Position Description Tool

This Position Description Tool (PD Tool) provides a step-by-step guide to building position descriptions based on the Framework. The tool provides two options. The first is designed for participants who are self-managing or involved in developing position descriptions for their workers. The second option is designed for NDIS providers.

The PD Tool will automatically populate with capabilities from the Framework based on the type of role you are creating. The Framework does not provide detailed descriptions of tasks as these are determined by the hiring provider in consultation with the participant.

This is an interactive tool. You can choose to complete the tool online in one sitting or download the tool as a Word document once you have entered the following information:

Position title
Position purpose
Type of work (selected from the Framework)
Additional capabilities (selected from the Framework)

For more information on this tool refer to the Factsheet or the FAQ document (Listen to PDF). You can also view a tutorial on how use to the tool or download a transcript of the tutorial.

Download a position description template

You can download an accessible, fillable PDF template for five different roles:

General support work | PDF | Listen to PDF
Advanced support work | PDF | Listen to PDF
Ancillary work | PDF | Listen to PDF
Senior management and leadership | PDF | Listen to PDF
Supervision and frontline management | PDF | Listen to PDF

To know

Data remains confidential and anonymous. The data you enter will NOT be collected or saved on this site.

Allow up to 30 minutes to complete the PD Tool

You can choose to complete the whole document online in one sitting, or download the tool as a Word document at any point once you have populated the capabilities.

Download NDIS Participants PD Tool offline user guide

Download NDIS Providers PD Tool offline user guide

YOUR PROGRESS

Purpose of position

Employer information

Responsibilities and requirements

Capability framework

Review

Generate

Purpose of position

What is your situation?

There are two different versions of the tool. Please select the relevant button for your situation:

NDIS participant You are an NDIS participant or a family member/carer who manages workers

NDIS provider organisation You are an NDIS support provider who employs workers

Organisation name

( optional )

Enter the name of your organisation here. This will be displayed at the top of the position description.

Company logo

( optional )

You can upload an image of your company logo to be displayed on the final position description. File type must be PNG, JPG or JPEG

upload image title

Choose a file

Position title Tip:

A wide range of support positions are funded under the NDIS.
Applicants typically use the the position title as their starting point when looking for a suitable role.
Consider the search terms a potential applicant might use when looking for positions online.
Select clear and simple words that are commonly used in the disability sector, for example “Disability Support Worker”, or “Team leader”.

Position purpose What is the purpose of the position?
Tip:

This should be a short summary of the overall objectives of the position. For example: to improve the capacity of the participant, or to provide supervision and practice guidance to disability support workers.
This should not be a full list of responsibilities and tasks. These will be covered in “Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities”.

The purpose should broadly describe what the role does and the expected outcomes. For example: “The purpose of this position is to support people with disability to complete tasks, build their capacity and strengthen community engagement and access”.

0 of 750 Characters recommended

Position purpose What is the purpose of the position?
This is where you can briefly describe the overall objectives of the position to support you to achieve your goals. For example: The role is to support me with my day-to-day activities including getting ready for work, preparing meals and participating in community activities.

You don't need to describe the full list of responsibilities and tasks. This is covered later under "Key Tasks and expectations".

0 of 750 Characters recommended

Type of work Tip:

Once you select the role type, your position description will auto-populate with relevant capabilities from the Framework.
The Framework organises roles into five broad types of work. These are not intended to correspond to specific roles or award classifications.
The same core capabilities may apply to roles at different levels or performing different tasks.
The grade or classification of roles will be determined by other factors such as accountabilities, complexity of tasks, supervision responsibilities, etc.

Choose an option from the five categories listed below to generate the core capabilities relevant to the position you are creating. The corresponding capabilities can be reviewed towards the end of the tool.

General Support Work Covers a broad range of personal support activities and describes most work conducted by support workers.

Advanced Support Work Involves more complex, specialised, or intense support activities, including Allied Health. For example, specialised support workers, allied health practitioners, support coordinators, or other specialists.

