Frequently asked questions
Background
Service Delivery Tracking
Disability Services activities
Frequently Asked Questions
1.Which organisations may find these FAQs helpful?
2.The targets for my organisation look like they’ve changed - how has this been determined?
3.The targets for my organisation do not look right. Who can I discuss this with?
4.Do I still need to report through QDC?
5.Where can I find information on the counting rules for funded activities reported via the service delivery tracking system?
6.When should organisations submit their data through the service delivery tracking process?
7.Supported accommodation (17016)
8.Community based respite (17078) and Facility based respite (17019)
9.Therapy (17042), Behaviour Intervention (17026) and Case Management (17028)
10.Individual Support Packages (17081) and Futures for Young Adults (17201)
Background
Service Delivery Tracking
In 2014, the department introduced an online service delivery tracking process which involves organisations accounting for monthly service delivery against their service agreement target. This ensures that both the organisation and the department have a shared view of service delivery in a timely and regular manner. This supports organisations in managing their progress towards meeting agreed targets, and assists the department to manage its reporting commitments.
For further information about the service delivery tracking process refer to the frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the Funded Agency Channel <
Disability Services activities
The Department of Health and Human Services (the department) funds the provision of services to support Victorians with a disability to have greater social and economic participation. These FAQs provide information in relation to 11 activities which are reported via the service delivery tracking process:
- Aids and equipment (17025) refers to provision of information about, and access to, a range of functional aids and equipment to enable Victorians with a disability of all ages to remain living in the community.
- Behaviour intervention*(17026) refers to provision of supports for managing and preventing behaviours of concern through the development and implementation of evidence-based interventions that promote and maintain positive behaviour.
- Case management*(17028) refers to provision of supports for people who have complex needs and who require assistance to become more independent and active in community life.
- Community-based respite*(17078) refers to respite services in which support is provided through community-based (or in-home) activities or assistance.
- Facility based respite*(17019) refers to services linked to and dependent upon facilities, and providing overnight respite services.
- Flexible support package* (17034) refers to discretionary funding and/or case management to support people with a disability on a short or long-term basis.
- Futures for young adults (17201) refers to provision of supports that assist school leavers to achieve economic and community participation during their transition from school to post school options.
- Individual support packages(17081) refers to individually attached and portable funding that is allocated to a person to purchase and organise supports to meet their disability related support needs and goals.
- Outreach* (17008) refers to provision of supports that develop the skills of people with a disability to enable them to live independently in their own home and participate in their community.
- Supported accommodation*(17016) refers to the provision of longer term supported accommodation in a group home or other community-based setting.
- Therapy* (17042) refers to provision of supports thatdevelop and maintain the skills and independence of people with a disability and to assist carers to continue to care and support people living with a disability.
This document provides further clarification of the performance measures and counting rules for these activities and provides information about the Service Delivery Tracking system.
Frequently Asked Questions
1.Which organisations may find these FAQs helpful?
This information may be helpful to organisations funded to deliver any of the 11 activities above.
2.The targets for my organisation look like they’ve changed - how has this been determined?
Where there has been a change of target, this will be reflected in your service agreement developed by the division in consultation with your organisational representative. If you have any queries about this target, please speak to your departmental contact.
3.The targets for my organisation do not look right. Who can I discuss this with?
If you have any queries about your targets, please discuss it with your departmental contact.
4.Do I still need to report through QDC?
Yes, Quarterly Data Collection (QDC) reporting requirements remain unchanged for applicable activities (marked with an asterisk on the previous page)and organisations will still need to submit their data which informs reporting to the Commonwealth Government. For both community and facility based respite, the number of hours of service provided to the client will still need to be recorded in QDC.
When reporting respite in QDC, report under the former respite activity 17010 and then choose either 17019 for facility based respite or 17078 for community based respite.
For community based respite, you will then need to choose one of the following support types:
in home respite
other flexible respite
community access respite
For facility based respite, a respite day refers to an overnight stay, and this must also be reflected in the data on service start date and time and service exit date and time, it is important to be as accurate as possible in defining the period. For example, if the period of respite occurred from 17 to 18 January, report 17 and 18 January as ‘from and to dates’).
5.Where can I find information on the counting rules for funded activities reported via the service delivery tracking system?
The activity descriptions in the Volume 3 of the Policy and Funding Guidelines ( include information regarding performance measures and counting rules. These can also be found on the Funded Agency Channel.
6.When should organisations submit their data through the service delivery tracking process?
Data for each month must be submitted between the 1st and 10th day of the following month e.g. for August, data must be submitted between 1 September and 10 September.
