FOI 24/25-1490
OFFICIAL For Internal Use Only
Case Management Guide
Behaviour Supports
Field
Category
Reference Documents
Title
Behaviour Supports
Purpose
This document is part of a suite of guidance
documents for Case Managers to use in formulating
their approach to managing individual matters before
the Administrative Review Tribunal (
ART).
Scope
This Guide applies nationally to the conduct of all
matters within the Administrative Review Tribunal
Case Management Branch.
What are
Behaviour Supports are supports intended to help
behaviour
reduce or eliminate behaviours of concern exhibited
supports?
by a participant living with disability.
Understanding
Behaviours of concern refer to any behaviour which
Behaviour Support and
results in an adverse impact on the person’s quality
Restrictive Practices -
of life. This can include physical and verbal
For Providers | NQSC
aggression, property damage, inappropriate sexual
behaviour, disinhibited and impulsive behaviour, as
Fact Sheet 5:
well as self-injurious behaviour (whether intentional
Behaviours of Concern
or not).
(Challenging Behaviour)
| The Bridging Project,
Please note the term ‘self-harm,’ when used in
Scope Australia
mental health settings, typically refers to intentional
harm without suicidal intent, such as neglect, cutting,
ingesting objects and self-poisoning.
Policy
The ART process is often seen as stressful and
NDIA Dispute Resolution
statement
adversarial by participants and prospective
Policy
participants of the Scheme. The NDIA will adopt a
Appendix B to the
Legal
participant-focused approach to resolving disputes
Services Directions 2017
before the ART, and will work directly with participants
and prospective participants to provide better and
Section 34 (1) of the
earlier outcomes, where possible.
National Disability
Insurance Scheme Act
The role of the NDIA is to assist the ART in reaching
2013
the correct and preferable decision, including by
assisting participants and prospective participants in
Rule 5 of th
e National
reaching the best possible resolution by agreement.
Disability Insurance
Scheme (Supports for
Behaviour Supports
Participants) Rules 2013
The NDIA will fund all reasonable and necessary
behaviour supports which meet the NDIS funding
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FOI 24/25-1490
OFFICIAL For Internal Use Only
Case Management Guide
Behaviour Supports
Field
Category
Reference Documents
criteria, in line with a participant’s behaviour support
What supports can we
plan (
BSP). All participants who exhibit behaviours of
fund? | NDIS
concern should have a BSP in place.
Section 3
of the National
However, the NDIA is only able to fund behaviour
Disability Insurance
supports which are delivered by providers who are
Scheme (Restrictive
registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards
Practices and Behaviour
Commission (
NQSC). The NDIA is unable to fund
Support) Rules 2018
behaviour supports which are delivered by any other,
National Disability
non-registered provider. This is due to the risk of
Insurance Scheme
unauthorised use of Restrictive Practices as
(NDIS Behaviour
unregistered providers may not hold the same
Support Practitioner
reporting obligations to NQSC. The
Registration
Application) Guidelines
requirements for the use of regulated restrictive
2020
practices guide is a flow chart that assists
participants and their families to identify the types of
Positive Behaviour
supports that only a registered NDIS provider can
Support and Behaviours
deliver. It also identifies the options available when
of Concerns
an unregistered provider is currently involved and
using a regulated restrictive practice. An accessible
version of the flow chart is included in the appendix.
The NDIA will not fund supports of any kind, under
any circumstances, which cause, or are likely to
cause, harm to the participant or others.
Approach to
The NDIA will fund all reasonable and necessary
ART matters
behaviour supports, so long as they are delivered by
a registered behaviour support practitioner.
How do we decide what
The NDIA will refer to the available evidence when
reasonable and
considering the appropriate level of behaviour
necessary supports to
support funding needed to address a participant’s
include in your plan? |
unique behavioural complexities.
NDIS
Behaviour support funding is tiered, such that:
Section 34 (1) of the
National Disability
Level 1 includes
Insurance Scheme Act
• specialist behavioural intervention support,
2013
usually not exceeding 45 hours per annum
Positive Behaviour
(approx. 3 – 4 hours per month)
Support and Behaviours
• training in behaviour management strategies,
of Concerns
unusually not exceeding 20 hours per annum
(approx. 1 – 2 hours per month); and
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FOI 24/25-1490
OFFICIAL For Internal Use Only
Case Management Guide
Behaviour Supports
Field
Category
Reference Documents
Level 2 includes
• specialist behavioural intervention support,
usually not exceeding 90 hours per annum
(approx. 7 – 8 hours per month)
• training in behaviour management strategies,
usually not exceeding 30 hours per annum
(approx. 2 – 3 hours per month)
• individual social skills development, usually
not exceeding 40 hours per annum (approx. 3
– 4 hours per month)
The NDIA will need to consider whether behaviour
supports would most appropriately be funded by
another service delivery system (typically Justice,
Education or Mental Health).
The levels denote suggested packages of supports.
Indeed, variations can be made to the packages and
level of supports, to individualise to the participant
based on the available evidence.
Evidence
The appropriate level of behaviour support funding
recommended will be informed by the extent and severity a
particular participants’ behaviours of concern.
Submitting behaviour
Behaviours of concern will be set out in a
support plans and
comprehensive
BSP. Most participants exhibiting
reports | NQSC
behaviours of concern will already have a BSP in
Understanding
place. Where this is not the case, in order to obtain a
Behaviour Support and
comprehensive BSP, further information regarding
Restrictive Practices -
behaviours of concern and the likelihood of harm is
For Providers | NQSC
required from the participant’s treating therapeutic
Persons Giving Expert
team; being the behaviours which behaviour supports
and Opinion Evidence
seek to reduce or eliminate. These behaviours should
Guideline |
be relevant to the participant’s disability and greater
Administrative Appeals
than age-typical behaviours (e.g., 2-year-old is
Tribunal
engaging in behaviours of concern such as biting;
however, this behaviour may be perceived as age
Positive Behaviour
typical for children regardless of disabilities). This
Support and Behaviours
evidence may come from a suitably qualified OT,
of Concerns
psychologist or behaviour support practitioner, with
experience in assessment function and behaviour.
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Case Management Guide
Behaviour Supports
Field
Category
Reference Documents
The NDIA will have regard to evidence from health
and allied health care providers, occupational
therapists, speech pathologists and physiotherapists
(as appropriate) to aid its determination as to the
reasonable and necessary level of behaviour support
funding.
Above all, the NDIA will carefully consider a
participant’s context and journey with disability,
placing a participant’s safety at the heart of the
NDIA’s decision. The NDIA will also account for a
participant’s own choices and preferences regarding
the provision of behaviour support(s). The NDIA will
not fund any support which causes, or is likely to
cause, any harm to the participant, or any other
person (including psychological harm and trauma).
Other
At a minimum, any behaviour support plan that
considerations contains a regulated restrictive practice needs to be
reviewed every 12 months, or earlier if the
participant’s circumstances change.
Behaviour Support Plans are not the same as Applied
Behavioural Analysis (ABA therapy) and are not
interchangeable.
Previous
The AAT was satisfied that behaviour support funding
relevant
(110 hours per annum) met the reasonable and
Castledine and National
decisions
necessary criteria under section 34 ‘because there
Disability Insurance
was no evidence presented’ that the requested
Agency [2019] AATA
supports ‘were not aligned with “current best
4240 (16 October 2019)
practice”’. The AAT set aside the decision of the
at [311] – [330] and [336]
NDIA.
Document Control
Responsible Person
Date
Document author
Continuous Improvement
October 2024
Document approver
Director, Continuous Improvement
28 October 2024
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