NDIS safeguards commission criticised as 'completely broken' after abysmal census results

Disability advocates have also said the oversight body is considered irrelevant to participants and their families, and is in need of a major overhaul.

Census results by employees at the National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission show just under half of staff described their workload as "well above their capacity" meanwhile 37 per cent said they were burned out by their work.

Less than half said they would recommend the safeguards commission as a good place to work.

The results show the agency ranked second-last in wellbeing and support among the 98 public service agencies involved in the 2021-22 census.

The Canberra Times sought a response from the safeguards commission over its plans to address the census results as part of our new series, We need to talk about the NDIS.

A spokesperson said it was already taking action to address internal feedback and the results provided "another point of reference and opportunity to focus in on key areas".

"A working group has been convened comprising a diverse group of employees from across the commission. In addition to the team based discussions, the working group has held deep dive workshops," they said.

"The working group, together with the ELT [executive leadership team], will determine additional initiatives and actions to be taken."

But the Community and Public Sector Union said the survey, conducted in May and completed by 72 per cent of the nearly-470 staff, showed the agency was "truly dysfunctional" and had "serious problems" to address.

Deputy secretary Beth Vincent-Pietsch said members had described a "vicious cycle" where pressure from above to process cases negatively affected each layer of the agency.

"Arguably, the regulator is completely broken. It has been truly dysfunctional," she said.

"People have got just a ridiculous amount of cases they are responsible for.

"That really puts an emotional stress on them that potentially somebody, you know, could die as a result of them not getting to this case quickly enough.

"It's life and death. It's some serious stuff. So that weighs really heavily on people."

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It's estimated the safeguards commission has a large labour hire workforce, making up around 40 per cent of staff, Ms Vincent-Pietsch said.

The union has long campaigned to bring on more permanent staff to manage the mounting workloads.

It's hopeful the situation can improve after positive meetings and a new commissioner, Tracey Mackey, who began her three-year term in January.

But others argue the issues extend beyond workforce and management issues.

Peak rights group People with Disability Australia said the watchdog already lacked the confidence of the community - the latest results furthered reinforced it "wasn't fit for purpose".

The group's president Sam Connor said the issues with the scheme's safeguards commission were bigger than simply staffing numbers.

Instead, the model should be more like a workplace health and safety body, such as Safe Work Australia, she said.

"It's not an administrative error when a person with a disability dies, it's a failure of care," Ms Connor said.

"People with disability, and their families, need to be involved in designing what safeguards look [like] for us."

Read more from the ACM series examining the future of the scheme: