As March 2020 rolls around so do the new rules for transport which have finally been released....!
Importantly, our last post picked up wording around HOW transport was 'expected' to work. There were intending to be 3 options and we even repeated them on this website from an official NDIS press release. THE REALITY... more NDIS p!ssing in the wind.
None of these options are going forward.... they have all been abandoned!
But what's happening instead....? Read on wary traveller.....
Flexibility is not just in Core Supports
The updated Support Catalogue has added 9 new line items under 6 different support categories:
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Assistance with Social and Community Participation (CORE)
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Improved Living Arrangements (CAPACITY)
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Increased Social and Community Participation (CAPACITY)
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Improved Relationships (CAPACITY)
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Improved Learning (CAPACITY)
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Finding and Keeping a Job BUT excludes SLES funding specifically. (CAPACITY)
This means that people should be able to use their funding in the additional 5 capacity building support categories as well as from core. The line item name and description is the same in every support category and is called "Activity Based Transport." However, the proposed caps (see our last post here) are now abandoned from the support catalogue and placed into the Price Guide as a suggestion only. Really...?! How is that supposed to work given the suggested 85c/km is already above Community Awards which state a rate of 78c/km. Anyone lost yet?
The new item codes are also not price-controlled meaning we will effectively return to providers price gouging for any participant transport. It truly beggars belief the level of Liberal/National Government mismanagement of the NDIS to take away transport on fear of gouging....and purported cost saving... only to return same 6 months down the track implemented in a different manner. The question everyone should be asking is ... why?
Why cause this much trouble for people living with disability?
Why cause all parties to have to spend months 'negotiating/managing' agreement variations?
Why require people to revert the changes of the last six months...? BTW - depending where 'Activity Based Transport' is drawn from in a person's plan there is a different item code to use... because everyone enjoys complexity.. .right?!
Yet again the whole sordid episode will also require itemised invoicing and claiming.... and yet again... unless you have a role in approving invoices... there will be no visibility to you.
AND, just to dig the old red tape knife in further, twist it about, and make things as overly complex as possible.... read on for the full gist of transport definitions to come.
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PROPOSED OUTCOME:
People can only pay for transport to places where they will be supported by the transport provider (like another NDIS supported service/activity) BUT not if they are attending and do not require support worker assistance.
The immediate problem with this approach is then... as a person's capacity builds within an activity the support worker sitting idly in the car in a standby role to step back in... will soon disappear from the landscape. Because, there is now (strictly) speaking no leeway where the activity may be beyond family capacity (like if there a multiple people with disability in a family) and their sitting and waiting is no longer chargeable either for time OR for transport. *sigh... so what are we trying to achieve?*
We suggest the end result is ongoing confusion and no chance to actually build capacity because thee is no flexibility, etc. All parties will be caught in a giant 'gotcha' at some point or other.
The Price Guide has created 2 new definitions of transport to try and define whats in and whats out:
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General Transport Services (GTS): Transport to “an activity that is not itself a support – or to a support that is delivered by another provider.” This category includes transport to community and mainstream supports, services delivered by other providers (like a doctor visit) and everything else in between that doesn’t involve service providers. These options still need to be paid from a person’s transport allowance (or from their own pocket if they don't have or run out of this).
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Activity Based Transport (ABT): Transport “to, or from, or as part of, a community participation support.” Think things like supermarket trips with a support worker, going to an all ability music group with a support worker or going for a coffee - you guessed it - with a support worker. This is the type of transport that can be claimed from the new line items.
Summary - these changes mean that people will only be able to claim from the new transport items if they are going somewhere where they will be supported by the transport provider ALSO.
More Info: See the updated NDIS pricing guide and support catalogue here (bottom of page)
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