Ancillary Work Covers delivery of other services funded under the NDIS, e.g. transport, gardening, cleaning.

Supervision and Frontline Management Front line supervisors, managers, coaches and team leaders.

Senior Management and Leadership Senior Managers, leaders, board members who create organisational values, culture and business systems to enable workers to deliver services and supports.

What is the position type?

Downloading your incomplete description We recommend you complete your position description in one session, however if you are unable to do that, you can download your draft position description and complete it offline once you have filled in the 'Purpose of Position' and 'Capability Framework' pages of this tool

Get instructions on how to complete this full description offline
Instructions for Provider organisations
Instructions for participants'

Capability framework

Employer information

Company overview

( optional )

Enter a short overview of your organisation.
For example:

"Company A is an NDIS provider, offering general and specialised hearing support services to NDIS funded people with disabilities in the Brisbane area and surrounding suburbs"

0 of 750 Characters recommended

Company values

( optional )

Workers often look for organisations that have values aligned with their own. It is important to state your organisation's core values.
For example:

We are a local service provider committed to social justice and strengthening community.
You may want to describe your organisation’s core values here.
We aim to break down disability barriers to ensure that people of all ages and abilities have equal access to life's opportunities.
We support our employees and take a partnership approach to development.

0 of 1500 Characters recommended

About me

( optional )

You may want to provide some information about yourself that would be useful for your potential worker to know. You should only provide details you are comfortable with others knowing.
For example:

I have a physical disability and need support in the morning to get ready for work.
I am a proud member of the rainbow community.
I love being outside and to experience nature.
I really like listening to rock music, but I don't love being in conversations with more than 2 or 3 people.
I'm enjoying learning more about photography right now and looking for opportunities to take photos that people might pay for as a business.

0 of 1500 Characters recommended

My values and expectations

( optional )

List your values and what you expect from the person providing you support. These describe how you would like the person to behave or personality traits.
For example:

I am looking for workers who are patient and resilient.
I am a people person and value people who show a genuine interest in who I am and what I like to do.
I expect my workers to know how to support me to uphold my rights.

Tip:

If you would like more ideas on what to include in this section, have a look through the behavioural indicators in the Framework.

0 of 1500 Characters recommended

Work location(s)

( optional )

State where the worker will work so they know how much travel would be involved.
Tip:

If you expect the work to be carried out in more than one location, it is useful to indicate this.

For example:

Work location: Most of your work will be based in Castlemaine. Once a week I work in Melbourne and will require support while I am there.

0 of 500 Characters recommended

Work location(s)

( optional )

State where the worker will work so they know how much travel would be involved.
Tip:

If you expect the work to be carried out in more than one location, it is useful to indicate this.

For example:

Work location: Most of your work will be based in Castlemaine. You will be expected to travel to other locations, such as Melbourne, occassionally as needed.

0 of 500 Characters recommended

Organisational relationships

( optional )

Provide key contacts for the role and the organisational context.
For example:

This might be the department or team, supervisor, reporting officer, and any other staff or teams, with which the role is required to interact.

0 of 500 Characters recommended

Work setting(s)

( optional )

It may be useful to provide more information about the work setting.
Tip:

Use the drop-down list for suggestions or use free text to provide this information

SELECTION

Other work setting for your position description.

Pay range/award/conditions

( optional )

This is a free text field where you can enter information such as dollars per hour, dollars per annum/year, SCHADS Award, or any other information relevant to pay and conditions. It is also useful to note other conditions such as superannuation, leave, training.

Type of employment

( optional )

Select from the list below

Permanent

Temporary

Casual

Working hours

( optional )

Enter the expected working hours.
Tip:

Indicate whether the position requires regular hours, every week, or irregular hours and different days.

For example, work is required:

Every Monday and Wednesday
15 hours of work per week
On a fortnightly roster

0 of 1000 Characters recommended

Other conditions

( optional )

Enter any other conditions that apply to the role.
For example:

Flexible hours
Leave conditions
Superannuation
Training required / training opportunities
Driver's licence and use of the employee's own car.

