2019-03-12 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                     12 MARCH 2019


3.    STAFFING

A number of staff have requested a slight reduction in their hours as they look to enjoy more time
away from their roles. Management have generally been receptive of such requests and have
looked for ways to streamline operations in order to accommodate the requests. This process
has also helped identify possible savings avenues should they be needed if funding reduces in
2019/20 or beyond.

The NCS Coordinator has indicated he will retire at the end of the 2018/19 financial year and as
such there will be a need to fill this role in the second half of the year. There are no other staffing
matters of significance to report.

4.    SYSTEMS, PROCESSES AND OTHER MATTERS

Recent achievements and initiatives at NCS include:
 Implementation of a contract management register in TRACCs (the centre’s management
   software).
 Implementation of a staff compliance register in TRACCs.
 Upskilling of Community Care Assistants in basic IT. This will continue as an ongoing
   process.
 Finalisation of new client intake and administration procedures to meet the new Aged Care
   standards.
 Completion of annual customer survey. Results showed very positive feedback regarding the
   centre and the broader suite of NCS services.
 The new art therapy program at Peregian Beach Community Hub has proved to be very
   popular and sucessful.

With the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) now rolling out in the Noosa region, NCS
stand to lose a portion of current state QCC funding. Some clients currently eligible under this
scheme will transition to the NDIS and once this occurs, their QCC funding will be reduced
accordingly.

From 1 July 2019, the QCC funding stream will cease to exist and will be replaced by
Queensland Community Support Scheme (QCSS) funding. Applications for the QCSS funding
were recently invited via public tender and NCS submitted an application. The outcome of the
funding application will not be known until May 2019 but it is almost certain that NCS will
experience a level of funding reduction from the state government. It is also possible that NCS
may lose the full funding amount provided by QCC funding, currently approximately $440k p.a.

Management are monitoring this situation as closely as possible but unfortunately there’s nothing
that can be done to fast-track the outcome of the funding application. In positive news, NCS has
secured an additional $48k p.a. recurrent growth funding for home modifications under the CHSP
program. This will go someway to partially offsetting any lost QCC funding. In addition, NCS have
completed an expression of interest for further CHSP growth funding which is being provided for
innovative service delivery initiatives. The outcome of whether NCS will proceed to the next stage
of the application should be known in March 2019.




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