Part 3 - Terms and conditions

1. Disability support funding arrangements

   
   DHS supports clients funded through different funding arrangements, including:
   - National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
   - Disability Support for Older Australians (DSOA)
   - My Aged Care
   - Lifetime Support Authority (LSA).
   These terms and conditions should be considered in-line with the funding you receive for your disability support.

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1. DHS' responsibilities to you.

   
   DHS agrees to:
   1. Provide services according to the Service Summary and consult you on how they are delivered.
   2. Provide information about the services you receive if you initiate an unscheduled NDIS plan reassessment with the NDIA. If we are the provider of your Support Coordination or your Specialist Support Coordination we can also support you to engage in this process with the NDIA.
   3. Communicate openly and honestly with you, in a timely manner, and treat you with courtesy and respect.
   4. Treat you in accordance with the ‘DHS Customer Charter’ (PDF 211.1 KB) and the ‘DHS Disability Services Zero Tolerance to Abuse and Neglect of People with Disability Strategy’ (PDF 504.0 KB).
   5. Deliver services in accordance with all professional standards including the ‘National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013’ and associated rules.
   6. Ensure DHS employees comply with the ‘South Australian Public Sector Code of Ethics’, issued in accordance with the South Australian ‘Public Sector Act 2009’, and comply with all screening requirements relevant to delivering disability services.
   7. Comply with the ‘DHS Conflict of Interest Policy’ (PDF 299.0 KB) regarding employees. Additionally, we will ensure that when you provide any personal information we will comply with relevant NDIS standards that prioritise your choice and control when deciding how you wish to receive services from your NDIS funds.
   8. Adhere to the ‘DHS Disability Services Feedback and Complaints Procedure’ (PDF 420.1 KB) and the ‘National Disability Insurance Scheme (Complaints Management and Resolution) Rules 2018’ to resolve complaints and disputes.
   9. Cooperate and provide you with support if you want to exit DHS and be supported by a different service provider.
   10. DHS will do what is reasonably practicable to offer you an alternative service or staff member so services do not need to be cancelled. You will not be charged for any services that DHS cancels and cannot provide a substitute for or reschedule.

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1. Your responsibilities.

   
   You agree to:
   1. Fully inform DHS about how you want services to be delivered to meet your needs and communicate with us if you have concerns about the services you are receiving.
   2. Provide DHS with information about your health and support needs and inform us of any changes to your needs.
   3. Show courtesy and respect to DHS staff.
   4. Provide DHS with the right to access your home to provide services to you.
   5. Provide a safe environment for DHS to provide services to you.
   6. Be cooperative with other clients when living in shared arrangements, and open to sharing with other people if you live in a multi-bedroom house.
   7. Accept when living in a home with capacity for shared living, you will use shared areas with other clients, and allow staff access to these areas to provide support (including office area where applicable).
   8. Constructively work with DHS to progress suitable matching of people to share the house when any vacancies are available.
   9. Inform us of the services you want to purchase through DHS including the portion of funding available for services.
   10. Pay for services that are accepted but not funded through your disability support funding arrangement. This could include additional costs due to choosing to live alone.
   11. Only seek services from DHS for which you have not already made a financial commitment to another service provider for the same funding allocation.
   12. Not wilfully or neglectfully damage DHS property. If this does happen, you agree to pay DHS the cost of fixing or replacing the property when it is requested by DHS.
   13. Indemnify DHS from and against all claims and losses arising from or in connection with any wilful, tortious or unlawful act or omission by you, except to the extent the claim or loss is caused by the negligence of DHS.
   14. Advise DHS within seven (7) days if there are changes to your or your decision-maker's details or contact information.
   15. DHS providing de-identified data to Australian and South Australian Government Departments as required to provide statistical information and use de-identified data for DHS’ ongoing quality and continuous improvement activities.
   If you are funded for your disability supports through the NDIS, you also agree to:
   16. Provide DHS with a copy of your NDIS Plan and your NDIS Home and Living Supports letter and any new or updated version of these documents as they are received.
   17. Inform us if your NDIS funding will not cover, or you have concerns that it will not cover, your service and support needs for the duration of this Service Agreement. Any overspent funds will be reported to the NDIA and a debt recovery process will be followed.
   18. Inform DHS of your financial commitment to other service providers where you have multiple providers delivering services, and provide DHS all necessary consents to engage with your relevant providers and/or your Plan Manager.
   19. Advise DHS within seven (7) days if any of the following occur:
       - there are changes to your NDIS information or your NDIS Plan
       - you appoint or change your Plan Manager (if relevant)
       - you appoint a new Support Coordinator (if external to DHS).
   20. Provide DHS with two (2) business days for one-off service cancellations for service bookings that are relevant to the following service types:
       - Community participation
       - Positive behaviour supports
       - Support coordination and specialist support coordination
       - Appointments for allied health services and appointments relating to equipment and assistive technology.

       Provide notice of the cancellation to:

       - Email: DHSDisabilityServices@sa.gov.au
       - Telephone: 1800 952 962

       Please note that the cancellation of services does not apply when your participation is part of being in shared or group-based services as included in the program of support section of your Service Summary. For services in these circumstances, this will be invoiced by DHS as if you attended.
   21. Provide DHS with seven (7) days’ notice to cease services not including SIL, Assistance with Daily Life and Disability Aged Care. The Service Agreement will end at the end of the notice period, or an agreed date if longer than 30 days.
   22. Provide DHS with thirty (30) days’ notice to cease services for SIL, Assistance with Daily Life and Disability Aged Care. The Service Agreement will end at the end of the notice period, or on an agreed date if longer than 30 days.

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1. Your privacy

   1. Information security
      DHS agrees to:
      1. Comply with the South Australian ‘Information Privacy Principles’ and ‘Information Sharing Guidelines for Promoting Safety and Wellbeing 2013’ (PDF 1.4 MB). Your informed consent for the sharing of information will be sought and respected in all situations unless:
         - It is authorised or required by law, or
         - It is unreasonable or impracticable to seek consent, or consent has been refused and the disclosure is reasonably necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to the life, health or safety of a person or group of people.
      2. Keep full and accurate accounts and financial records of the services delivered to you, household expenses and records of agreements as set out in the ‘NDIS (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018’.
      3. Keep full and accurate records of any complaints DHS receives as set out in the ‘NDIS (Complaints Management and Resolution) Rules 2018’.
      4. Maintain records as per the ‘State Records Act 1997’.
   2. De-identified client information
      DHS will provide de-identified data to Australian and South Australian Government Departments as required to provide statistical information and use de-identified data for DHS’ ongoing quality and continuous improvement activities.
   3. Audit
      For the purpose of undertaking audits, you agree that DHS will provide the NDIS and other relevant Australian and South Australian Government Departments and Agencies, as well as accredited third-party auditors, access to your information and material relating to the provision of services you have agreed to receive.

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1. Fees and payments.

   
   This section applies to NDIS Participants and those funded for support through and Disability Support for Older Australians (DSOA).
   1. NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits
      The ‘NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits’ sets out the general pricing arrangements that apply to services in the NDIS. You can find further information about this and associated documents via the NDIS website.
      As an NDIS registered service provider, DHS complies with the ‘NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits’. You can find prices for the specific services delivered by our service, from NDIS Schedule of Rates - DHS.
      The NDIA review NDIS prices annually. DHS will apply increases to service rates, reflecting NDIA changes, when they are introduced.
      Routine billing for regular SIL will be on a weekly basis. In some circumstances we will charge on an hourly basis, which will be described in your Service Summary.
      Services will be delivered based on your service and support needs as they are outlined in your NDIS Plan and DSOA Individual Support Package (ISP). If your need for services includes planned changes over the period of the Service Agreement, we will advise you of the cost of the services and, where relevant, claim the amount related to that changing amount of support.
      If the change is not a consistent amount each week for the year, we will tell you what the cost will be. This may apply where existing services are delivered at a higher rate than what has been proposed in a new NDIS plan and a transitional funding arrangement is required.
      If the changes you need in services and support mean you need an NDIS Plan or DSOA ISP review, we will support you by providing information about the services you receive, so conversations with the relevant disability support funder can happen.
      
   2. Lifetime Support Scheme
      This information is relevant to clients who receive their disability support funding through the South Australian Government’s Lifetime Support Authority.
      DHS complies with ‘The Lifetime Support Scheme Rules’.
   3. Additional health supports and hospitalisation
      If you require medical health services, these costs will be payable by you. This includes ambulance and hospital expenses.
      DHS will support you to obtain medical care if it is needed and to return to SIL, Assistance with Daily Life or Disability Aged Care when you are ready.
      For NDIS participants in shared living arrangements, DHS will continue to claim against NDIS plans based on the NDIS program of support approach, even if you are not receiving services from DHS because you are in hospital.
   4. Charging Goods and Services Tax (GST)
      1. NDIS service delivery is GST-free in the following circumstances:
         - You have an NDIS Plan in effect
         - Service delivery includes reasonable and necessary supports that are specified in the NDIS Plan’s statement of supports
         - This Service Agreement is agreed to by both parties
         - It is a service covered in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) (GST free Supply—National Disability Insurance Scheme Supports) Determination 2021.
      2. Where the Client Fees DHS Managed arrangement applies to you/is payable by you, fees are GST-free.
      3. If GST is payable on property damage, this will be passed on to you if we are seeking to reclaim expenses based on repairing or replacing property.

