Hartley Lifecare plans urgent cuts as disability sector reels from 'flawed' NDIS pricing

ACT disability service providers are in disarray due to what they say is the failure of the National Disability Insurance Scheme to sufficiently cover the costs of paying wages and delivering services.

Longstanding provider and not-for-profit Hartley Lifecare says that unless it cuts costs, including wages, it will not survive, but the proposed restructuring has incurred the wrath of the Australian Services Union, which has called its plan outrageous.

Since 1962, Hartley Lifecare has provided supported accommodation, respite care, community support and hydrotherapy for people with disability, their families and carers.

It supports more than 100 people with disabilities in more than 35 homes and facilities across the ACT.

Hartley plans a 5.7 per cent cut to some salaries and wages through a reclassification of positions, axing one of the Disability Program Manager positions and increasing the number of houses some supervisors manage.

It also plans to reduce the sleepover allowance, which is currently $25 over the award rate, and staff will also need to bring their own meals to the workplace.

Hartley – which has about 380 full-time, part-time and casual staff – hopes to finalise the restructuring by 18 January, but the ASU has taken the matter to the Fair Work Commission.

CEO of Hartley Lifecare Eric Thauvette said the NDIS Cost Model was flawed, resulting in people with disabilities not receiving enough funding to cover the real costs associated with engaging a provider such as Hartley.

“Consequently, this has resulted in a third-year deficit for Hartley and is a significant and urgent threat to Hartley’s viability into the future,” he said.

Hartley had also suffered year-on-year shortfalls in its fundraising since COVID.

The proposed changes were the only way to maintain support for clients and the same level of hours of support in all houses, Mr Thauvette said.

Hartley is not the only provider struggling with the current NDIS pricing structure. CatholicCare is also cutting costs and pleading with the government for help.

CEO Ann Kirwan said the disability sector was in crisis and the pricing needed to be reviewed.

“We’re just under increasing financial pressure every year, and we just cannot deliver the service for the funding that is being made,” she said.

Ms Kirwan said the NDIS system was utterly broken, organisations were bleeding money and the fundamental issue of pricing had not been resolved for a decade.

Catholic Care had made changes over the last six months, including reducing services on weekends, but more cost-cutting was going to be needed.

“Every provider is in the same boat as Hartley, and what we need is the support of the government and support of the unions to work through this really difficult situation,” Ms Kirwan said.

She said there was a lot of talk from government about fraud and mismanagement of funds but that was not the case in the ACT.

Ms Kirwan warned that unless something was done, more people would leave the sector and the workforce shortages would continue.

“The system wasn’t working well before the NDIS, but it’s nowhere near the mess that it is now,” she said.

Mr Thauvette said Hartley had met with the Department of Social Services after contacting Disability Services Minister Bill Shorten, Finance Minister Senator Katy Gallagher and Senator David Pocock, to no avail.

On Monday, Hartley will meet with Chief Minister Andrew Barr’s office to explain what was wrong with the funding model and discuss the transition arrangements under the recommendations of the NDIS review as responsibilities are transferred more to States and Territories.

Mr Thauvette said he was surprised and disappointed the ASU had lodged a claim against Hartley with the Fair Work Commission, especially when the Health Services Union had been working with the organisation to keep services flowing.

“All this does is distress vulnerable people in need when we are trying to implement a strategy to protect them,” he said.

But NSW & ACT Secretary Angus McFarland said Hartley had failed to consult properly and its plans just before Christmas were causing enormous stress for workers, their families, and for the NDIS participants they support.

“The current wage structure of Hartley is within the funding parameters of the NDIS,” he said.

“Furthermore, the government’s NDIS Review has just announced wide-ranging reforms which Hartley itself has advocated for and will provide better pricing arrangements and longer-term funding security.”

Mr McFarland said cutting wages and staff was not the way to achieve a sustainable disability sector.