The SALT Foundation

Rights and Responsibilities

The NDIS and this Service Agreement

This Service Agreement is made for providing supports under the Participant’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan.
The Parties agree that this Service Agreement is made in the context of the NDIS, which is a scheme that aims to:

Schedule of Supports (Appendix A)

The SALT Foundation agrees to provide you with the support and services as outlined in this agreement and charges will reflect the current NDIS schedule of fees.

The NDIS sets the supports and services and are all publicly available. Changes by the NDIS schedule will be reflected in the billing. They set all prices out as GST inclusive (if applicable) and include the cost of providing these.

Additional expenses (i.e. things that are not included as part of your funds/ funding allocation or support regime) are your responsibility and are not included in the cost as outlined. Some examples of these may include entrance fees, event tickets, travel where not funded, meals, etc.

Responsibilities of the SALT Foundation

The SALT Foundation agrees to:

  • Review the provision of supports at least annually or at plan end, whichever is sooner, with the participant
  • Once agreed, provide supports that meet the participant’s needs at the participant’s preferred times
  • Communicate openly and honestly in a timely manner
  • Consult the participant on decisions about how to provide supports
  • Give the participant information about managing any complaints or disagreements and details of the provider’s cancellation policy (if relevant)
  • Listen to the participant’s feedback and resolve problems quickly
  • Give the participant a minimum of 24 hours’ notice if the provider has to change a scheduled appointment to provide supports
  • Give the participant the required notice if the Provider needs to end the Service Agreement (see ‘Ending this Service Agreement’ below for more information)
  • Protect the participant’s privacy and confidential information
  • Provide supports in a manner consistent with all relevant laws, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 and rules, and the Australian Consumer Law; keep accurate records on the supports provided to the participant, and
  • issue regular invoices and statements of the supports delivered to the participant.

Cancellation of Supports, Services, and Shifts

Like all employees, we pay our workers according to the time they work. They set up their calendars to serve you, your schedule and your requirements. Unless they have adequate notice, they cannot reschedule their time and work.

Therefore, the SALT Foundation requires at least 2 full business days’ notice when there is a need to cancel a rostered and approved support, service, or shift. If you do not provide two full business days’ notice, then you agree that the SALT Foundation may be paid for the full approved and rostered support, service, or shift.

The following circumstances do not apply to the two full business days’ notice:

  • Where you require urgent medical or hospital treatment;
  • Any other personal emergency that is reasonable.

If you do not provide the appropriate notice to keep the scheduled arrangement for the support, the SALT Foundation will try to contact you to determine if there is an additional problem (e.g. an accident and you cannot raise the alarm, the informal supporters are in crisis and additional support is likely to be required).

Over eight instances of cancellations or no shows in a continuous 12-month period will be notified to the agency contact person by the SALT Foundation, so that consideration may be given to reviewing your plan.

No fee is payable by yourself, if the SALT Foundation cancels or if we cannot deliver the agreed supports.

If you would like to become a support worker for SALT, you can apply to provide support.

Damage to Property

While the SALT Foundation and its employees will endeavour to exercise care and skill in delivering support and services in your home or place of support for service, you agree that the occupation of such place by SALT and its employees and the use of your property while providing the support and services is at your risk.

Through this agreement you agree and release and discharge the SALT Foundation, its officer’s employees and agents from all liability, claims, and demands of any kind arising from any damage to your property that occurs because of and in connection with the provision of the support and services.

Conflict of Interest

The SALT Foundation will act in the best interests of all customers, ensuring that at all times they are informed, empowered and able to maximise choice and control.

SALT will not (buy act or omission) constrain, influence or direct decision making by a person with a disability/ or the family to limit that person’s access to information, opportunities, choice, and control.

The SALT Foundation may deliver both support coordination and other funded supports to you, however, where this occurs, SALT will adhere to the NDIA’s Terms of Business which requires us to show that we have policies and procedures in place to manage conflict of interest.

Where the SALT Foundation is delivering Coordination of Supports to you with any other support delivery, SALT will keep documentation to show:

  • Your Individual Customer Service Agreement (for support coordination and service provision) sets out which area of the organisation will deliver the support
  • How the SALT Foundation provided options for you to select from a range of providers for the delivery of your direct supports
  • Documentation to support that there is no remuneration or commission offered or provided to staff as an incentive to increase customer volume
  • Documentation confirming that there are no trailing commissions or percentage of funds managed
  • Confirmation that any real or perceived conflict of interest regarding choosing the SALT Foundation to deliver both support coordination and direct services and support was disclosed to you.

