Issue 91 | 2 July 2007
Thanks to all the business services that have already returned their signed acceptances for the 2 month extension to 31 August 2007. If you have not returned your variation acceptance yet, please ring your usual FaCSIA Contract Manager as soon as possible to advise when you will return it.
As outlined in the Disability Assistance Package announced by the Prime Minister on 28 June 2007, your new three year DEA funding agreement to 30 June 2010 will be sent to you over the next few weeks, and must be returned to us by Friday, 17 August 2007. The Letter of Offer will contain further details about the new three year agreement offers, including increased CBF funding levels. A “What’s New, What’s Different” document will also accompany the new agreements.
Please contact your local FaCSIA Contract Manager if you have any queries.
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On 28 June 2007, the Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard MP, announced a $1.8 billion package of assistance for people with disabilities, their families and carers.
Key elements of the package for families and carers include funding for:Key elements of the employment services package include funding for:
A Disability Assistance Inquiry Line has been set to help answer any questions you may have. The contact number is 1800 101 888. The line is open between 8am – 9pm weekdays and 9am – 5pm on weekends. Further information can also be found on the FaCSIA website.
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Colmar Brunton Social Research met with business service providers in Melbourne and Sydney last week to discuss business perceptions for business services and key messages required to increase the profile of the sector. Both sessions were very well attended and discussion was robust and wide-ranging. There are two sessions to take place this week in Brisbane and Western Australia. For providers unable to make sessions, but interested in providing input, a written survey will be available at the end of this week to allow you to give feedback in to the process. The time frame for completing the survey is likely to be quite short to allow the preliminary findings to be presented at the NDS Conference at the end of July. For any questions regarding the market research, please contact Fran Cole at fran.cole@facsia.gov.au.
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Cinden Lester Communications has been contracted by the department to develop a DIY marketing kit for business services. The kit will include useful tools, case studies, resources and strategies for services trying to raise their business profile with potential purchasers. Currently in the scoping phase, it is expected the kit with be available in September. The consultant will be taking into account findings from the Colmar Brunton Social Research while developing the kit to ensure the product meets the needs of business services requiring assistance in this area. For questions regarding the kit, please contact Fran Cole at fran.cole@facsia.gov.au.
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The National Disability Awards are closing soon! If you have clients, colleagues or know of others in your networks that either have disability or are involved in disability issues, then now is the time to nominate!
Nominations are open to:
For more information, or to order a nomination pack, visit the International Day of People with Disability website, or call 1800 677 427. Nominations close on 20 July 2007.
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Sometimes when you are entering in new client details on FOFMS you may receive the error message ‘CRN is not unique’. This happens 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.
The CBF Helpdesk can be contacted by email at Helpdesk.CBF@facsia.gov.au or by phone on 1800 034 887.
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There are currently a large number of clients who are overdue to have a DMI reassessment completed. Reassessments are due on the two-year anniversary of when they were first completed. If the DMI reassessment is not completed, authorised payments will be suspended and the case will ultimately be exited. The following rules are automated in FOFMS:
It is your responsibility to monitor DMI assessment and DMI reassessment dates. If your clients have their payments suspended or their cases exited as a result of DMI assessment or DMI reassessment dates not being met, you will not be back-paid.
You can monitor when your service’s clients are due for a DMI assessment and DMI reassessment by simply using the predefined queries that are built into FOFMS. To access the predefined queries you will need to be in the ‘Cases’ view. Then, from the ‘Queries’ drop down menu you can select either:
You should run these queries each month to help you monitor and plan your services DMI reassessment workload.
If your clients are exited because a DMI assessment or DMI reassessment was not completed and authorised within the due dates, you will need to contact the FOFMS Helpdesk to request that the case status be reset to 'Return from Suspension'. Once the case status is reset you will have one month to complete and authorise the required assessment. If the required assessment is not completed within that one-month period the case will be exited again and you will need to create a new case. You will also need to complete and authorise an Intake Assessment to receive payments for supporting this client.
To help you monitor DMI assessment and re-assessment dates, FOFMS also auto-generates an activity to notify case workers that a DMI reassessment is due. You need to ensure that you keep the case worker in FOFMS current otherwise the notifying activity will be sent to the wrong person.
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Clients who are not maintaining employment for at least 8 hours a week as defined by the DEA Funding Agreement should be either exited or suspended until they are able to satisfy this requirement.
If you determine in your reasonable opinion that a Client is unable to continue in employment because of medical or personal reasons, or reasons related to the Client's disability, then they must be exited or suspended until this requirement can be satisfied. If you have any queries relating to employment please contact your local FaCSIA Contract Manager.