0 of 1000 Characters recommended

Get instructions on how to complete this full description offline
Instructions for Provider organisations
Instructions for participants'

Responsibilities and requirements

Key accountabilities and responsibilities

( optional )

Set out the main responsibilities and expectations of the position.
Tip:

It is not necessary to describe every responsibility and task.
Provide enough information for applicants to understand the type of responsibilities required and expectations of the capabilities and behaviours they need to demonstrate (responsibilities may be organisation wide, or specific to supporting an individual participant).
The tool will automatically download the capabilities required for the position and their definitions, so you do not need to repeat those.
Refer to the detailed behavioural indicators in the Framework for ideas on the responsibilities and accountabilities you want to highlight.

You should limit your list to no more than 10 dot points.
For example:

Comply with the NDIS Code of Conduct to support participants' in ways that are respectful and inclusive
Apply principles of positive behaviour support when supporting participants' to implement their behaviour support plan
Coach and build confidence in participants' to develop the skills they need, such as cooking, budgeting, and shopping
Provide personal care, such as showering, dressing or other tasks, responding flexibly to participant preferences
Manage staff rostering to match worker capabilities with client needs and preferences
Provide debriefing, practice leadership, coaching and feedback on positive behaviour support to team workers
Support participants' to build the confidence and skills to develop social networks and connections

0 of 1000 Characters recommended

Key tasks and expectations

( optional )

Describe the main tasks and expectations for the position.
Tip:

This information prepares the worker for exactly what they are expected to do and how you want them to work with you so there are no surprises on the job.
You do not need to list every task - approximately six points are recommended.
Provide enough information so that they understand the main tasks and your expectations of capabilities.
You should not reveal personal details of your support needs that you are not comfortable to share with potential applicants.

For example:

Help me with my meal preparation
Assist me with my bathing and other personal hygiene
Support me to achieve the goals in my behaviour management plan
Work with me to build my confidence and skills to do my own shopping

0 of 1000 Characters recommended

My preferences

( optional )

You can outline any specific or alternative needs here.
For example:

I have a companion dog so you need to be comfortable working around animals.
I like to go out for a walk early in the morning.

0 of 1000 Characters recommended

Key relationships

( optional )

Enter any key contacts, such as members of your support team or family, that the applicant may be in regular contact with as part of this role and the relationship they have with them.
For example:

My parents opinions are important but I expect you to support me to make my own decisions.
My siblings are important to me and often accompany us to social events
Work with other support workers to coordinate my support

0 of 500 Characters recommended

Supervisory/management responsibilities

( optional )

List any peer support, supervisory or management responsibilities for other employees.
For example:

Work collaboratively and provide peer support
Provide practice leadership and opportunities for workers to reflect, debrief, and share learnings with team members
Manage staff rostering for a certain district

0 of 500 Characters recommended

Essential requirements

( optional )

List any essential requirements for the position.
Tip:

Only include what is essential to perform the role, so that workers who are otherwise suitable are not excluded.
Worker screening requirements should be included here. For more information on the NDIS worker screening requirements, see the page here.

SELECTION

Essential requirements

( optional )

List any essential requirements for the position.
Tip:

Only include what is essential to perform the role, so that workers who are otherwise suitable are not excluded.
Worker screening requirements should be included here. For more information on the NDIS worker screening requirements, see the page here.

SELECTION

If you selected “Other" above, specify requirement here

SELECTION

Qualifications

( optional )

Enter any required qualifications in the free text field below.
Tip:

Only include essential qualifications to avoid disqualifying otherwise appropriate workers.

