Health Services Union reveals alarming figures in disability workforce retention rate as key players set to take to Parliament

There are fears of a workforce “crisis” within the disability sector after a new survey revealed serious concerns about worker retention. More than 500 disability support workers were included in a survey from the Health Services Union which highlighted concerns surrounding pay, understaffing and burnout and the quality of care. The survey has been released ahead of a NDIS workforce crisis panel at Parliament House on Tuesday, where employers and unions will present the findings to MPs. The most concerning results show 63 per cent of workers have either already left, are planning to leave or have considered leaving the sector in the past year. Results also reveal just under half report they lack enough staff for quality care, with 71 per cent believing the shortages have already affected their ability to provide the care they’d want for a loved one. Concerningly, more than 62 per cent report issues with burnout as 72 per cent fear the workforce is no longer stable for current and future needs. “These workers are the backbone of the NDIS. Right now, they’re burnt out, underpaid and under-resourced. The people they support feel the consequences. The data unequivocally shows this is a workforce crisis,” HSU national secretary Lloyd Williams said. “When almost half of staff say they often or always don’t have enough colleagues on shift, you don’t get safe, high-quality care, you are escalating risk. That’s not fair on workers or NDIS participants.” It comes as MP’s and senators are set to hear first hand from employers and unions representing disability workers in Canberra about their plea for federal help on Tuesday. They will seek to gain a targeted funding pool of $5 per hour per worker for employees of registered providers in order to negotiate better pay and conditions. “The government has a clear choice to make. They either invest in the people who deliver the NDIS, or watch more of them leave,” Mr Williams said. “While the sustainability of the NDIS has been in focus recently, what we’re talking about is immediate and existential.” Disability worker Zelda Riddell, who has been in the sector for almost 13 years, said she was struggling to keep faith in a system that was facing an increased demand for workers who do not receive the proper training and go on to leave the workforce. “Before you could work in a sector, you had really comprehensive training, then when you were working you were being supervised by people who had more experience, who knew the participants better than you did, who could make sure that you did that work suitably and that in order to keep getting work, you had to work at a very high standard,” she explained. “That is really just disappearing out of the sector now because the NDIS just does not fund disability services adequately. “Those people are struggling to stay in the sector when there’s probably more need for it than ever before.” Ms Riddell is urging the government to fund the NDIS compact of $5 an hour per worker to help provide quality support and resist the “decay” in the standards of quality that workers can provide. “The NDIS thinks that everybody effectively requires pretty much the same level of support and they think that everybody’s days can be planned out in a predictable fashion, so when something goes wrong, we almost always end up underfunded and under-resourced to meet it,” she said. “I would love a world where those people didn’t feel like they needed to leave the sector because they’re under enormous pressure. “I have met amazing disability workers who just cannot stick around because the systems are so geared towards doing things as cheaply and fast as possible, but good quality services cannot be rushed. “People working around disabilities need space and time to develop their skills, to build social connections, and to have good quality lives.”