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1. Areas of service delivery

   
   The purpose of this section is to outline terms and conditions that are specific to service area types.
   1. Supported Independent Living (also known as SIL) and Assistance with Daily Life
      Provided by trained and skilled disability support workers to help you with everyday tasks and be more independent in your home.
      1. Paying for everyday living expenses
         Everyday living expenses are those costs that are not related to your service needs and therefore not funded by disability support funding. They include groceries, utilities, communal furniture, white goods and general household consumables and are expenses that must be paid by you.
         To understand the services and consumables funded by your disability support funding, for example the NDIS, you can read your NDIS Plan and the ‘NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits’.
         You are responsible for paying and coordinating those expenses that are not funded through your disability support funding.
         The exception to this is clients who are in a house that has the Client Fees DHS Managed or DHS Managed – HEN arrangement. In these arrangements, some everyday living expenses are coordinated based on a fee you pay to DHS.
      2. Client Fees DHS Managed and DHS Managed – HEN
         DHS coordinates a specified list of everyday living expenses for clients in some homes in the service, known as ‘DHS Managed Client Fees’. These are expenses paid by you through a fee to DHS. A full list of payment arrangements for Client Fees and the specified everyday living expenses that are included in the DHS Managed arrangement can be found in 'DHS Disability Services - Client Fees Schedule' (PDF 267.0 KB).
         Those items and services not covered by your applicable payment arrangement must be organised and covered by you.
         The DHS Managed arrangement is no longer available for homes that are now on the Individually Managed arrangement.
      3. Your assets and property
         As outlined in the ‘DHS Disability Services – Client Asset Management Policy’ (PDF 296.9 KB), an inventory of your assets and property will be documented in an Asset Register, on admission and departure from a home.
         DHS is liable for any loss or damage to your property if that loss or damage was caused by the negligence of DHS.
         The replacement of lost or damaged property is otherwise your responsibility. You can choose to insure your belongings to protect them.
         Any of your property included in the Asset Register that needs to be disposed of must be approved by you and the DHS Team Leader/Manager, including the method of disposal. If there is a cost associated with disposal, this will be at your expense. The Asset Register will be updated at this time to reflect the reason for and method of disposal.
         If you pass away while receiving services under this service agreement, assets will be disposed of according to your legal Will (if there is one) or directions taken from a person named in the Will. All instructions to DHS should be in writing and your assets need to be disposed of within seven (7) days. If there is a cost associated with removing property, this will be at the expense of your estate.
      4. Passive (sleepover) night support and drop-in ad hoc support
         If the service you receive includes passive or sleepover night support, you acknowledge that the support worker sleeps at your home in a separate room and has access to home utilities and facilities. The staff member is not active throughout the night unless support is required.
      5. Filling share house vacancies
         If you live in a shared house arrangement, you will be informed as soon as reasonably practicable as to service vacancies in your home and how those vacancies will be filled.
         Where services are received in a shared setting, based on the funding that you receive for disability support, you take all steps to cooperate with clients and staff to fill house vacancies.
   2. Disability Aged Care
      This section applies to supporting older South Australians with disability-specific care, funded through My Aged Care and Disability Support for Older Australians (also known as DSOA). We help you live as independently as possible, supported by a team of dedicated disability support workers.
      1. Paying for everyday living expenses
         As a recipient of Disability Aged Care services and being funded through My Aged Care, you will pay a basic daily fee to DHS that includes meals, cleaning, facilities management and laundry.
         To find out more about the My Aged Care basic daily fee, visit the Australian Government’s Department of Health and Aged Care, Schedule of Fees and Charges for Residential and Home Care.
      2. Your assets and property
         Outlined in the ‘DHS Disability Services – Client Asset Management Policy’ (PDF 296.9 KB), an inventory of your assets and property will be documented in an Asset Register on admission and departure from a home.
         DHS is liable for any loss or damage to your property if that loss or damage was caused by the negligence of DHS.
         The replacement of lost or damaged property is otherwise your responsibility. You can choose to insure your belongings to protect them.
         Any of your property included in the Asset Register that needs to be disposed of must be approved by you and the DHS Team Leader/Manager, including the method of disposal. If there is a cost associated with disposal, this will be at your expense. The Asset Register will be updated at this time to reflect the reason for and method of disposal.
         If you pass away while receiving services under this service agreement, assets will be disposed of according to your legal Will (if there is one) or directions taken from a person named in the Will. All instructions to DHS should be in writing and your assets need to be disposed of within seven (7) days. If there is a cost associated with removing property, this will be at the expense of your estate.
         
