Cash for care under the NDIS: Shaping care workers’ working conditions?
- 9 July 2016
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Industrial Relations
- Vol. 58 (5), 627-646
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0022185615623083
Abstract
The Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) introduces a national cash-for-care model for disability support and care. The NDIS has been hailed as a significant advance in social care provision for people with disability, bringing both additional funding and choice and control. However, little attention has been paid to how the shift to a cash-for-care system will impact on the working conditions of disability support workers. The international literature suggests three main factors shape better or poorer employment outcomes for workers in cash-for-care schemes: the extent to which cost containment underpins scheme design; the regulation and monitoring of care delivery; and the regulation of care employment. In this article, we explore these factors through an analysis of the planning, design and initial implementation of the NDIS and make a preliminary assessment of how the new scheme might shape care workers’ employment conditions.Keywords
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