Issue 96 10 September 2007
Christine Bruce is the new Branch Manager Disability Programs in the Housing and Disability Group. She joins us after an extensive career in both FaCSIA and Centrelink in program management and has a background in financial management including extensive experience in procurement and contract management. Christine’s new role includes responsibility for business services and non-employment programs for people with disability, as well as new initiatives from the Disability Assistance Package including Respite for Older Carers, Transition Support, and In Home Support.
‘It’s a great opportunity for me to be heading up the newly formed Disability Program Branch at this exciting time’, says Christine. ‘I have had a chance to meet some business service providers at the NDS Employment Forum in late July. It was also a chance to hear first-hand about some of the initiatives happening in business services, as well the challenges currently facing the sector. I look forward to visiting services, meeting with people with disability working in them and hearing about their employment experiences. There is quite a bit of work for us in the short and medium term with a number of challenges including implementing those measures announced as part of the Disability Assistance Package. I hope you will continue to work with us to help us make sure people with disability, their families and carers, receive the best benefit from this very important suite of measures’.
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A proposed process for identification of high performing services for distribution of the new 250 places has been outlined to National Disability Services (NDS) for consultation. The places, announced by the Hon John Howard MP in June as part of the Disability Assistance Package, are expected to be available from 1 January 2008. The criteria identified to determine ‘high performing’ is as follows:
The process has yet to be finalised pending consultation feedback. More information will be available in later editions of e-news.
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On 29 August 2007, the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon Mal Brough MP, announced that consultations on disability supported accommodation options would commence from 10 September 2007. This is a unique opportunity to provide government with ideas for flexible options of care that are person centred, cost effective, delivered seamlessly, show leadership in design and achieve high quality outcomes for people with disability and their older carers.
On behalf of the Australian Government, the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) is seeking written submissions that provide input into the design and development of DSAP. The closing date for submissions is 26 October 2007.
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We have received a series of questions from NDS in relation to the new Police Checks provision in the Funding Agreement. Answers to some of the questions are outlined below. For a full list of the questions and answers received, please email fran.cole@facsia.gov.au
Question: Are police checks required for current, as well as new, employees?
FaCSIA Response:Question: Are police checks required for supported employees? (If not, shouldn’t the Funding Agreement say so explicitly?)
FaCSIA Response:Question: The time between applying for a police check and receipt of advice can run into weeks. In a period of workforce shortages this is a long time to wait before being able to make an offer of employment. Is there any scope to employ a person subject to police clearance?
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The Complaints Resolution & Referral Service(CRRS) has developed a new CRRS website for people with disability accessing employment services. The website is also a resource for services and clarifies the role of the CRRS.
You can now download the popular accessible CRRS brochure which shows the 12 standards in pictorial form. There is a comprehensive links page to other relevant websites. You can also order other promotional materials such as posters and magnets as well as request the free employee or staff training sessions about internal complaints management.
Please promote this new website with your clients, families and carers. You might want to include a note in your service newsletters and make a link to your own websites if possible.
For any feedback or suggestions about the website, please email crrs@pwd.org.au or go to the contacts page on the CRRS website.
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Valmar Support Services Ltd is located in Tumut in Southern NSW, employing 53 people with a broad range of disabilities.
Valmar’s Businesses comprise of:
Through Employment Action Plan and training pathways, many employees have achieved high levels of skills and competency. Those competencies include medium rigid truck license, forklift, ride-on lawn mower and rip saw operator. CEO Hugh Packard says that ‘Valmar receives a great deal of positive feedback from our employees regarding their work environment and support programs, but I believe actions speak louder than words. Continuing strong demand for jobs at Valmar is the best indication that we are succeeding.’
John Stanfield, Valmar Business Services Manager agrees.“ Tumut is a small town of eight thousand people and the residents are fully aware of the services that we provide and the important role all our employees play with regards to the town economy and community involvement”.
More information about Valmar can be found at: www.valmar.com.au[ top ]
As you all know there will be a federal election later this year. Although it is yet not known when the election will be, we can advise you that during the period after the election is called until the election takes place all Australian government departments will assume what is called a ‘caretaker role’. This means until the next government is appointed and Ministers allocated portfolio areas, Australian Government departments will not make any major policy or funding decisions. However, the ordinary matters and administration of departments and programs will continue as usual.
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Michael Griffith, our resident CBF Helpdesk guru, this week provides more answers to some of the Frequently Asked Questions received by the Case Based Funding (CBF) Helpdesk.
If you have a CBF or FOFMS question for Michael, please contact the CBF Helpdesk by calling 1800 034 887, or by emailing helpdesk.cbf@facsia.gov.au
Question: If I do not complete and authorise a DMI assessment or reassessment by the due date will FaCSIA suspend payments?
Answer: If an initial DMI is not completed within 12 months of the client’s start date on FOFMS we will suspend payments after you have received your 12th employment assistance payment for that particular case. If a DMI reassessment is not completed with 27 months of a previous assessment we will suspend payments to that particular case.
To self-monitor when your service’s clients are due for a DMI assessment and DMI reassessment, simply use 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:
Question: What if my employee has been involved in an accident and requires additional support? Am I able to perform another assessment?
Answer: You may request a DMI reassessment if, in your reasonable opinion, there has been a demonstrable change in an employee’s support circumstances due to:
Organisational initiated DMIs must, in accordance with the programme procedures, be completed no less than 13 weeks following a previous DMI assessment to allow for sufficient evidence collection.
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The FOFMS Service Provider User Guide can now be accessed through the FOFMS Literature Portal. The Service Provider User Guide provides FOFMS users with clear instructions, help and support in FOFMS functionality. The user guide will help you to access the system, navigate, search and run queries, view the status of your agreements and agreement schedules, create and view client and case records, and generate reports on payments to your organisation.
If you require further information on FOFMS functionality or any of the content contained in the user guide please contact the FOFMS Helpdesk: 1800 020 283 or fofms@facsia.gov.au.
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FaCSIA Recipient Created Tax Invoices (RCTIs) are normally issued daily. All RCTIs for the period 1-14 July 2007 were issued on 15 July. Where FaCSIA issued multiple RCTIs, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) Spam software may have blocked all but the first RCTI received on that day.
If you have missing RCTIs that need to be re-issued, please contact the FOFMS Helpdesk on 1800 020 283 or send a request to FOFMS@facsia.gov.au.
For further information, please contact the FOFMS Helpdesk.
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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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