How to find an NDIS support worker: a guide for families arranging care.

What can a support worker help with?

A support worker helps a person with disability with everyday life. What they do depends on the person's goals and needs, and the supports in the plan.

This guide is for families and carers arranging care for someone, not for people looking for support work. It explains how to find a support worker through the NDIS, with a focus on personal care at home.

Support can be paid from NDIS funding if it's included in the plan. The NDIA, the agency that runs the NDIS, decides what goes in a plan.

What can't a support worker do?

Some limits come from the worker's skills and training. Others come from what NDIS funding can pay for.

Limits to know about

• Tasks they aren't trained for. The NDIS Commission, the government regulator, says workers should be honest about the limits of their skills. They should decline any task they don't have the training or qualifications for, even if a family member asks.
• High-intensity supports without added skills. Examples are tube feeding, complex bowel care, urinary catheter care and complex wound care. The NDIS says these must be provided by a worker with added qualifications and experience. Read about high-intensity supports.
• Medication decisions. The NDIS Commission says only suitably qualified medical practitioners can recommend prescribing, giving or stopping medication. Ask the person's GP.
• Health treatment. Diagnosis, clinical treatment, medicines and hospital services aren't NDIS supports. The health system provides them.
• Everyday costs. A worker can help with the shopping, but NDIS funding can't pay for groceries or rent. These are day-to-day living costs.
• Paying family members. The NDIS generally doesn't pay family members to provide supports, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

How do you find a disability support worker?

You can start with any of these, and use more than one.

You can find NDIS support workers through a provider, which generally arranges the support and takes responsibility for the workers. Support workers can also work for themselves, and self-managed funding lets a person employ or contract workers directly.

What's the difference between registered and unregistered providers?

Registered providers are registered with the NDIS Commission. Unregistered providers aren't. How the plan is managed decides which ones can be used.

Registered providers must meet strict conditions for the quality and safety of their services. Unregistered providers are often small, local operators. Both must follow the NDIS Code of Conduct.

A plan can mix these. A few supports need a registered provider however the funding is managed, such as supported independent living and specialist behaviour support. Personal care isn't on that list today. See how prices work in NDIS personal care rates.

Employing a worker directly means taking on an employer's duties, including wages, superannuation, insurance and a safe place to work.

What is the NDIS Worker Screening Check?

It's a national check. A state or territory screening unit assesses whether a worker poses a threat to a person with disability. It then decides if they're cleared or excluded.

A clearance is valid for up to 5 years across Australia. In Victoria, workers don't get a card or certificate. The result goes on a national database. The check doesn't replace a Working with Children Check, which a worker may also need if the person is a child.

To check a worker yourself, apply for access to the national database through the NDIS Commission's self-managed participants portal, then link the worker. They must have applied for a check first. Only the status "Clearance" means a current clearance. With a provider, ask them to confirm it in writing.

What questions should you ask a support worker or provider?

You can meet as many providers as you need. You don't have to choose the first one you meet.

The NDIA says a person can choose who they work with, and what support they get and when. These are good questions to ask a support worker or provider.

About the worker

• Can the person have a female or male worker on every shift?
• Can a worker speak the language used at home?
• What personal care training have they had, such as moving and positioning?
• Have they done the NDIS Worker Orientation Module?
• Do they have a current NDIS worker screening clearance?
• Can we meet them first, and ask for a change if it isn't a good fit?

About backup and cost

• What happens when the worker is sick? Who comes, and will they know the routine?
• How much notice will we get if a shift changes?
• Are you registered? If not, what insurance and safety checks do you have?
• What are the prices, travel costs and other fees?
• What are the cancellation rules and fees?
• Who do we call if something goes wrong?

The NDIS Commission says a provider or worker must offer interpreter services if the person needs them to access supports.

If you're hiring directly, the NDIS Commission has recruitment resources, with example interview questions and templates.

What should you get in writing?

A service agreement records what you and the provider have agreed to. The NDIA recommends one when starting with a new provider.

What a service agreement should include

• Names and contact details, including any guardian or representative
• Each support, with the hours, unit price and total cost
• How, where and how often each support is delivered
• Extra charges, such as travel
• Start, end and review dates
• Cancellation rules and fees, and what happens if the provider cancels or replaces a support
• How to change or end the agreement, and the notice needed
• Who to contact, and how to raise a complaint
• Anything you agreed about worker gender, language or backup

Service agreements aren't required for most supports, but they make things clear. You can ask for changes, words you understand and an interpreter. Take the time you need, and get help if you want it. You can say no. The NDIA has a template. If you hire a contractor or employ staff, you'll likely have a contract or employment agreement instead.

Keep your copy. The NDIA and the NDIS Commission don't keep service agreements and can't enforce them. An agreement also can't remove a provider's responsibilities under the NDIS Code of Conduct or Australian Consumer Law.

What if something goes wrong?

It's okay to speak up. Providers can be changed at any time.

Talk to the provider first if you feel able to. A support coordinator or someone you trust can do it for you. If that doesn't help, find a new provider before ending with the old one, so there's no gap. Read how to change NDIS providers. Anyone, including family and carers, can raise a concern with the NDIS Commission.

• NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission1800 035 544Complaints about the quality or safety of supports
• NDIS (NDIA)1800 800 110Plans, funding and finding providers

If anyone is in danger, call 000.

This guide is general information, not advice about a particular plan.