July is steadily approaching and the full roll-out of the NDIS draws closer by the day. With all the preparation now starting to move into top gear, it is worth highlighting a couple of local initiatives which may be of some interest to the North Queensland based organisations.

Leading from the Front

The sharing of trial site experiences at the event earlier this year as reported in our last blog, had a great turn out. This type of information is made for sharing. It is only when you talk to those directly involved in the trial sites, that you get a true picture of how things actually ran, the hurdles that were overcome and the outcomes that were achieved.

With this in mind, we want to invite North Queenslanders to another couple of opportunities to gain some more insights and hopefully a few hints into how to approach the challenge to a great transition to the NDIS.

May the 10th will see the Emerging Leaders Mentoring program being held in Mackay. Presented by Caboolture based Service provider Homelife Association Inc, the event will be covering Unit Costing, Pricing and NDIS registration.

Carrying on from the Mackay event, Homelife will also be hosting a breakfast meeting in Townsville on the 25th May. This event will feature a presentation by Mr Drew Beswick, Operations Manager from Tasmanian trial site service provider, Possability Tasmania. Drew will be discussing some of the valuable lessons taken on board by his organisation as they worked to negotiate the intricacies and issues of working in the Tasmanian trials.

Both of these events provide a good chance to interact at a local level and are aimed at providing a resource for people in the sector to take something away that they can actually use to strengthen their own organisation’s ability to transition to the NDIS.

Anyone interested in attending either of these events should email Leanne Peipman from Homelife.

Know your Costs

For those interested in furthering their ability to gain control of their costing activities, the New South Wales Council of Social Services (NCOSS) is hosting a series of Unit Costing webinars. Structured to include both Introductory and Advanced Unit Costing techniques, these webinars will provide valuable insights into the reasons behind and the actions required to accurately and efficiently calculate activity or unit costs, an essential requirement in order to remain sustainable under the new disability funding schemes. Register here for:

Introduction to Unit Costing

Advanced Unit Costing

Community Transport Organisations

Challenges of similar nature are experienced by community transport organisations (CTOs). If you are a CTO and are working out your path to the NDIS, check out the recordings of two of Calxa’s events recently held online. The webinars were delivered in conjunction with two great accounting professionals and drilled into the specific issues CTOs are experiencing in an ever-increasing competitive environment.

NSW Community Transport: Driving the Road to the NDIS

ACT Community Transport: Driving the Road to the NDIS