7.Supported accommodation (17016)
7.1How does an organisation report for supported accommodation?
The performance measure for supported accommodation is “the number of beds that are available on the last day of the reporting period. Available beds refer to all beds whether filled or vacant.”It is important to note that because the counting rule for this measure refers to the number of beds availableorganisations do not need to report vacancies* via service delivery tracking. Organisations only report the number of beds available each month, regardless of whether the beds are filled or vacant.
*Vacancies can be noted in the commentary field, but this does not replace reporting of vacancies through existing processes.
8.Community based respite (17078) and Facility based respite (17019)
8.1What is the definition of “number of hours” of community based respite?
The ‘number of hours of community based respite’ is defined as time spent providing support directly to the client (client hours) through recreational, holiday programs, in-home or supported community activities. Respite coordination and volunteer coordination are not counted as client hours.
8.2How is the number of client hours counted for community based respite group activities in the service delivery tracking system?
The total number of hours of service provision for the reporting period are counted. For example: a three hour recreational activity for a group of six clients is delivered on Saturday mornings. In this case, each client will be counted as receiving three hours of community based respite support; therefore a total of 18 hours of service provision is recorded for that day.
8.3My organisation frequently has cancellations for respite services that have been booked. Is it possible to include these cancellations in the reporting?
No, cancellations should not be included in the reporting. All reporting should be based on actual services provided and where services are cancelled, every effort should be made to offer these services to other clients. For cancellations at short notice you can provide an explanation in the commentary field.
8.4In providing community based respite, can time spent travelling to and from the client be counted?
No, the hours reported should only apply to direct client services that have been provided and this does not include any travel time.
8.5My organisation is closing our facility based respite service for a short period of time to undertake some urgent renovations. What should we be reporting during this period?
The reporting should be based on the actual number of days that are providedeach month.Any disruptions to service delivery should be discussed with your departmental contact, and where necessary, alternative arrangements should be made to ensure that clients are able to access services. The commentary field should be used to provide such explanations.
9.Therapy (17042), Behaviour Intervention (17026) and Case Management (17028)
9.1What is the definition of ‘new clients’ for agencies reporting on therapy, behaviour intervention and case management?
A 'new client' is defined as a person who:
- has never received a service, or
- has recommenced services no less than three months after their last episode of support was closed.
9.2If a client is accessing multiple therapy disciplines from the one service provider, are they counted multiple times?
No, they are counted only once. The counting rule is to count each unique 'new client' who received therapy support that month.
9.3Is a short consultation with a therapist counted?
A short consultation is counted only if the client is a 'new' client and has not been in receipt of other therapy services within the organisation. For example, in the Independent Living Centres (ILC), a ‘new client’ may have a brief consultation with a therapist in the ILC showroom.
9.4If clients require an extended duration of service to be able to meet therapy goals, and it reduces the capacity to offer service delivery to new clients, is this a satisfactory justification for under performance?
If clients require an extended duration of service and it is reducing the organisation’s capacity to provide services to new clients, this should be noted in the commentary field (do not provide client names). This may lead to a discussion with your departmental contact.
9.5For therapy, behaviour intervention and case management, were agencies required to count all individuals they are supporting as 'new clients' on 1 July 2015?
Yes, organisations funded for these activities are required to count all individuals they are supporting as 'new clients' on 1 July of each financial year (i.e. we start from zero). And thereafter from August to June each year, they should count only 'new' clients. For example:
June / July / August / SeptemberAgency reported 5 new clients / Agency reported 15 clients (i.e. 12 clients rolled over from June and 3 new clients commenced in July) / Agency reported 0 new clients / Agency reported 2 new clients
10.Individual Support Packages (17081) and Futures for Young Adults (17201)
10.1Why has the reporting for Individual Support Packages (ISPs) or Futures for Young Adults (FFYAs) been changed?
Individual Support Packages and Futures for Young Adults provide funding for support that meet the disability related needs of the person.
Organisations funded to provide ISPs and/or FFYAsare required to submit monthly results using the department’s online service delivery tracking tool. This monthly reporting allows the department and funded organisations to monitor the progress of these packages.
As part of the department’s ongoing monitoring of the Service Delivery Tracking (SDT) system, the counting rules for ISPs and FFYAs has been reviewed and the counting rules have been revised to capture service delivery more accurately.
10.2What is the change to the reporting for ISPs and FFYAs?
For ISPs and FFYAs, the performance measure has been the “Number of clients”, and the counting rule for this measure was “The number of clients receiving support for their disability related support needs through an Individual Support Package during the reporting period”.
