note that FaCS will no longer allow early authorisation of DMI assessments.
FaCS advised all service providers in disAbility e-news dated 20 June 2005 that after Release 3 of FOFMS on 16 August, we would not waive the 13 week period from the ‘client intake completion date’ to complete a DMI assessment. It was stressed to providers that it was important therefore that all client and case lists be updated as a matter of priority.
From 16 August, all providers will now need to wait 13 weeks after the ‘client intake completion date’ before a DMI assessment can be completed and authorised .[ top ]
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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