How can Activities for Supported Employees be managed?
SupportAbility tracks Supported Employees as Clients, and not Staff Members (unless a provider has also entered the Client as a Staff Member) for the primary purpose of generating a Client schedule, tracking Goal progress and Journal evidence and billing NDIS Support Allocations by claiming these in a BPR for NDIA Managed Funding or invoicing the Client's Plan Manager as required.
Generally speaking, supervising Staff Members (not Supported Employees), are rostered into Activities for Supported Employment, with the Staff Shifts customised to reflect the supervisor's Roster. More on this can be found in the Managing Staff Shifts article, linked below for reference.
The 2020/21 NDIS Price Guide introduces significant changes to the way that Supports for Supported Employment are structured. In our conversations with providers regarding this to date, the general consensus is that they will move to a daily Activity model in SupportAbility, similar to a Day Services program, for example, to manage attendance and ensure that the NDIS Support Allocations are now be itemised based on the required Supports, resulting in multiple Allocations per Activity rather than one when this was a single Support with a week unit of measure.
This article outlines the functionality available in SupportAbility and some suggestions regarding transitioning to the new approach for Supported Employment.
Audience: Operations Management, Team Leaders
Summary
The following list summarises the content within this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
Transitional Funding Arrangement Supports
Most providers delivering these Services would traditionally create week-long Activities for their Supported Employees, to manage the compliance requirements and NDIS Support Allocations reflecting the work the individual participates in associated with the ADE.
Based on recent conversations with providers, many are currently using 04_891_0133_5_1: Supports in Employment - Transitional Funding Arrangements for Supported Employment:
We understand this Support Item is capped at $1 in the portal, hence it currently needs to be configured with a Custom Price of $1 in SupportAbility, with the Quantity in the NDIS Support Allocations window reflecting the true dollar value e.g. 155.25, so that it will not result in an error and providers will get paid the correct amount.
New Daily Supports
When utilising the new Supports for Supported Employment, instead of this being reflected in one Support Allocation as above, this is now comprised of multiple Allocations due to the new requirement to separate out different charges.
Many providers in this area are now setting up daily Activities for Supported Employment, Allocating the required Supports and replicating these out as required, very similar to a Day Program service model.
Programs of Support
Programs of Support is also an option in conjunction with these new Supports for Supported Employment:
The Programs of Support article steps through functionality is available to assist with this in SupportAbility for the applicable new Supported Employment and other Group Supports.
Required Supports must be available in the relevant Client NDIS Direct Funding records
In order to set up these new Activities and Allocations, the required Supports must be available in the relevant Client NDIS Direct Funding records. If Support Item Budgets are being used, in preparation for this transition, the relevant new Supports required for Allocation need to be added to the relevant Funding records e.g.
- 04_801_0133_5_1 - Supports in Employment - Weekday Daytime:
N.B. The TTP version of this Support Item will be used in NDIS Support Allocations if TTP Pricing has been Activated in the Client's Funding record. - 04_599_0133_5_1 - Centre Capital Cost (Registration Group Name: Specialised Supported Employment):
It is important to note that if a defined Budget is not available due to the transition, then these Supports can be set up with a $0 Budget in order to be utilised as required given Support Items must include a Budget if no Flexible Budget is available in the Funding record for the parent Category e.g. 0004 in order to be available for Allocation as per the above screenshots.
The 'Adding a Support Item' section of the Adding an NDIS Direct Client Funding record article linked below may be of further assistance in regards to adding these Supports to the Client's Funding record as required.
NDIS Support Allocations - Portions and Non-Face-To-Face
Provided these Supports are available in the Client's Funding record, they can be Allocated in the relevant Activities. The ability to select the applicable 'portion' of the Support provided is available for the relevant Supports:
As well as the option to add in an additional Allocation for the relevant Support/s to charge for any Non-Face-to-Face Support Provision (NF2F) separately:
You will notice in the above screenshot that 04_801_0133_5_1_T - Supports in Employment - Weekday Daytime - TTP has been added twice, but each Allocation has a different Claim Type. The first reflects the Standard Service delivery component, where the relevant portion of service delivery must also be selected, in this case, 1:3 and the second reflects the Non-Face-to-Face Support Provision component, given it is now a requirement to separate out the NF2F charges when using these Supports as well as any applicable Centre Based Capital costs as demonstrated by the first Allocation.
The following articles step through these new features and requirements in greater detail and may be helpful for the relevant Staff Members involved in this transition:
- Non-Face-To-Face Support Provision
- Apportioning the Price of the required Group Supports
These have been linked below for reference.