Frequently asked questions
The Framework is organised around the essential characteristics of work in the NDIS. There are five broad objectives to describe common expectations:
- Our relationship: Set up our relationship for success
- Your Impact: Know your capabilities, role and impact
- Support Me: Support me to pursue what’s important to me
- Be Present: Be present and provide the support I need
- Check In: Work with me to evaluate and act on what is working and what is not
All five objectives apply to workers who work directly with the participant to deliver general or advanced support, such as support workers, allied health assistants and health and allied health practitioners. The first three objectives also apply to ancillary workers, such as cleaners and receptionists.
The Framework is not mandatory. It is provided as guidance to all stakeholders to explain expectations about the way support is provided. It translates the NDIS Practice Standards and Code of Conduct into observable behaviours that service providers and workers should demonstrate when delivering supports and services to people with disability. It also describes essential features of organisational culture, systems and practices needed to support a capable workforce. The intent is to drive and promote positive engagement in a culture of mutual respect and participant-focused, quality supports.
The capabilities in Framework describe the way work is done and the essential knowledge required rather than detailing work practices or procedures. This provides the foundation for building position descriptions and work procedures, suited to different participant needs and delivery environments. The capabilities are designed to cover a breadth of different work and roles. They do not align to industrial classifications or price items as this depends on the context and manner in which they are applied.
There are a number of occupational and sector-wide frameworks that address aspects of the NDIS workforce, developed by peak organisations, professional bodies, training organisations, state governments and others.
The development of the Framework involved an extensive process of sector consultation, including engaging with other framework developers to ensure alignment, where appropriate, and reinforce good practice. The Framework provides a single, coherent, national description of the Government’s expectations about the attitudes, skills and knowledge of NDIS workers.
The Framework complements and provides additional advice, but does not replace existing guidance on occupational standards, such as for health and allied health practitioners. The Framework describes how these occupational groups should apply their professional skills and knowledge when delivering NDIS-funded support.
The Framework complements and provides additional advice, but does not replace existing advice published by the NDIS Commission on workforce capability requirements. This includes advice contained in the High Intensity Support Skill Descriptors and the Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework.
Once you have selected the type of work and any relevant additional capabilities, you can save your selection by bookmarking the page. This is done by selecting ‘bookmark this page’ on the navigation menu that appears on the right hand side of the page once you have selected your capabilities. This will guide you to the correct action to bookmark the page in your browser, e.g. ctrl + D. Bookmarking the page in your browser will allow you to revisit the page without reselecting your worker level and relevant additional capabilities.
You can also save your selection to your desktop using your browser’s print function. To save your complete selection, navigate to ‘view all objectives’ as this will show all relevant objectives and capabilities on one page.
- Once on the 'view all objectives' page use your browser’s print function, usually located under file or options and then print.
- Select 'print to pdf' or 'Adobe PDF' from the list of printers in the print dialogue box.
- Click print, you should then be prompted to enter a file name for your pdf and choose a location to save it.
A number of key Framework resources are available in a variety of formats to improve accessibility for the community.
Click here to visit the Accessible resources and animation videos