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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-04-04 Daily Xml
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DISABILITY SERVICES, SELF-MANAGED FUNDING

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Disabilities. Will the minister provide an update on the introduction of individualised and self-managed funding within Disability Services?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (15:08): I thank the honourable member for his very important question. As highlighted in the Governor's recent address to parliament, disability reform will be a major focus of the Weatherill government. The introduction of individualised funding is the centrepiece of this reform and will be rolled out in three stages.

I am pleased to advise the chamber that the first stage of the new system has now commenced. My department is sending letters to 2,250 current clients of Community and Home Support SA who have an existing individual allocation offering them the choice of managing their own individualised budget. Of the 2,250 clients, 130 are children less than 18 years old. I am advised that stage 2 will involve approximately 5,000 clients, those who receive currently individual support through block funded arrangements. Stage 2 letters of offer will be sent to them in late 2012.

Stage 3 will involve approximately 2,000 clients of Disability Services or non-government organisations living in group or shared accommodation. By the end of 2013, all clients of Disability Services with high to very high support needs will have a personal budget and be given the choice of self-management. Everyone who receives more than six hours per week of support is eligible for this new system. Where there is a child or person with an intellectual disability involved, a family member or guardian can be their agent.

We know that the best person to make decisions about disability support services is the person who is receiving them. They know what services would best suit their own unique circumstances. Clients will draw up a personal support plan for how their individual budget is to be spent. This personal support plan is a guide, not a contract, on what must be purchased. Choice and control will lie with the individual person with the disability. Clients can choose when, where and how they access support. They can change arrangements at any time so long as it is consistent with their personal support plan.

Clients can choose to manage their own budgets themselves, or they can choose to have payments administered by a parent or guardian, a professional broker or an NGO or Disability Services. Clients will have the opportunity to choose their own providers. There will be, of course, safeguards in place to maintain quality of care. For instance, personal care support workers will need accreditation and police clearances, and workers will need to be paid, at minimum, award wages.

We have seen already the power of this new system when it comes to negotiating with existing service providers. One Disability Services client who began self-management only in recent weeks has already benefited from changing providers and negotiating a better financial arrangement with her new provider. This has meant that she has been able to increase her existing 50 hours of support per week to 60 hours each week without extra charge.

The difference in this woman's life is amazing. It is not overstating things to say that those extra 10 hours have allowed her to stay in the family home instead of transitioning into supported accommodation, a prospect she faced just over a month ago. Because of this self-managed funding, this client can now remain at home with her husband and family.

The introduction of individualised funding will certainly make a real difference to the life of people living with a disability. We know this based on the international experience but also based on the feedback gathered from a recently concluded trial of self-managed funding here in South Australia. The trial enabled 56 existing clients of Community and Home Support South Australia to self-manage their individual budgets. An independent review of the trial concluded that:

...individualised funding and self-managed funding significantly enhances the choice, dignity, control and empowerment of people who have a disability, their families and also their carers.

The new system will be a rights-based system as opposed to the current welfare-based model. The new system will focus on early intervention, and this will mean that the government is no longer pouring money into the crisis end of the system but providing more effective support where it is needed.

National Disability Services, the peak national body representing disability service providers, wrote to the Premier in December last year congratulating the government on this major reform. NDS will be working closely with the government, along with Purple Orange and other sector leaders, to ensure that service providers are supported during this all-important transition phase.

The introduction of individualised funding also ensures that South Australia is adequately prepared for the introduction of the commonwealth's National Disability Insurance Scheme. As the federal Minister for Disability Reform acknowledges, individualised funding is at the very heart of the NDIS.

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