The NDIS Code of Conduct is an important way to make sure all National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers and their employees understand their responsibility to clients. It doesn’t matter if your business is NDIS-registered or not – if you provide goods or services to an NDIS participant, this code applies to you.
The code helps to ensure that NDIS participants receive quality supports, in a respectful way. Providers and employees need to understand the rights of people with disability, how to prevent harm and how respond appropriately if harm occurs.
It’s not just a tick-and-flick exercise – using the principles of the code to guide your business can make a real difference to the lives of your clients and contribute to a fairer society. Making sure the code is part of the way you operate also makes good business sense.
Here’s a summary of what’s in the code, but we also recommend checking out the NDIS Commission’s website, which includes helpful guidelines, fact sheets and posters.
The Code of Conduct requires workers and providers who deliver NDIS supports to:
- Act with respect for individual rights to freedom of expression, self-determination, and decision-making in accordance with relevant laws and conventions: for example, support people with disability to make their own decisions, and communicate with clients in the way they prefer and understand.
- Respect the privacy of people with disability: for example, understand and follow the law in your state or territory, and make sure you deliver your service in a way that upholds the personal privacy and dignity of your clients.
- Provide supports and services in a safe and competent manner with care and skill: for example, make sure all your staff have sufficient training and competence for their role, check any professional codes in your sector, meet work health and safety requirements, maintain records and make sure you hold appropriate insurance.
- Act with integrity, honesty, and transparency: for example, make sure the service you provide meets your client’s needs, and avoid conflicts of interest.
- Promptly take steps to raise and act on concerns about matters that might have an impact on the quality and safety of supports provided to people with disability: for example, make your business a safe space for clients and their support people to discuss any concerns, act on any complaints fairly and swiftly, put your complaints process in writing and make it available to clients.
- Take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to all forms of violence, exploitation, neglect, and abuse of people with disability: we all have a responsibility, especially as providers, to do our bit in preventing mistreatment of people with disability. This can include responding and reporting on any violence, abuse, neglect, or exploitation of people with disability to the NDIS Commission and other authorities (such as the police) if appropriate.
- Take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct: for example, cover this in guidance on staff behaviour, report any instances of sexual misconduct.
The NDIS Commission has put together some useful resources to help providers understand and communicate to their staff the code of conduct and what it means. There are guidelines available to help both NDIS providers and workers understand their obligations under the NDIS Code of Conduct. There is also a code of conduct poster, a code of conduct fact sheet and a code of conduct summary for workers.