Responsibilities of the Participant

You agree to:

  • Inform the about how you wish the support to be delivered to meet your needs
  • Treat the SALT Foundation and its employees with courtesy and respect
  • Talk to the SALT Foundation if you have any concerns about the support or services being provided
  • Give the SALT Foundation a minimum of 2 full business days’ notice, where possible, if you cannot make a scheduled appointment. If the notice is not provided within the time frame, SALT’s cancellation policy will apply.
  • Give SALT the required notice if you need to end the service agreement (See ‘Ending this service agreement’ below for more information)
  • Let the SALT Foundation know immediately if your NDIS plan is suspended or replaced by a new NDIS plan or you stop being a participant in the NDIS

Payments

The SALT Foundation will seek payment for the provision of support and services after the service has been satisfactorily provided, daily via the “my place” portal for NDIS customers with a service booking and the SALT Service Agreement and weekly for self-managed, fee-for-service and financial intermediary customers.

You have nominated the NDIA to manage the funding for support and services provided under this Individual Customer Service Agreement. Once a Service Booking and Salt Individual Customer Service Agreement is in place, and after providing those supports, the SALT Foundation will claim payment daily to those supports via the “my place” NDIA portal.

Non-payment of invoices—Where the term of payment is seven days, non-payment by 14 days will cause a withdrawal of services until we receive the payment. The SALT Foundation will refer all non-payment of debts to a debt collection company, as outlined in our finance policies.

Service Disruption—Extreme Weather

The service you receive might be affected or canceled because of extreme weather, particularly during a bushfire season, extreme heat, floods, etc. The SALT Foundation will try to communicate with you how your service might be affected so that you can make appropriate arrangements.

Read more: NDIS Support During COVID-19.

Transportation

You have agreed to travel in a private registered vehicle with a licensed driver to appointments or to recreational or social and civic activities.

Changes to this Service Agreement

If changes to the supports of your delivery are required, the parties agree to discuss and review this Service Agreement. The parties agree that any changes to this Service Agreement will be in writing, signed, and dated by the parties.

This Service Agreement between the SALT Foundation and yourself can be canceled and immediately replaced with a subsequent service agreement if you wish to expand your services.

Ending this Service Agreement

Should either party wish to end this Service Agreement we request they give two weeks’ notice. Upon receiving such a request, the SALT Foundation will continue to provide and charge for these two weeks, whether services are provided or not. This means that the worker’s employment is not disrupted suddenly and gives them sufficient time to find alternative shifts and continue to meet their financial obligations. If either party seriously breaches this Service Agreement, it will waive the requirement of notice. This protects our workers who will need to adjust working schedules accordingly.

Feedback, Complaints, and Disputes

The SALT Foundation welcomes information and feedback, which will enable us to improve the quality of our services.

You can put this in writing and post it to the Customer Feedback Officer, The SALT Foundation, 101 Ramu Pde, Heidelberg West VIC 3081, email support@thesaltfoundation.org.au, or call 1300 777 258.

If you’re not happy with our service and wish to make a complaint, you can talk to the SALT Foundation’s Consumer Liaison Officer on 1300 777 258 or email support@thesaltfoundation.org.au.

The SALT Foundation applies the principles of natural justice. This means that a minimum standard of fairness is to apply to the investigation and adjudication of a complaint.

The requirements of natural justice include:

  • Fully informing a person of any allegation made against them, 
  • Giving them an opportunity to state their case
  • Explain putting forward a defence,
  • Ensuring that proper investigation of the allegations occurs
  • That all parties and relevant submissions are considered,
  • Ensuring the decision-maker acts fairly and without bias.

If you’re not satisfied or do not want to talk to this person, you can also contact the National Disability Insurance Agency by calling 1800 800 110, visiting one of their offices in person, or visiting for further information. Or you can get in touch with the Disability Services Commissioner, or you can get in touch with the Commission for Children and Young People.

Goods and Services Tax (GST)

For GST legislation, the parties confirm that:

  • A supplier of supports under this Service Agreement is a supply of one or more of the reasonable and necessary supports specified in the statement included, under subsection 33 (2) of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act), in your NDIS plan currently in effect under section 37 the NDIS ACT;
  • Your NDIS plan is expected to remain in effect during the period that we provide supports; and
  • You, the client, or your advocate, will immediately notify the SALT Foundation if the current NDIS plan is replaced or ceases.

Rollover of Plan

NDIS plans currently go for 12 months! To avoid a disruption of our service, we will continue to provide services to you as per usual until your new plan is approved and established unless notified otherwise… payment will be as per usual via the NDIS. If we find that the funding is unavailable in the new plan, we will not seek to bill you individually. The SALT Foundation will simply change or cease services accordingly.

Medications and Health Plan

Although our Support Workers are there to help, we are not nurses or trained to administer medications. Know that if there is a medical emergency, we will call 000 or anyone else that you advise us to as per your Health Plan or similar.

Privacy and Confidentiality

The SALT Foundation complies with the NDIS Privacy Policy that outlines the use, collection, storage, and disclosure of information.

THE SALT FOUNDATION IS HERE TO HELP

As a non-profit NDIS provider, we have a team of Support Workers ready to meet the needs of NDIS participants across Victoria.

And you get your first week of services FREE, so fill out the form below to request a support worker or call 1300 777 258 NOW! Start your NDIS journey with us today and get ready for your daily life to be transformed as we provide assistance.

We're always here if you want to talk 1300 777 258.
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