Chair and CEO Report
The year has been big, busy, and pivotal for Scope.
It was with great pride and excitement that we marked our 75th birthday, which included many celebrations and events throughout the organisation. Between festivities, Scope has continued to bring together our entities under one unified brand. By uniting our Victorian and New South Wales operations, we continue to solidify our identity, purpose, and leadership within the disability sector.
Investing in our culture has been a cornerstone of our efforts, ensuring that our values resonate through every aspect of our organisation. We are implementing a comprehensive program of work – from our dedicated teams on the frontline through to our leadership – designed to create meaningful, person-focused change. This work sets our direction as we navigate through a period of transformational change.
We unveiled our Strategic Plan 2024-2028. Our Strategic Plan is informed by the voice of our clients and our staff, and by data and evidence about the emerging trends and challenges in the disability sector. We have committed to four key areas of focus – Strengthening our organisation; Evolving our home and living options; Enhancing our community supports; and Building sector leadership and advocacy. The successful implementation of our Strategic Plan will ensure we chart a course for Scope’s growth, sustainability, and impact for years to come.
Scope maintains a clear commitment to our Purpose, Vision and Values and their influence on every aspect of our activities and governance. We want to keep building a diverse, accessible, equitable and inclusive governance structure where all individuals are supported, respected, valued and enabled to thrive.
There have been several important milestones for the disability sector this year. The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (DRC) and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Review both published their final reports, with their recommendations being deeply informed by the stories and experiences of people with disabilities and setting the scene for fundamental sector reform. While the initial response from the Australian Government to the DRC final report expressed overall support for the recommendations, there remains significant uncertainty about what lies ahead.
The legislation to amend the NDIS Act that passed in September signaled that the government remains focused on ensuring the Scheme remains sustainable. This includes a commitment from the government to co-design changes in partnership with people with disabilities, their families, and providers, among others. It will probably take five years to embed the full program of change.
Scope will continue to contribute to government and sector consultations that shape the future of the disability sector and the foundational support ecosystem that the Commonwealth, state and territory governments are seeking to establish. Scope will also continue to work with government, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to improve the provision of services for people with disability and bring about better outcomes for our clients. In the meantime, it is crucial that the voices of people with disability continue to be heard as they tell their stories, and the sector responds accordingly.
We acknowledge the profound impact that these stories and events can have.
In line with Scope’s Disability Action Plan, it is the Board’s ambition that people with disability make up a significant proportion of governance roles at Board and Committee levels. We are proud to report that 50% of our Board and Committee members are people with disability, and 80% are a family member or carer of a person with disability.
In 2023, we were proud to receive the National Disability Award in the Excellence in Innovation category for Scope’s Communication Access Symbol initiative. In Australia, an estimated 1.2 million people have a communication disability. Our Communication Access Symbol initiative aims to address these changes head on working with more than 150 businesses and services over the past 13 years to become more inclusive and accessible for people with communication difficulties by providing tailored training and communication tools.
We have seen some changes to our Board and Executive Leadership Team.
Scope farewelled long-serving Director, Marcell Judkins, after eight years, and welcomed Nicholas Taylor to the Board in November 2023. Joel Chibert assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer from Ian Morgan after 12 years of service, and we appointed Alex Smith as Chief Transformation Officer after a period supporting our finance team. We also welcomed Debra Benger as Chief Quality, Safeguarding and Practice Officer, and Leanne Dillon in the role of General Counsel.
We have also welcomed Shaun Green as our Board Observer in 2024, through The Observership Program – a future leaders program that provides training and practical experience in not-for-profit and government appointed Board leadership, including training via the Australian Institute of Company Directors and The Ethics Centre. The Board will continue its involvement in this program in 2025, prioritising the opportunity for people with a disability to become a Board Observer.
We look forward to continuing to work with our new leaders and welcome the fresh perspectives and expertise they bring to Scope.