   3. Community Participation
      Community participation supports you to participate in social and recreational activities so you can be active in your community.
      1. Organising a holiday as part of Community Participation funding
         DHS will support you to organise a holiday if your NDIS funding allows for this and we are your Community Participation provider.
         If we are not your Community Participation provider, and you are organising a holiday, we will cooperate with you and the relevant service provider so that you can meet your NDIS goals. You will need to discuss costs associated with your holiday with the service provider.
   4. Assistive technology and equipment
      This section only applies to assistive technology and equipment provided to you as a result of the services delivered by DHS. This section does not apply to assistive technology and equipment or any other items or equipment not provided by DHS as part of this service provision.
      DHS provides a broad range of loan equipment options. Services include the delivery, repair and collection of loan assistive technology and equipment.
      Loan equipment is owned by DHS or our suppliers, and equipment is provided on loan.
      You must not make modifications to loan equipment. If it no-longer meets your needs, or you require different equipment, you must contact DHS to discuss your options.
      The loan equipment you receive must only be used by you and will come with an asset sticker.
      You are responsible for care of the loan equipment as described on any equipment fact sheets or safe operating procedures supplied to you.
      Replacement of loan equipment that has been damaged, lost or stolen is at our discretion.
      DHS is responsible for arranging all repairs for loan equipment and will cover all reasonable repair costs.
      Normal repair hours are between 8.30 am and 5.00 pm Monday to Friday.
      An emergency out-of-hours repair service operates from:
      - 7.00 am to 8.30 am and 5.00 pm to 11.00 pm Monday to Friday, and
      - 9.00 am to 11.00 pm on weekends and public holidays.
      DHS may replace the loan equipment if it can be easily swapped for an equivalent item. If the loan equipment cannot be swapped and a repair is needed, then a repairer will contact you within 24 hours.
      If the loan equipment requires repair at a workshop for an extended period, the DHS Equipment Program may provide a similar replacement or temporary loan item. If you live in a country area, the loan equipment may need to be sent to Adelaide if a local repairer is not available.
      DHS can arrange a maintenance check of high-risk loan equipment items, such as beds or hoists.
      If the loan equipment item cannot be repaired and needs to be replaced, we will contact you to discuss your options.
      

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1. Continuity of service delivery

   1. Gaps in between a current and new NDIS plan and providing a copy of your NDIS plan
      Where you replace your NDIS plan with a new NDIS plan, DHS will continue to provide and claim for services in accordance with the service summary from your previous service agreement until the day before the start of your new plan.
      DHS requires a new NDIS plan within 30 days of it being issued to you by the NDIA, to continue delivering services. DHS will actively engage you to provide a copy of your new NDIS plan. If the new NDIS plan is not provided within this timeframe, we will interpret this as intent to cease receiving services from DHS and we will engage you in a conversation about ceasing service delivery.
   2. Use of agency staff
      DHS may use a staff agency provider to deliver services under this Service Agreement where required, so services can continue to be delivered. An agency staff member is trained and skilled for the role they are performing and while working in DHS, work to our policy and procedures and the ‘South Australian Public Sector Code of Ethics’. An orientation for the home they are working in is undertaken at the beginning of their work period with DHS.
   3. Emergency and disaster management
      DHS will prepare, manage and respond to emergency and disaster situations in line with ‘NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Indicators’ (PDF 960 KB).
      In the event of an emergency or disaster, DHS will make every effort to continue services critical to your health, safety and wellbeing.

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1. Feedback, complaints, disputes and incident management

   
   If you wish to provide feedback or make a complaint, you can talk to anyone providing the services to assist you to do this.
   The ‘DHS Customer Feedback & Complaints Policy’ (PDF 498.3 KB) outlines the complaints process and details how DHS respond to your feedback and complaints.
   If you are not satisfied with the handling of your complaint, you can:
   - Phone the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission on 1800 035 544
   - Visit the Commission’s website for further information.

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1. Ending the Service Agreement

   
   Either party can end the Service Agreement. If you wish to end the service, please provide DHS with:
   - Seven (7) days’ notice to cease services not including SIL, Assistance with Daily Life and Disability Aged Care. The Service Agreement will end at the end of the notice period, or an agreed date if longer than 30 days.
   - Thirty (30) days’ notice to cease services for SIL, Assistance with Daily Life and Disability Aged Care. The Service Agreement will end at the end of the notice period, or on an agreed date if longer than 30 days.
   Should DHS need to end the Service Agreement, we will provide the same notice period.
   If you are an NDIS and DSOA funded client, and end the Service Agreement, you are responsible for notifying the NDIA and SDA provider within three (3) days of ending the agreement.
   For My Aged Care funded clients, the party ending the Service Agreement is responsible for notifying Services Australia within 31 days of ending the agreement.
   If either party materially breaches their obligations outlined in the Service Agreement, the other party may immediately terminate the Service Agreement upon written notice being given.
   If you are experiencing barriers to meeting your responsibilities within this Service Agreement, please speak to DHS. We will do everything reasonable to maintain your service continuity.

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