The Disability Royal Commission on National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) workforce issues: avoiding the root causes?

Workforce issues are central to the changes necessary to create safer and higher-quality services for people with intellectual disabilities. This article examines the Disability Royal Commission's (the Commission) workforce recommendations relating to the disability services sector, which has been beset by chronic workforce problems since the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). We describe the rich evidence in the Commission's Final Report and its analysis of key issues such as work value, disability worker qualifications, training, and worker registration. Many of these issues are especially relevant to people with intellectual disabilities, who need sophisticated, highly skilled support provided by experienced workers, characteristics that can be scarce in a high-turnover industry with persistent labour shortages and almost no barriers to entry. However, the Commission ultimately backs away from making recommendations on the most controversial issues, including the price-setting matrix for disability support services, known as the Disability Support Worker Cost Model. Unchanged, this will continue to constrain the sector's ability to create high-quality working environments conducive to continuous learning that will support people with intellectual disabilities in the way they want to be supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]