After such a productive year, it is important to express our appreciation for and acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our service delivery teams who continue to put Scope’s Purpose, Vision and Values into practice every day. By keeping our clients – their voices, needs and aspirations at our core – we can continue to deliver outstanding services and support for them and their families.
Scope is committed to shaping a positive future alongside the people we support, and we are optimistic about the way forward – united in our dedication to support, inform and lead the sector. We are grateful for the dedication and resilience of our service delivery teams, with the relationship between our disability support workforce and clients at the heart of everything we do.
Our unwavering belief in human rights is not just a part of our identity, it defines our reason for being now and into the future. This belief is what inspires us and aligns us with our values.
As a leader in the sector, we are not just a part of the future of disability services and supports, we have a significant role to play in shaping it. Further, we believe that the sector should be led – not only informed – by people with disability. Our decision to embed this into in our Board and Committee Charters demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that people with disability comprise a significant proportion of governance roles at Board and Committee level.
Our ultimate vision is to see people with disability living their dreams, a goal that we are dedicated to achieving on behalf of our clients and their families. Our strategic priorities will guide us through the coming year and beyond, as we continue to innovate, advocate, and work together to create a future where everyone can belong and thrive.
Professor Sanchia Aranda AM and Kate MacRae
Scope Strategic Plan 2024 – 2028
In late 2023, we set about developing our new strategic plan.
Against a backdrop of significant change for the sector, Scope’s Strategic Plan 2024-2028 aims to ensure that our clients have the opportunity to both live independently and to learn, work and participate in the community as they choose.
The plan is our roadmap that will help us navigate evolving client needs and the changing policy landscape.
Our Strategic Plan will help us navigate evolving client needs and the changing regulatory and policy landscape in which we operate. With this in mind, it is built around four strategic themes which will focus our efforts over the next four years.
Strengthening our organisation
Optimising and transforming how we work, through improved processes and systems to ensure we’re operating as efficiently as possible. This includes having the right structures in place to deliver consistent, safe and positive supports that benefit both our clients and our frontline teams delivering those supports.
Evolving our home and living options
Broadening the type of home and living services we provide in keeping with the changing needs and expectations of both our existing and prospective clients. An important part of this is exploring innovative ways to keep improving the home environment and the way we go about delivering our services.
Enhancing our community supports
Finding innovative ways to connect our clients to a range of services of their choosing including therapy, social connections, employment and training.
Building sector leadership and advocacy
Scope will work collaboratively across the sector to keep advocating for the right policy settings on behalf of people with disability.
Central to the delivery of our strategic priorities is an unrelenting focus on continuous improvement and the ongoing evolution of our services, informed by the voices of the people we support and their families to drive the right outcomes for everyone.
In the context of our strategic priorities and taking into account our rapid growth in recent years, along with the rapidly-changing NDIS and broader disability landscape, it’s important that we keep delivering on the task at hand. That means providing high-quality and safe services to our clients, supporting them to belong and thrive, and ensuring our people are empowered to be the very best of themselves at work.
In February 2024, we established a dedicated Transformation Office to re-shape and closely govern an extensive program of work to keep strengthening Scope’s position as a sustainable service provider where both clients and employees thrive.
Our key areas of focus will touch almost every part of the organisation, and include:
Designing and implementing an Operating Model and Technology Foundations that ensure we have unified teams using modern systems and processes. This will enable our workforce to deliver high-quality services consistently.
Embedding a Culture and Workforce Strategy that enables a positive and supported environment for our employees and clients, making us an employer and provider of choice.
Enabling Operational Excellence by driving a continuous improvement mindset and ways of working that translate to an ongoing lift in service delivery standards. .
Innovating and Growing our home and living options, to broaden our offering so clients have greater choice in where and how they live, and who they live with.
Enhance Community Supports with clear strategies that ensure what we do is done well.
Ensure Financial Performance so we safeguard Scope’s proud legacy as a leading disability services provider for years to come.
