DISABILITY SERVICES, SELF-MANAGED FUNDING

The Hon. S.G. WADE (17:16): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Disabilities in relation to self-managed funding.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Next week marks the fourth anniversary of the then minister Weatherill announcing the state government was considering self-managed funding for people living with disability. I note that today the Governor in his speech said:

As a demonstration of this new approach, the Government will create a new Disability Act, that will enable every person with a disability who currently receives more than six hours a week of support to make their own decisions on how to manage their own funding and lives.

Four years later. I ask the minister:

1. Can the minister advise how many people does the government estimate will be eligible for self-managed funding under the government's criterion of receiving six or more hours of disability support a week?

2. Can the minister advise what percentage of people receiving disability support does the number of people eligible for self-managed funding represent?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (17:17): I thank the honourable member for his very important question and acknowledge his ongoing interest in this very important topic. The self-managed funding initiative will give people with disability control and choice over how their funding allocation to support needs is spent.

We had a trial which has been ongoing for the past 12 months. Sixty-two individuals have been involved in that trial but, as of January, we have a total of 53 participants currently in place in that trial. Their response to me and to the department, when we asked them how they feel about that trial, was that it has been one of the best things that has happened to them in terms of their disability and their funding.

One participant chose computer software that will help to improve their literacy and numeracy skills because the flexibility of that funding allowed them to do so, whereas previously they couldn't. One parent has been able to reconfigure some support hours to create a more individualised day option for his daughter. Another participant, who is supported by parents, has chosen to purchase home maintenance services that will greatly assist his parents in the caring role.

I offer those vignettes just to advise people of what self-managed funding can achieve for people when we allow them to have the flexibility in spending their money which they have not previously had. Finding ways to improve choice for people with disability was identified as a priority within the Department for Families and Communities strategic plan. It was also a priority in the Strong Voices report of Monsignor Cappo.

So, in December 2011, as the honourable member said, Premier Weatherill announced that the state government would radically reform the provision of support for people with disability, following the release of the disability blueprint Strong Voices. Under the changes, people with disability will be able to choose the services that best suit their needs and aspirations through the introduction of personalised budgets. These budgets have been in place for about 15 years in the UK. They are well developed, and the learnings that we can take from the UK in implementing our system will hasten the introduction of this process.

We are hoping to post out letters of availability to clients over the next few weeks, and we are hoping that several thousand of them will be able to take up this offer over the next 12 to 18 months in terms of their personal budgets. People will be able to choose the arrangement that suits their needs. We are not going to impose any changes on them. If they are happy with the current system as it provides their services, then they can stay with the current system, or, they can have a degree of flexibility in their services that suits them.

Some participants might want to take absolute control of their budget and control the hiring of their support staff, the paying of the wages, and the taxation and superannuation situation as well. That is entirely up to them. They may wish to take a broker who can do that for them, or they may wish to have another authority, such as an accountant or a service provider, to do that part of the provision. It really comes down to their individual choice.

To date, the work on self-managed funding has focused on putting in place initial systems and processes required for the first phase of self-managed funding. New funding agreements and processes specific to self-managed funding will be developed to enable participants to have their choice and their control, but will also fulfil the government's obligation in relation to duty of care and, of course, accountability in public funds.

The aim is to develop a system where people who receive six or more hours a week of disability services are able to have control and make choices related to their funded support arrangements. However, not everyone will want to directly manage their own funding and support systems. Again it is all about choice.

We have no way of knowing exactly how many of our clients will take up this option. Experience in the UK shows that the uptake will be slow initially, perhaps somewhere between 15 and 25 per cent of our client base, but as that process of self-managed funding accelerates and people in the community start to talk about the successes they have with it, the situation in the UK is that there has been an increased uptake over the years and they are possibly expecting somewhere between 40 and 50 per cent of our client base to take up this option within 24 months.