For example:

Certificate III in Individual Support
Qualified occupational therapist and registered with AHPRA

0 of 1000 Characters recommended

Essential skills or experience

( optional )

Outline any required experience or skills.
For example:

Ability to communicate using Auslan sign language
Experience supporting a participant with swallowing difficulties
Experience supporting a participant who uses a catheter
Experience working with infants and young children

0 of 1000 Characters recommended

Desirable skills or experience

( optional )

Describe any skills or experience that would be useful to have but not essential.
For example:

Experience working with people with disability
Manual handling training
Experience with mental health
1:1 support experience

0 of 1000 Characters recommended

Budget/financial responsibilities

( optional )

Outline any budget or financial responsibilities of the role.
For example:

Budgeting for department or team
Managing and approving expenses for the team.

0 of 500 Characters recommended

Get instructions on how to complete this full description offline
Instructions for Provider organisations
Instructions for participants'

Capability framework

The PD tool has automatically downloaded the relevant capabilities for the position as an attachment, based on the type of work you selected at the beginning of the tool. To see the detailed behavioural indicators for each capability, please go to the Framework.
If the capabilities are not relevant for the role you are describing, you can go back and change your selection here

The Framework is written from the perspective of the participant, describing how support is experienced. For the purposes of populating the position description, the capability definitions have been expressed in terms of what the worker is expected to do.

Core capabilities for General Support Work

Our Relationship

Uphold participants' rights: Understand and respect the rights of the participant. Speak up and support the participant if those rights are not respected.

Communicate effectively: Support participants to express themselves and adjust your communication style to suit their needs and preferences.

Build trusted relationships: Develop and maintain professional relationships with the participants' and others present in their lives (friends, family, etc.), based on mutual trust and respect.

Work collaboratively: Recognise the roles and expertise of each person in the participant's support team and work with them to provide support.

Your Impact

Show self-awareness: Think about how your actions impact on the quality of support you provide, seek feedback, and keep improving your practice.

Work within your capabilities: Know your role and responsibilities, and when to seek support from others to develop your capabilities.

Look after yourself: Take care of yourself and manage your wellbeing.

Support Me

Understand what a good life means to the participant: Find out what a good life means to participants' without imposing your own assumptions.

Support participants to make their own choices: Support participants to understand, explore and think creatively about their options, and uphold their decisions.

Build the capacity of the participants' you work with: Understand how the person you are supporting would like to participate in society and support them to build their knowledge and connections so they can live the life they want.

Be Present

Observe and respond flexibly to the changing needs of participants': Be present, pay attention to how the needs of participants may change, and respond accordingly.

Manage health and safety: Support participants to look after their health. Take action and manage any health and safety risks to them or yourself.

Engage and motivate participants': Support participants to build on their strengths and engage them in meaningful ways.

Check In

Review quality of support and service: Work with participants to make sure services and supports are enabling them to live the life they want and support them to make changes when needed.

Support participants to speak up: Build understanding and confidence of participants to exercise their rights and support them to provide feedback and to raise any concerns, complaints or incidents.

The PD tool has automatically downloaded the relevant capabilities for the position as an attachment, based on the type of work you selected at the beginning of the tool. To see the detailed behavioural indicators for each capability, please go to the Framework.
If the capabilities are not relevant for the role you are describing, you can go back and change your selection here

Core capabilities for Advanced Support Work

Our relationship

Uphold participants' rights: Understand and respect the rights of participants. Speak up and support the participants' if their rights are not respected.

Communicate effectively: Support participants to express themselves and adjust your communication style to suit their needs and preferences.

Build trusted relationships: Develop and maintain professional relationships with the participants' and others present in their lives (friends, family, etc.), based on mutual trust and respect.

Work collaboratively: Recognise the roles and expertise of each person in the participant's support team and work with them to provide support.

Your Impact

Show self-awareness: Think about how your actions impact on the quality of the support you provide, seek feedback, and keep improving your practice.

Work within your capabilities: Know your role and responsibilities, and when to seek support from others to develop your capabilities.

Look after yourself: Take care of yourself and manage your wellbeing.

Support Me

Understand what a good life means to the participant: Find out what a good life means to participants' without imposing your own assumptions.