As we work through the transformation process over a number of years, we will re-evaluate regularly to make sure we’re responding to the evolving needs of our clients, our employees and the NDIS landscape.
Service highlights
5214
Clients Supported
2240
Adults and children who received therapy and psychology services
1426
Clients in Supported Independent Living
805
Clients who participated in Social Connections programs
347
Number of Supported Independent Living homes
613
Clients who access our Employment Services
*Note: Data based on services delivered sate between 01 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.
About Scope
Scope was founded over 75 years ago, by families who wanted better support for their children with cerebral palsy.
Today, we are Scope, having welcomed in recent years Home@Scope and Disability Services Australia to our operations. Scope is now one of the largest not-for-profit disability service providers in Australia, supporting thousands of people with complex intellectual, physical, and multiple disabilities. We operate across Victoria and New South Wales from 425 service locations.
Our purpose is to create meaningful opportunities for people with disability to belong and thrive. We’re driven by our values, which are part of the fabric of everything we do: We celebrate people, we act bravely, and we excel together.
We offer a wide range of supports and services to enable people of all ages to achieve their goals. We are a registered NDIS provider and have supported people to move to the new scheme since its inception in 2013.
We provide and maintain high-quality services through ongoing evaluation and continuous improvement. We are guided by, and comply with, the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework, as well as other regulatory requirements relevant to the sector and our service profile.
Along with delivering high-quality services for people with disability, Scope has been active in research for more than 30 years, guiding innovative practice in delivering positive and evidence-based outcomes for clients. We’ve also led the way in working with organisations to remove barriers to social inclusion through our pioneering work in Communication Access.
In line with our essential role in the community and as a not-for-profit, Scope is compliant with the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth), the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Regulation 2013 (Cth), and other relevant legislation. We are a member-based organisation, and our governance is framed within our Constitution, consistent with good corporate practice across all Scope entities.
We’ve enshrined the voice of our clients within our governance through the Scope Client Experience and Outcomes Board Committee, and the Client Participation Framework. We have an established Client Advisory Panel, which provides a sustainable and reliable mechanism for co-design and shared decision-making with our clients on policy and strategic decisions.
Overview of services
We have a wide range of services across Scope:
Supported Independent Living
We support our clients in specialist disability accommodation to live independently, helping them with daily living and personal care.
We focus on delivering meaningful choice and control, enabling our clients to participate in the decisions and daily running of their homes. Our Supported Independent Living (SIL) teams are trained to support people with a variety of complex needs and assist them to find opportunities for new social activities and interests in the community.
Operating across Victoria and New South Wales, we offer group homes with 24/7 support in purpose-built, traditional family homes which cater for high physical needs.
Short Term Accommodation and Assistance
Through a short stay at one of our Short Term Accommodation and Assistance (STAA) homes, clients can learn independent living skills and engage with their local community while giving family and carers a chance to take a break from their daily routine.
Scope offers STAA services across Victoria and New South Wales. Our STAA stays include assistance with social and community participation, as well as at-home activities such as self-care and life skills training for independent living.
Therapy Services
At Scope, we provide therapy services for all ages and abilities, including early childhood intervention, school-aged, adults and multidisciplinary therapy services. Our skilled team consists of occupational therapists, speech pathologists, physiotherapists and allied health assistants providing services across Victoria and New South Wales.
We offer therapy and assessments in our psychology and speech pathology services, as well as customised training in disability, group training, and positive behaviour support services.
Social Connections
Our Social Connections programs are fun and dynamic spaces, tailored to each client’s goals and interests including building relationships, learning new skills, or pursuing a favourite recreational activity. Participating in the local community can include volunteering at local businesses, engaging in activities such as bushwalking, bowling, horse riding, bingo, or dining out at cafes in a group environment.
Social Connections programs include centre and community-based activities. The programs provide clients with social and recreational activities that are outcome-focused and enable them to achieve their NDIS-funded ‘Assistance with Social and Community Participation’ goals.
