Outsourced call centre staff handling National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) phone lines have been instructed to pretend they are public servants, according to workers at Serco, a major private contractor. Employees say they are given government email addresses, making them indistinguishable from direct public servants despite significant differences in pay, conditions and training.
A Serco employee, speaking anonymously, told Guardian Australia: “The fact is that we’re representing the government and we have to pretend that we’re public servants and we’re not allowed to say we’re Serco.” The worker added that the government “outsources its duty of care to contractors”. Serco holds multi-billion-dollar agreements with the Australian government across defence, healthcare and community services.
Workers claim they are responsible for deciding which funding requests are prioritised, despite lacking specialised welfare or disability training. “Instead of sending distressing cases through to the real NDIS, priority situations must be screened and determined by our Serco team leaders who are not welfare or disability trained,” one employee said. Starting pay at outsourced centres is around £26,000 (A$52,800) per year, compared with over £35,000 (A$72,000) for public servants on similar lines.
A Serco spokesperson said the company provided “vital support” and worked “in seamless collaboration” with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), adding: “In no way are Serco NDIA staff directed to make any misrepresentations.” An NDIA spokesperson stated that only public service staff with appropriate delegation could “action and progress” priority plan changes.
Workers described a system where callers face delays and poor guidance. One said: “Someone may be bedridden with a broken hoist… and their funds have been depleted. You can’t apply this call centre framework to the most vulnerable people in Australia.” Serco’s current NDIA contract began in September 2024 for three years, with extension options, and employs about 1,200 staff.
Beth Vincent-Pietsch, deputy national secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union, said Australians contacting the NDIS deserve “a trained, supported and accountable public servant, not a labour hire worker”. Government efforts to reduce reliance on external consultants have stalled, two years after Labor ordered agencies to bring skills in-house.