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Work Based Personal Assistance (WBPA) is available to supported employment services to help meet the recurrent costs associated with the provision of personal care services to workers with very high support needs. This includes assistance with personal care tasks such as personal hygiene, feeding by mouth, or assistance from a Registered Nurse to administer medical interventions. An allied health professional assessment and written report is required to confirm the high support needs of individual service users. Section 30 of the DEA Program Procedures outlines what is required to qualify for WBPA.
WBPA is paid to providers in arrears upon receipt of a claim. Providers have three months in which to make a claim from the time services have been provided to the individual. WBPA can be claimed for a maximum of 40 hours over a four week period. Two rates of payment apply:
If you have a worker who qualifies for WBPA and you wish to make a claim, WBPA Claim Forms are available under the ‘Literature’ tab on FOFMS. These should be completed and sent to The CBF Helpdesk, GPO Box 9820, Brisbane, 4001; or faxed to the CBF Helpdesk on 07 3005 6097.
In order to assist with processing of WBPA Claim Forms you should ensure that:
If you require any further information on WBPA please contact your Contract Manager or the CBF Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or Helpdesk.CBF@facsia.gov.au
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Each client must sign a Client Consent Form before you complete and authorise their Intake Assessment. The consent information package, including the Client Consent Form, is on the Literature site in FOFMS.
The $500 Intake Fee and monthly Employment Assistance payments for new Cases are not payable until an Intake Assessment has been completed and authorised on FOFMS. Case Based Funding payments do not begin until the Intake Assessment has been authorised. FaCSIA will not backdate Intake Assessments, or make back-payments. If you do not authorise the Intake Assessment your Service risks a reduced funding flow for that Client.
If you create a Client and Case record in FOFMS and do not complete and authorise the Intake Assessment not only are your payments affected, but the total Cases and vacancies of your Service are also affected. When you create a Case record in FOFMS it is considered an active case and included in the count of your total Cases, which reduces your number of vacancies. If you do not complete and authorise an Intake Assessment you will not receive funding for the Client but they are also occupying a place in your Business Service that could otherwise
Cases that have been created but do not have an Intake Assessment completed or authorised have a status of 'Draft' in FOFMS. You should review you case list for any cases with a ‘Draft’ status and either complete and authorise an Intake Assessment or exit the record.
Important Advice Regarding Case Creation
You should create a client case record on the day that a potential employee first presents for work. Creating a case on the employee’s first day will ensure that your service receives the funding it is entitled to. This will save you time if the employee fails to attend your service and will not cost your service a unit of outlet capacity[ top ]
The following article has been submitted by the Best Practice Partnership
Membership of the Best Practice Partnership has grown to 25 business services:
The members of Partnership have recently established a DMI Evidence Collection Process that has passed the FaCSIA Compliance Audit twice.
The aim of the process is to enable the collection of sufficient information whilst keeping the process as simple as possible and with the minimum impact on the time of support personnel.
This Process will be available on the Members Only section of the Best Pactice Partnership website from the end of June 2007.
Effective 1 July 2007 member organisations will be charged a nominal membership fee of $100.00 plus GST per year. This fee will cover the cost of maintaining the BPP website.
For further information visit our Best Pactice Partnership website or contact Debbie on (03) 5134 1555 Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm AEST or by email projectofficer@bestpractice.org.au.
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On 1 July, the FaCSIA Minister and the DEWR Minister will both table a disallowable instrument outlining some changes to the Disability Services Standards.
The changes are as follows:
‘KPI 9.1 The service provider ensures that people with a disability, placed in open or supported employment, receive wages according to the relevant Australian Pay and Classification Scale (APCS), special Federal Minimum Wage (SFMW), award, order or industrial agreement (if any). A wage must not have been reduced, or be reduced, because of award exemptions or incapacity to pay or similar reasons and, if a person is unable to work at full productive capacity due to a disability, the service provider is to ensure that a pro-rata wage based on the applicable special SFMW, APCS, award, order or industrial agreement is paid. This pro-rata wage must be determined through a transparent assessment tool or process, such as Supported Wage System (SWS), or tools that comply with the criteria referred to in the Guide to Good Practice Wage Determination including:
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CRS Australia has traditionally been the sole provider of government funded Vocational Rehabilitation Services. From 1 July 2007, 18 new businesses will enter the market, providing just over 30% of services nationally. CRS Australia will deliver the remainder of business. For more information about these changes, visit the DEWR website at The Australian Workplace website.
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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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