Social Policy Essay

This essay critically examines the NDIS policy in Australia, focusing on its impact on individuals with disabilities and the role of human service practitioners. It analyzes the policy's strengths and weaknesses, highlighting areas for improvement, particularly in terms of choice, control, and integration with mainstream services. The essay proposes frameworks for enhancing the NDIS policy at both micro and meso levels, aiming to ensure equitable access and support for all individuals with disabilities.

ESSAY ON SOCIAL
POLICY

Table of Contents
SOCIAL POLICY ...........................................................................................................................1
Examining the Policy of NDIS...............................................................................................2
Development of Frameworks to improve the NDIS Policy...................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

SOCIAL POLICY
A Human Service Practitioner is one which is involved either directly or indirectly with a
diverse set of clients ranging from individuals, groups to communities (Green and Mears, 2014).
They work across many domains of practice and entail different types of roles for a different
client group. A Human service practitioner may organize as well as lead group activities, counsel
their clients through crisis intervention, manage a food bank or provide emergency services.
Hence, one can say that a job of human service practitioner is of highly diversified nature. For
instance, a human service practitioner may make arrangements for transportation and escorts for
an individual whereas for another they may provide emotional support. The main role of a
human service practitioner includes assessment of client needs, establishment of eligibility for
benefits and services along with ensuring that such rewards are achieved by such client groups.
In addition to this, they may also monitor and maintain case records in order to gain insights on
client progress for supervisory and case management purposes.
Similar to other health and care organisations and practitioners, human service domain
also binds its professionals to follow a certain set of policies so as to ensure that there is no client
group that remains evasive of any benefit or service they are entitled to get. These policies are
mainly regulated by Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) which outlines a number
of practices standards for such professionals (AASW Practice Guidelines, 2019). The AASW
defines social work as “a practice-based profession and an academic discipline” which aims to
promote social change and development through empowerment as well as liberation of people.
With a view to achieve this, the practice standards outlined by the national organisation include
the expectation of service demanded of a social worker by the people they serve. Such standards
also act as a guiding light for the practitioners to ensure that they fulfil their duties in a
responsible, cohesive and timely manner. For this purpose, the human service workers are
required to follow a Code of Ethics which identifies values and ethics as well as act as a standard
to regulate work conduct and accountability (AASW Practice Standards, 2019). This Code of
Ethics is required to be followed by the universal audience. It requires the workers to respect
people, provide social justice and maintain professional integrity.
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Examining the Policy of NDIS
A Human Service Practitioner may work either independently or in association with an
organisation. It is worthy to note that working with individuals, groups, communities or families
do not require such professionals to follow same set of policies as all of them are mutually
exclusive (Marston, Cowling and Bielefeld, 2016). It is required by the practitioners to include
mental health, child well being and protection, cross-cultural practice as well as practice with
developing the framework Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities while
developing a social care program for a certain set of client groups. The absence of such tools
may result in chaos and confusion for such parties. Also, the practitioners are needed to employ a
Client File Audit Tool in order to main information regarding them. Similarly, various state
governments have a particular standard followed by them. A human service practitioner
oversees, with a motive only serving selflessly, that such communities' needs are duly identified,
their benefits and services established as well as ensure that they are obtained by these client
groups. Hence, it is important for them to take responsibility of client's interest with due regards
to the interests of others except in special circumstances where a human service professional may
take action as they deem fit.
The Australian Government Department of Human Services (DHHS) provides various
services to individuals such as Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support (Baldwin, 2016). Under
Centrelink too, the policy for child support payments are provisioned to those whose parents
separated after conducting a full length assessment, collection of finance and its transfer thereof
to such children (Centrelink Scheme, 2019). Similar to this, a scheme for disabled individuals
known as National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been launched by the Australian
Government that funds reasonable and necessary support to help such people achieve their goals
throughout life (NDIS Scheme, 2019). Here, the term 'reasonable and necessary support' refers to
the goals and objectives of an individual, such as a child, that are in direct relationship with their
circumstance, value for money, beneficial for the child and is based on adequate amount of
evidence. It understands that different people have different needs and aspirations in their lives,
hence, it helps them in meeting those aims by way of support services. Such services are mainly
provided by Human Service Practitioners which are, in turn, backed by the NDIS Policy itself.