Communication and Inclusion Resource Centre
Scope's Communication and Inclusion Resource Centre (CIRC) provides services that enhance the lives of people with disability, fostering more inclusive, informed, and supportive environments.
Our workplace training and specialist consultancy in disability inclusion, easy read and communication access equips businesses and organisations across Australia with the knowledge and tools to create welcoming communities. Additionally, we offer services in communication aid development and support, behaviour support and support coordination.
Our community inclusion service provides a range of sporting and artistic opportunities for people with multiple and complex disability.
Individualised Living Options – Exploration and Design
Our specialised Individualised Living Options (ILO) team assists people to explore different possibilities when it comes to finding the right place to live. We design personalised support arrangements for clients on tasks like applying for a rental property, to living in a shared home with others.
Disability Employment Services
The dedicated Disability Employment Service (DES) in New South Wales offers clients regular, ongoing support through the job search process and assistance with staying in work.
DES is funded by the Australian Government for eligible jobseekers. We help jobseekers with eligibility checks, finding jobs that suit their needs and career goals, and we support clients and employers to keep people employed. We work closely with employers to establish a lasting working environment so that it is a successful outcome for both our client and the employer.
For people who are ready to join the workforce, our Registered Training Organisation in New South Wales, Macquarie Employment Training Services (METS), offers LearnAbility, a program which runs over four-to-six weeks to help job seekers of all ages boost their skills and ready themselves before we introduce them to one of our partner businesses.
Macquarie Employment Training Services
Macquarie Employment Training Services (METS) is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and approved Smart and Skilled provider in New South Wales.
Through METS, clients can achieve nationally-recognised qualifications or choose from a range of short courses. Areas of learning include: Early Childhood Education and Care, Community Services, Retail and Hospitality, Business and Leadership, Individual Support and Disability, First Aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Supply Chain Operations.
Packaging Solutions
Located in New South Wales, we offer supported employment opportunities where clients can work in a friendly, supported environment, earn a wage, learn new skills and make friends. We pack and label products for a range of businesses based locally, across Australia and around the world.
School Leaver Employment Support Service
Our School Leaver Employment Support (SLES) service helps prepare clients to join the workforce in New South Wales.
We provide individualised support for clients transitioning from high school into the workforce by focusing on their specific goals, supporting them to develop important life skills including confidence and communication.
We also offer practical activities, work experience and volunteering opportunities, as well as individual support options, and we facilitate further training and education. We help clients to prepare resumes, practice interviewing, and improve time and financial management skills. The program runs from three months to two years, depending on individual needs.
Customised Employment
Customised Employment is designed to build clients’ confidence and give them more control over their employment outcomes.
Our qualified Customised Employment coaches take the time to get to know each client, their family and their support situation. We help clients discover career interests, strengths, skills and capabilities, and work with support networks to develop the right employment pathway as a way of incorporating the clients’ skills and ideal workplace conditions. We work with inclusive employers to understand their business requirements and help to create a specialised role where the client’s contribution is valued, and their support needs are recognised.
It’s all about empowering our people to experience the many benefits of employment.
Map of services
Financial highlights 2023-24
Profit and loss
Scope is committed to delivering our purpose through high-quality services now and into the future.
The Financial Report outlines Scope’s ongoing focus on delivering high-quality services sustainably within the NDIS environment. Scope aims to continually improve our efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of our purpose. We do this by maximising our resources in an ethical and sustainable manner.
