National Standards for Disability Services

At the 18 December 2013 meeting of the Standing Council on Disability Reform ministers from all jurisdictions endorsed the revised National Standards for Disability Services (NSDS).

These standards have a greater focus on person centered approaches and promote choice and control by people with disability. These are considered critical under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The Australian Government adopted the standards for its employment and advocacy services for people with disability from 1 January 2014 for employment service providers, and from 1 July 2014 for advocacy agencies funded under the National Disability Advocacy Program.

The National Standards underwent extensive consultation, validation and user testing, culminating in a set of six standards that are able to be applied across a broad range of circumstances. 

They are:

• Rights - read the Easy Read poster for standard one
• Participation and Inclusion- read the Easy Read poster for standard 2
• Individual Outcomes- read the Easy Read poster for standard 3
• Feedback and Complaints- read the Easy Read poster for standard 4
• Service Access- read the Easy Read poster for standard 5
• Service Management - read the Easy Read poster for standard 6

Read the consolidated Easy Read poster for combined standards 1 to 6.

Two versions of the standards and supporting documents are provided here.

• A version for printing that includes graphics and
• A web accessible version for people who use a screen reader.

Supporting documents

National Standards for Disability Services – Stories

• Short examples of what each National Standard could look like in practice

National Standards for Disability Services - Evidence Guide

• A guide to support staff and service providers understand and apply the National Standards to their work and services

National Standards for Disability Services - Conversation Tool

• A short guide for workers and teams with direct client contact to consider how best to promote the National Standards and engage people in conversations about the standards.

National Standards for Disability Services – Quality Assurance auditing information for consumers

• Easy read booklet and factsheet, and standard read booklet, explaining the quality assurance process to consumers of services that are being audited.

National Standards for Disability Services – Self Assessment Worksheets

• These worksheets have been developed for service providers to assess their compliance with the National Standards. Developed in a template style, they list each standard and indicator of practice and provide space for providers to include examples of evidence that support compliance, together with any improvement actions that might need to be taken.

National Standards for Disability Services – Questions

• Questions about the Standards can be forwarded to QualityAssurance@dss.gov.au

Easy Read helps explain information in a more clear and simple way.

Information for people whose primary language is not English.