Issue 138
7 September 2009
The disAbility e-news and Australian Disability Enterprises Website survey 2009 was sent out to subscribers with issue 137 of e-news. Thanks to everyone that has completed and returned their surveys, your feedback will be used to improve the content and format of the disAbility e-news and the Australian Disability Enterprises website.
Any outstanding surveys should be completed and returned by close of business today, Monday 7 September.
Completed surveys can be emailed to disability.enews (disability.enews@fahcsia.gov.au)with the subject line 'disAbility e-news feedback'. Alternatively, you can fax your completed survey to (02) 6244 5362.
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Inprint Design are one of many Australian Disability Enterprises that have submitted their logo to be displayed in their business listing on the Australian Disability Enterprises website. As you can see below the logo adds another dimension to the listing.
The business listings on the website enable one logo or photo to be displayed when a business' details are displayed. All Australian Disability Enterprises are invited to provide the department with a logo or photo for this purpose.
If you would like to add a logo or photo to the website please email them to australiandisabilityenterprises (australiandisabilityenterprises@fahcsia.gov.au).
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Due to the distribution of the Australian Disability Enterprises artwork DVDs the Style Guide and promotional material will be removed from FOFMS from 30 September 2009.
If you have not received the artwork DVD which includes the Australian Disability Enterprises logos, Style Guide, brochures and other material, please advise your State and Territory Contract Manager.
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During 2008-2009 there were 214 quality assurance audits performed across the Australian Disability Enterprise sector - 38 were certification audits, and the remaining 176 were surveillance audits. FaHCSIA paid a total of $928 000 in contributions towards the costs of these audits.
Auditors identified non conformities during visits to 44 Australian Disability Enterprise organisations, six of those organisations were found to have major non conformities.
The Standards which represented the greatest percentages of non-conformities were Standard 8 (31%), Standard 2 (24%), Standard 9 (17%), and Standards 7 and 11 (7.5 %). This represented an increase for both Standard 8 (+3%) and Standard 2 (+12%), and a decrease for Standard 7 (-1.5%) and Standard 11 (-4.5%), over the previous financial year. Non conformities identified for Standard 9 remained unchanged.
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The Quality Strategy Toolkit was produced and distributed to all Australian Disability Enterprises and DEN organisations last year, to replace the Quality Assurance Handbook and Continuous Improvement Handbook.
It contains tools, such as step-by-step guides, worksheets, case studies, examples and suggestions to help funded organisations apply the Quality Strategy in their workplace. It is also an invaluable source of information for contract management and certification body audit team members, particularly those who are new to the DESQA system.
The material contained within the Quality Strategy Toolkit will be updated over time, and we are always looking for new material/tools to add to future editions. If your organisation has any useful material that could value add to the tools currently available in the Toolkit, it would be appreciated if you could forward it to the Quality Strategy Team. A feedback form is located in the front of the Toolkit for this purpose.
A copy of the Toolkit can be located on the FaHCSIA website.
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In recent weeks there have been a number of draft cases with Intake Assessments 'completed' but not 'authorised' on FOFMS.
Funding will not commence until the Assessment is 'authorised'. Whilst the status of an Assessment may say 'completed', indicating that the final step has been concluded, the Assessment must be 'authorised' by an appropriate person before the information contained in the Assessment becomes effective.
Authorising an Assessment is vital to ensuring that the Assessment has been completed correctly and that the information is accurate, and thus is a very important and final step to the Assessment process. FOFMS does not recognise any Assessments for payment that do not have an 'authorised' status as being completed, even if all of the Assessment questions have been answered.
If you have any questions about Intake Assessments please contact the CBF Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or Helpdesk.CBF (Helpdesk.CBF@fahcsia.gov.au).
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The Case Based Funding Helpdesk can now be contacted on a new fax number, which is (02) 6133 8340. All WBPA claims, Australian Apprenticeship claims and any other information that needs to be faxed to the Helpdesk can be sent using this number.
Please contact the CBF Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or Helpdesk.CBF (Helpdesk.CBF@fahcsia.gov.au) if you have any questions.
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Supported employees working in your Australian Disability Enterprise who want to explore opportunities in the open employment market have a two year transition period for returning to your Disability Enterprise.
This means that if one of your supported employees would like to access open employment and then circumstances change, they can return to your service and be assured there will be an outlet capacity place available for them for up to two years.
This policy only applies to supported employees that exit your outlet to access open employment and then return to your outlet. The existing 12 month return from suspension rules continue to apply to all other supported employees.
You must obtain and retain evidence that the supported employee accessed open employment to be eligible for the two year transition period.
You can contact the CBF Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or Helpdesk.CBF (Helpdesk.CBF@fahcsia.gov.au) if you have any questions.
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There are a number of reports on FOFMS that can assist you in managing your cases and payments including:
For all reports, you can select a specific period in which you are interested, i.e. one month or a quarter. The Agreement Schedule and Case Report will also include the first name and surname of individual supported employees for whom payments have been made. All reports have subtotals and totals, are printable, and can be exported to Excel for further manipulation.
You can also use the 'Consolidated Payment Request Line Items' screen view (available under the existing Payment Request view) to help reconcile your payments. From this screen view, you can query FOFMS for payment details using the IMPACT Clearing Number (the reference number which is provided on your bank statement with each deposit from FaHCSIA) as well as the IMPACT Invoice Number (the document number contained on your Recipient Created Tax Invoice [RCTI]).
How do I use these reports?
Information to help you use this payment reconciliation functionality is available on the FOFMS Literature tab. Task Cards, which are a step-by-step guide to producing these reports, can be accessed by navigating to the FOFMS tab. Click 'Query', type 'DEA' (in upper case) in the 'Name' field and click 'Go'.
Please note that additional FOFMS access may be required to view payment information.
If you have any queries about running reports on FOFMS, please contact the CBF Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or at Helpdesk.CBF (Helpdesk.CBF@fahcsia.gov.au).
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Email disAbility e-news if you'd like more information on a particular issue or program in disAbility e-news or to let us know what you think of the newsletter.
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Your contributions to disAbility e-news are welcome. Do you want to let others know about your successes? Or how you engage with local businesses to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities? Email your story idea to disAbility e-news.
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