| Statement of Surplus or Deficit for the year ended 30th June 2024 | $ '000s |
|---|---|
|
Income |
|
|
State Government |
113,738 |
|
Federal Government |
468,673 |
|
Rendering of Services |
16,891 |
|
Donations and Fundraising |
4,469 |
|
Other |
23,120 |
|
Total Income |
626,891 |
|
Expenses |
|
|
Staff and Related |
476,261 |
|
Depreciation |
10,075 |
|
Other |
76,216 |
|
Total Expenses |
562,552 |
|
Surplus for the Year |
64,339 |
Balance sheet
| Statement of Financial Position as at 30th June 2024 | $ '000s |
|---|---|
|
Current Assets |
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
38,107 |
|
Trade and other receivables |
41,775 |
|
Other financial assets |
128,928 |
|
Other assets |
5,134 |
|
Total Current Assets |
213,944 |
|
Non Current Assets |
|
|
Trade and other receivables |
2,573 |
|
Other financial assets |
278,027 |
|
Property, plant and equipment |
29,795 |
|
Intangible assets |
414 |
|
Investment property |
68 |
|
Other assets - NC |
433 |
|
Right of Use Asset |
26,822 |
|
Total Non Current Assets |
338,132 |
|
Total Assets |
552,076 |
|
Current Liabilities |
|
|
Trade and other payables |
26,991 |
|
Contract liabilities |
8,256 |
|
Employee benefits |
72,189 |
|
Provisions |
4,623 |
|
Lease liabilities |
4,585 |
|
Total Current Liabilities |
116,644 |
|
Non Current Liabilities |
|
|
Contract liabilities |
2,167 |
|
Employee benefits |
24,588 |
|
Provisions |
5,248 |
|
Lease liabilities |
24,425 |
|
Total Non-Current Liabilities |
56,428 |
|
Total Liabilities |
173,072 |
|
Net Assets |
379,004 |
|
Equity |
|
|
Retained Earnings |
379,002 |
|
Reserves |
2 |
|
Total Equity |
379,004 |
Revenue by source
 Federal Government |
75% |
|---|---|
|
|
18% |
|
|
4% |
|
|
2% |
|
|
1% |
State Government
Finance, Rental and Other Income
Rendering of Services
Donations, Bequests & FundraisingExpenditure by type
|
Employee Expenses |
85% |
|---|---|
|
|
8% |
|
|
3% |
|
|
2% |
|
|
1% |
|
|
1% |
OtherRevenue by category
|
Support Independent Living |
82% |
|---|---|
|
|
5% |
|
|
6% |
|
|
3% |
|
|
2% |
|
|
2% |
|
|
1% |
Other
Scope Board of Directors
Professor Sanchia Aranda AM, PhD, MN, GAICD
Professor Sanchia Aranda AM, PhD, MN, GAICD
Gary Brinkworth, BEc, GAICD
Gary Brinkworth, BEc, GAICD
Dr Sarah Anderson, PhD, BPO, MPH
Dr Sarah Anderson, PhD, BPO, MPH
Brendan Earle, BA, LLB (Hons)
Brendan Earle, BA, LLB (Hons)
Professor the Hon. Jill Hennessy, LLM, LLB, BA, GAICD
Professor the Hon. Jill Hennessy, LLM, LLB, BA, GAICD
Barbara Hingston AM, BA (Admin), BSW, GAICD
Barbara Hingston AM, BA (Admin), BSW, GAICD
Andrew Richardson, BSc, LLB, MBA, FAICD
Andrew Richardson, BSc, LLB, MBA, FAIM, FAICD
Serge Sardo, GradDipPsych, MBA, MAICD, MAPS
Serge Sardo, GradDipPsych, MBA, MAICD, MAPS
Nick Taylor, BBusSci (Hons), GAICD
Nick Taylor, BBusSci (Hons), GAICD
Dr Nadine White, BLawsAdmin, LLB (Hons), PhD, GAICD
Dr Nadine White, BLawsAdmin, LLB (Hons), PhD, GAICD
Executive Leadership Team
Kate MacRae
Kate MacRae
Debra Benger
Debra Benger
Liz Cairns
Liz Cairns
Joel Chibert
Leanne Dillon
Leanne Dillion
Lisa Evans
Lisa Evans
Bruce McCowan
Bruce McCowan
John Preston
John Preston
Sid Shekar
Sid Shekar
