When you deal with us, we need to collect certain information about you. This is so we know who you are and how we can help you.
If you’re an applicant or a participant, we also need to know how your disability affects you. We use this information to make sure you get the supports you need.
We take your privacy seriously. When we talk about privacy, we mean that we make sure we protect your personal information. We’re committed to keeping your information safe.
When we talk about your information, we mean the things (including facts or opinions) about you, or which could identify you, that:
- you have told us
- others have told us about you (for example, your plan nominee)
- we have recorded about you, your plan, or your business with us.
The information we hold about you or someone else, is called personal information and is protected Agency information.
We keep a record of our conversations with you. We keep copies of most documents or papers you give us.
Who do we hold information about?
When we say ‘you’, we mostly mean a participant or anyone applying to become a participant. But we also mean anyone we hold information about. For example, we might hold information about you if you’re:
- a family member, carer, nominee or child representative of a participant or applicant to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
- a service provider
- a person who works for us.
When we say ‘us’, ‘we’ or ‘our staff’, we mean:
- National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) staff
- National Contact Centre staff
- NDIA Board members
- NDIA contractors and organisations that do work for us
- local area coordinators
- early childhood partners .
How do we keep your information safe?
We store your information on our secure computer systems.
When we use email in our work, we’ll only use our NDIS email addresses. This includes when we send or receive your information.
We won’t look at the information we have about you, or tell anyone about it, unless we have to. We can only give other people information about you under very special situations. Find out more about when we give your information to other people.
Learn more about privacy on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website.
How do we check your identity?
Checking your identity is one of the ways we protect your privacy.
We ask for evidence of identity documents and information the first time you contact us. We use these documents to complete identity confirmation. As part of this process, we will conduct a face-to-identity check to confirm you are the person on the identity documents.
We also ask for evidence of identity of your child representative or your nominee as well.
There may be times when we need to confirm the identity documents and information you provide us. For example, we can confirm the details of your driver’s licence with the relevant state or territory authority.
Each time you visit us, or contact us by phone or online, we’ll ask you some questions to check we’re speaking to the right person. This is known as a security check or proof of record ownership. This is how we keep your information safe and private. We must not give your information to the wrong person, or someone pretending to be you.
If you change your legal name, we will ask you for evidence of your name change. We’ll need to confirm your identity for your new legal name. We’ll do this by asking for a linking document such as a Change of Name Certificate.