Support participants to make their own choices: Support participants to understand, explore and think creatively about their options, and uphold their decisions.

Be Present

Observe and respond flexibly to the changing needs of participants': Be present, pay attention to how the needs of participants may change, and respond accordingly.

Manage health and safety: Support participants to look after their health. Take action and manage any health and safety risks to them or yourself.

Engage and motivate participants': Support participants to build on their strengths and engage them in meaningful ways.

Check In

Review quality of support and service: Work with participants to make sure services and supports are enabling them to live the life they want and support them to make changes when needed.

Support participants to speak up: Build understanding and confidence of participants to exercise their rights and support them to provide feedback and to raise any concerns, complaints or incidents.

The PD tool has automatically downloaded the relevant capabilities for the position as an attachment, based on the type of work you selected at the beginning of the tool. To see the detailed behavioural indicators for each capability, please go to the Framework.
If the capabilities are not relevant for the role you are describing, you can go back and change your selection here

Core capabilities for Ancillary Work

Our Relationship

Uphold my rights: Understand and respect the rights of the participants'. Speak up if those rights are not respected.

Communicate effectively: Support the participants to express themselves and adjust your communication style to suit their needs.

Build trusted relationships: Develop and maintain a relationship with the participants' as well as those that are present in their lives (friends, family, etc.). Build relationships with the participants' based on mutual trust and respect

Your Impact

Show self-awareness: Think about how your actions impact on the quality of support you provide, seek feedback, and keep improving your practice.

Work within your capabilities: Know your role and responsibilities, and when to seek support from others to develop your capabilities.

Look after yourself: Take care of yourself and manage your wellbeing.

Support Me

Understand what a good life means to the participant: Find out what a good life means to participants' without making assumptions as to what that means.

The PD tool has automatically downloaded the relevant capabilities for the position as an attachment, based on the type of work you selected at the beginning of the tool. To see the detailed behavioural indicators for each capability, please go to the Framework.
If the capabilities are not relevant for the role you are describing, you can go back and change your selection here

Core capabilities for Supervision and Frontline Management

Manage, supervise and coach others:

Model and reinforce values in organisational culture and practice: Support and model a culture that promotes the principles of the NDIS, such as upholding rights, celebrating diversity and respecting the voice of those with lived experience.

Promote quality through consistent good practice: Set clear expectations of what best practice looks like, provide access to support and coaching, and develop worker awareness and capabilities to deliver quality supports and services.

Support health and manage risk: Implement policies, procedures and systems for effective health and risk management so that workers know their roles and responsibilities, look out for their own safety, and balance dignity of risk with duty of care when supporting participants'.

Foster and develop a capable workforce: Support workers to understand capability expectations at different levels, provide constructive feedback, and create informal and formal opportunities for them to develop their capabilities and build a career.

The PD tool has automatically downloaded the relevant capabilities for the position as an attachment, based on the type of work you selected at the beginning of the tool. To see the detailed behavioural indicators for each capability, please go to the Framework.
If the capabilities are not relevant for the role you are describing, you can go back and change your selection here

Core capabilities for Senior Management and Leadership

Create an enabling work environment:

Establish and embed NDIS values in organisational culture and practice: Set up and communicate business values and workplace culture to promote and reinforce the principles of the NDIS, such as upholding human rights, celebrating diversity and respecting the voice of those with lived experience.

Build consistent, good practice: Ensure organisational policies and procedures enable, support, and reinforce good practice. Establish processes to measure and adjust services to continually improve the quality and reliability of support.

Establish systems to support health and manage risk: Design approaches to manage health and risk, consistent with the rights of people with disability to take and learn from risks, NDIS and organisational values, and the right of workers to a safe work environment.

Establish a learning culture to support workforce capability: Create an organisational environment that sets and meets high quality service standards, promotes life-long learning and development, and supports career development for workers in disability and the wider care sector.

Get instructions on how to complete this full description offline
Instructions for Provider organisations
Instructions for participants'

Review and edit

Purpose of position

What is your situation?

Organisation name

Position title

Position purpose

Type of work

Other type of work

Employer information

Company overview

Company values

About me

My values and expectations

Work Location(s)

Organisational relationships

Work setting

If you selected other above, what is the other work setting(s) for your position description?

Pay range/award/conditions

Type of employment

Working hours

Other conditions

Responsibilities and requirements

Key accountabilities and responsibilities

Key tasks and expectations

My preferences

Key relationships

Supervisory/management responsibilities

Essential requirements

If you selected “Other" above, specify requirement here

Qualifications

Desirable skills or experience

Essential skills or experience

Budget/financial responsibilities

Capability framework

Uphold participants' rights

Communicate effectively

Build trusted relationships

Work collaboratively

Show self-awareness

Work within your capabilities

Look after yourself

Understand what a good life means to the participant

Support participants to make their own choices

Build the capacity of the participants' you work with

Observe and respond flexibly to the changing needs of participants'

Manage health and safety

Engage and motivate participants'

Review quality of support and service

Support participants to speak up

Uphold participants' rights

Communicate effectively

Build trusted relationships

Work collaboratively

Show self-awareness

Work within your capabilities

Look after yourself

Understand what a good life means to the participant

Support participants to make their own choices

Build the capacity of the participants' you work with

Observe and respond flexibly to the changing needs of participants'

Manage health and safety

Engage and motivate participants'

Review quality of support and service

Support participants to speak up

Uphold my rights

Communicate effectively

Build trusted relationships

Show self-awareness

Work within your capabilities

Look after yourself

Understand what a good life means to the participant

Model and reinforce values in organisational culture and practice

Promote quality through consistent good practice

Support health and manage risk

Foster and develop a capable workforce

Establish and embed NDIS values in organisational culture and practice

Build consistent, good practice

Establish systems to support health and manage risk

Establish a learning culture to support workforce capability

Be responsive to participants' Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identity

Be responsive to participants' culturally and linguistically diverse identity

Be responsive to participants' LGBTIQA+ identity

Work with participants to explore and coordinate their supports

Work with participants to explore and establish living arrangements that suit them

Work with participants to develop health and allied health support plans

Support participants to implement health and allied health support plans

Support participants to implement their mealtime plans

Support participants to implement their medication plans

Support participants to implement positive behaviour support plans

Support children who are NDIS participants' and their families

Support participants with their psychosocial disability

Support participants with their experience of trauma

Support participants with their complex, challenging or changing social circumstances

Other Tools and Resources

Tools and Resources that have not been created for NDIS Workforce Capability, but may be useful.

NDIS Commission Resources

These tools and resources have been developed by the NDIS Commission to support workforce management and training.

Find out more
Additional Resources

These resources have been developed by other organisations, but may be useful to Framework users.

Find out more

Position Description Tool

Position Description Tool

Download a position description template

To know

Purpose of position

Organisation name

( optional )

Company logo

( optional )

Capability framework

Employer information

Company overview

( optional )

Company values

( optional )

About me

( optional )

My values and expectations

( optional )

Work location(s)

( optional )

Work location(s)

( optional )

Organisational relationships

( optional )

Work setting(s)

( optional )

Pay range/award/conditions

( optional )

Type of employment

( optional )

Working hours

( optional )

Other conditions

( optional )

Responsibilities and requirements

Key accountabilities and responsibilities

( optional )

Key tasks and expectations

( optional )

My preferences

( optional )

Key relationships

( optional )

Supervisory/management responsibilities

( optional )

Essential requirements

( optional )

Essential requirements

( optional )

Qualifications

( optional )

Essential skills or experience

( optional )

Desirable skills or experience

( optional )

Budget/financial responsibilities

( optional )

Capability framework

Review and edit

Other Tools and Resources

NDIS Commission Resources

Additional Resources

NDIS Workforce Capability Framework