For instance, if a child is suffering from permanent disablement, the Policy gives support to the
child as well as their family such as provisioning of adequate equipment like wheelchair to the
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patient. Also, crisis intervention including early therapy sessions and other necessary
technologies are also catered under NDIS. Currently, this Policy provides for 4.3 million
individuals directly. This Policy is mainly regulated by the National Disability Insurance Agency
(NDIA).
This Social Policy Innovation was first introduced in July 2013 by the State and Territory
Governments of Australia. One can review their NDIS Plan on an annual basis. This helps in
giving room for improvement as one is able to modify the plans accordingly based on what
works best for them and what does not. It had brought a major shift in opinions, perceptions as
well as mechanism of addressing the issues related to disability. The Victorian Council of Social
Service, an organisation dedicated towards eliminating poverty and disadvantages from the
society, constitutes of human services practitioners that provide Disability Advocacy Resources
to those in need (VCOSS, 2019). It is of the view that the NDIS Policy Outcomes may not prove
to be helpful to those that face multiple and complex disabilities, thus, incurring risk of losing
out. One of the biggest limitation of this Policy is that it requires the policy users or receiver to
be digitally literate (Issues with NDIS Policy, 2019). This means that until and unless the
individual is able to easily navigate through the system and understand its workings such as what
choice of service would be best for them, what kind of needs and goals are required to be met
through the exercising of such choices, the policy is of no use to them. In addition to this, the
individual needs to be able to manage, control as well as self-advocate their plan confidently to
the service providers like Human Service Practitioners. As far as Disabled community is
concerned, this is not a viable option for everyone.
It is also important to take a note of the fact that more choice and control is not equal
for everyone as cases of diverse set disabilities would require separate measures to be taken in
order to provide life support to the users of NDIS Policy. For instance, individuals suffering from
a mental or psychological disability would not be able to articulate themselves effectively in
regards to what type of plan they are looking for neither would their family members or the
human service professionals would be able to completely grasp the idea of what they need or
want. Hence, it becomes difficult to get a wide range of choices or control, for that matter. It is
also crucial to understand the fact that when one talks about choice and control, it is up to the
user to choose the professional with whom they want to work. As there is lack of service
providers in the industry who can effectively work with individuals suffering from mental or
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psychological disablement, the waiting list is long for such patients with limited information and
inflexibilities present in the system. Thus, leading to decline in the level of satisfaction as far as
choice and control is concerned.
Lastly, it has been observed that apart form the client group discussed above, the speed of
NDIS Roll-Out, with its time-consuming and complex procedures has also resulted in impacting
individuals belonging to specific cohorts like indigenous groups. Thus, creating a negative
impact on how the NDIS Policy has been implemented as a whole in relation to the Mainstream
Sector. NDIS Roll-Out means that there is a significant increase in the workforce itself. Also, the
complex nature has resulted in reducing the capacity to work well in collaboration with the
mainstream sector. As a result, service gaps have been created. Also, the Pricing Model of NDIS
play a major role on how the individuals perceive and feel supported. Here, Quality of Service
delivered as well as its availability become two of the most essential factors. Hence, the lack of
matching skillet or expertise as well as time required to deliver such support services efficiently.
In addition to this, the pricing structure of NDIS may itself contradict the principles of Insurance
Schemes itself in certain circumstances.
