Kym Errington – 20/09/2021

Big organisations need independent people outside of the business who can met up with clients especially those without support from family or friends who can sit down and compare the invoices being charged against the actual support they are really receiving.
To many big organisations are taking full advantage of our most vulnerable people with disabilities by charging them the same regular supports or made up supports each week from there packages that they are not using and this needs to stop.
The clients are missing out on vital care and assistance and it’s fraud. Most clients have absolutely no idea what’s being charged and what the provider is claiming from them.
A massive contribution of these actions is with organisations that provide support, coordination and plan management all under the same organisation. This is automatically a conflict of interest and jeopardises clients receiving the support they need and are meant to be getting, it should never ever of been aloud. These organisations that provide all the supports eg coordination, plan management and support workers talk amongst themselves to make sure there stories and finances all match up for the clients annual review and they workout what to say and what not to say to make sure they get the best out of the plans for there own financial benefits not the clients.
Clients should receive clear weekly invoices stating exactly what the client has received support for and the amounts. We need independent people outside of these organisations who are employed to randomly met up with clients and verify the claimed supports to the truth where possible.
I personally know of organisations that get away with this and it is absolutely disgraceful and it’s fraud.

Only to those who are purposely taking advantage of our most vulnerable people and government funding and this needs to be addressed and dealt with appropriately.

No participant should be able to use the same organisation for more than one support. Eg support worker, support coordinator or plan manager. All clients need to have seperate employees for each of those categories so we have half a chance in making sure the NDIS provides and achieves exactly what it’s being funded to do.

I believe in some situations that family should be able to be paid support to family members on the ndis. I understand it can be a risk to some and the supports may be neglected but in all honesty I think you have more support organisations neglecting clients on the ndis than the possibility of family’s neglecting them.
I personally took on my brother who has cerebral pauses and muscular dystrophy at the age of 22. I’m now 43 and David is 56 and I have cared for him full time for the past 21 years.
I basically gave up my life to care for my brother and I also have a 13 yr old daughter whom was born with Down Syndrome, Leukemia, severe respiratory disease and a multiple of other illnesses, a 23 yr old son with Autism and a 14 yr old son.
I have never been received a full career pension because my partner worked full-time so I was assessed on that and it has been the biggest kick in the guts because I have provided care 7 days a week and basically made feel worthless.
I have saved the government millions of dollars by caring for my brother the way I have for the past 21 yrs and I have more than proved I have done a wonderful job and no one could ever replace the care i have provided so why shouldn’t someone like me be entitled to be paid to provide support to my brother through the ndis. Every situation is individual and it needs to be looked at that exact way and funded accordingly.