As of 1 January 2017, the performance measure will change from “Number of clients” to “Number of new clients”, and the counting rule will now be “the number of new clients commencing the service”.
10.3How is the number of new clients counted for ISPs and FFYAs in service delivery tracking system?
Organisations will be required to count all clients in July of each financial year as being ‘new’ and then only count new clients in subsequent months.
10.4When will the new reporting ISPs and FFYAs commence?
The new count will come into effect as of 1 January 2017 and will receive their SDT reporting template for January 2017 from 1 February 2017.
10.5Are there any special instructions for the reporting for January 2017?
As this change is being implemented part way through the financial year organisations are requested to complete the January 2017 template to show the total(or Year-to-Date) number of clients with a packagefrom 1 July 2016 to 31 January 2017. This will form a base line and then each subsequent month organisations are asked to only report on the new clients with a package in that month.
10.6What will happen to the data that my organisation has already submitted for this financial year?
The data that your organisation submitted for the months of July 2016 to December 2016 will not be used for assessing performance against targets.
Organisations will not be asked to review or make any amendments to the data they have already submitted between July 2016 and December 2016.
10.7Do I need to report on the number of new clients in receipt of packages or the number of supports that have been provided for the month?
The reporting should be based on the number of clients with a package receiving disability-related supports. It is not necessary to report the number of supports that have been provide to the client.
10.8Do you have any examples of how the new counting rules would be used for Service Delivery Tracking reporting?
Below are two examples of organisations receiving funding for ISPs and FFYA and how they would report their actual service provision based on the new counting rules.
Example 1:
Organisation funded for ISPs
In 2016-17, an organisation receives funding for ISPswith a target of 48 new clients at the beginning of the financial year.
July: At the beginning of the financial year (or 1 July) the organisation already has 48 existing clients with a package. The organisation is required to count these existing clients as new for the month of July. In other words the organisation reports a total of 48 new clients for July.
August: No new clients to report, therefore the organisations reports ‘0’.
September: The organisation receives funding for two additional ISPs,thus increasing their target to 50 new clients. At the same time the organisation provides support to two new clients with a package. The organisation reports a total of two new clients for the month, increasing the YTD figure to 50 new clients.
October: The organisation receives funding for five more ISPs, therefore increasing their target to 55. At the same time the organisation provides support to one new client with a package. The organisation reports a total of one new client for the month, increasing the YTD figure to 51 new clients.
November:One client leaves the service, the targets remain unchanged at 55 new clients with the organisation reporting ‘0’ for the month thus the YTD figure remains unchanged at 51 new clients.
December: The organisation provides support to four new clients with a package. The organisation reports a total of four new client for the month, increasing the YTD to 55 new clients.
Table 1: Organisation funded for ISPs – SDT Reporting
Month / Target / Monthly Actual / YTD ActualJuly / 48 / 48 / 48
August / 48 / 0 / 48
September / 50 / 2 / 50
October / 55 / 1 / 51
November / 55 / 0 / 51
December / 55 / 4 / 55
Example 2:
Organisation funded for FFYAs
In 2016-17, an organisation receives funding for FFYAs with a target of nine new clients receiving support through FFYAin the financial year.
July: At the beginning of the financial year (or 1 July) the organisation already has 9 existing clients. The organisation is required to count these existing clients as new for the month of July. In other words the organisation reports a total of 9 new clients for July.
From August to October: There are no changes to targets. The organisation reports ‘0’ for each month with the YTD figure remaining unchanged at 9 new clients.
November: The organisation receives funding and provides supports for an additional new client, thus increasing their target to 10 new clients. The organisation reports a total of one new client for the month, increasing the YTD figure to 10 new clients.
December: No change to targets. The organisation reports ‘0’ for the month with the YTD figure remaining unchanged at 10 new clients.
January: The organisation receives funding and provides support for four more new clients, thus increasing their target to 14 new clients. The organisations reports a total of four new clients for the month, increasing the YTD figure to 14 new clients.
Table 2: Organisation funded for FFYAs – SDT Reporting
Month / Target / Monthly Actual / YTD ActualJuly / 9 / 9 / 9
August / 9 / 0 / 9
September / 9 / 0 / 9
October / 9 / 0 / 9
November / 10 / 1 / 10
December / 10 / 0 / 10
January / 14 / 4 / 14
10.9For FFYA clients, how do you count the new clients that commence on 1 January each year?
They are counted like any other new client seeking support from FFYA in the reporting month as new.
10.10My client’s ISP package has increased in value. Should I report on this?
There is no need to report on existing clients that have already been reported earlier in that financial year.