Development of Frameworks to improve the NDIS Policy
In order to achieve improve the NDIS policy, it is highly crucial to understand the
individual needs and preferences of different individuals on two levels viz. Micro and Meso
Level. On a Micro Level, the main focus is placed on the small-scale individual interactions that
occur between the Policy Benefit Seeker and Provider. Here, the seekers are those individual
clients who are suffering from permanent, temporary or any other kind of disablement. Whereas
the Meso Level is more conformed towards the interactions which occur between the Micro and
Macro levels of society. Before developing the framework to implement necessary policy
changes, it is important to compare personal values against professional values critical for a
human service practitioner in carrying out their roles and responsibilities effectively (Foster and
et.al., 2016). Even though, it may be difficult to determine which critical factors are impacting
the aforementioned Social Policy of NDIS, there are some of the key cases which may be looked
upon to measure whether this policy has been implemented justly or not. This will help in
understanding the key areas which are affecting the overall social policy and its impact on the
client groups in both direct as well as indirect manner. Since it is important for the Service
Providers to be highly integrated with the system and what it demands, frameworks developed at
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both Micro as well as Meso level require that they are well-versed with each and every type of
disablements that are present nationwide. One may follow the steps mentioned below in order to
achieve necessary changes in the social policy:
 Micro Level: At this level, NDIS Policy has includes the direct interactions between the
seekers of the support and the providers of the support. That is, the human service
practitioners and the individuals. Hence, the main improvement areas related to this level
include ensuring that the amount of choice options presented to the participants of NDIS
Policy are at par with other areas coming under this Scheme. Along with this, the degree
of control is regulated to the extent that it does not result in potential risk of losing out for
the Policy Seekers. It can be clearly observed through the limitations listed in previous
section that while there is a community of individuals that have greatly benefited from
this Scheme, there is a minority group of individuals that are still worse off. Hence, on
the professional front, a human service practitioner is required to prioritise client needs,
fairly allocate resources and make sure that the eligible benefits and services are obtained
by such parties. For them, it is important to closely monitor their actions as well as
reactions by implementing a more person-centric approach to such cases. Also, ensuring
that there is a strong foundation developed for those participants who feel vulnerable is
strongly recommended so as to safeguard their interests and rights under this Policy
(Evaluation of NDIS Policy, 2019).
 Meso Level: There exists a lack of integration between various sectors to which the
social policy applies. For instance, there is a difference between the NDIS and
mainstream services provided by the Policy Makers which has caused a service gap
between the two. On the other hand, there has been a problem of articulation between the
individuals seeking relief under NDIS Policy and the Human Service providers as this
policy requires self-advocacy of plans, choice and control. Thus, leading to unequal
deliverance of outcomes between various individual client groups that are suffering from
diverse sets of disablement. Specifically, those who are not able to articulate struggle to
navigate and understand the nuances of the NDIS Policy and its related processes. Thus,
it is important to better respond and provide improved assistance to such groups through
implementation of specialised plans and procedures that could help them in exercising
their choice and control in a much more effective manner. Under-funded areas such as
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alternative therapies, family support, social and recreational activities could be focused
upon so as to better understand the needs of such cohorts on a deeper and meaningful
levels. Also, it is important for them to support the community needs, understand their
circumstances with a motive to provide greater independence as well as improved quality
of life through the support services provisioned under the NDIS Scheme. Apart from this,
improved collaboration, communication and information sharing between NDIS and
Mainstream Sectors can help in ensuring smoother transition between the two, thus,
closing the service gap between these two sectors (Bonyhady, 2014).
Through critical examination and development of frameworks one can conclude that the
human service practitioners have worked in different domains that make them well versed with
different situations that impact the well-being of a diverse set of individuals as compared to their
other social servicing providing counterparts. This is an important criterion for schemes such as
NDIS Policy that require one to have a strong skill set and an in-depth expertise in regards to
various individuals suffering from a particular type of disability. Hence, it becomes important for
them to be clear regarding the social policy and what it requires so as to deliver better services to
their client groups. This is highly crucial in order to create a Social Policy which is highly
innovative and in synchronization with the needs, goals as well as aspirations of individuals
suffering from diverse set of disablements.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal:
Green, J. and Mears, J., 2014. The implementation of the NDIS: Who wins, who
loses?. Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 6(2). pp.25-39.
Marston, G., Cowling, S. and Bielefeld, S., 2016. Tensions and contradictions in Australian
social policy reform: compulsory income management and the National Disability
Insurance Scheme. Australian Journal of Social Issues. 51(4). pp.399-417.
Foster, M. and et.al., 2016. ‘Reasonable and necessary’care: the challenge of operationalising the
NDIS policy principle in allocating disability care in Australia. Australian Journal of
Social Issues. 51(1). pp.27-46.
Bonyhady, B., 2014. The NDIS: a call to action. Parity. 27(5). p.8.
Online
AASW Practice Guidelines. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/3550>
AASW Practice Standards. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/4551>
NDIS Scheme. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://raisingchildren.net.au/disability/ndis/about-ndis/ndis-faqs>
Centrelink Scheme. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/child-support>
VCOSS. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://vcoss.org.au/about/the-vcoss-team/>
Issues with NDIS Policy. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://vcoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/SUB_180308_VCOSS-Submission-
on-Market-Readiness-for-the-NDIS_FINAL.pdf>
Evaluation of NDIS Policy. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/11_2016/final_intermediate_repo
rt_wcag_compliant_24_nov_2016.pdf>
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