NDIS firm Cocoon staff worked triple shifts caring for high needs clients

Poorly trained staff were suffering fatigue after working triple shifts at an NDIS firm run by a former bankrupt taxi driver, managers were warned in a report more than three years ago.

NDIS firm Cocoon SDA Care’s co-founder Zaffar Khan.

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Poorly trained staff were suffering fatigue after working triple shifts at an NDIS firm run by a former bankrupt taxi driver, managers were warned in a report more than three years ago.

A Cocoon group senior manager who resigned due to his serious concerns about the business sent the report to the firm’s national project manager, Lester Drew, The Australian has been told.

The report was then forwarded in an email to Carers Queensland chair and Cocoon’s then consultant, Jim Toohey, in October 2021.

“Some staff not adequately trained to respond to complex care needs of those they are caring for,” the report states in a table clearly setting out shortfalls.

“Staff doing triple shifts and staff fatigue due to staff shortage. Lack of in-house leadership knowledge and expertise of critical care needs at senior level of organisation.”

The report noted that Cocoon’s business model was to target people with complex care needs, making it all the more important for it to be acting responsibly.

The table of faults noted the strong focus on growth and acquisition of new properties and clients when the business was not equipped to properly take care of its existing cohort of people with disability.

“This is my greatest concern … It is also not clear that there is a strong understanding of this risk by decision-makers,” the report states.

A series of recommendations was made to address the “potential and likely risk to the welfare of participants”.

These included limiting acquisition of new participants until the business could get its affairs in order, hiring an external party with expertise in high-needs care, and creating a risk and quality committee.

The manager echoed much of the report’s contents in a personal email to Mr Toohey, a long-time colleague, as revealed in The Australian on Saturday.

Cocoon’s troubles are continuing to deepen, with the firm that last year earned more than $50m from the NDIS sacking staff in a generic email late Friday.

The Australian has been told the company’s Victorian staff previously lost access to their work email so may have been fired without knowing it.

“It is with deep regret that I write to inform you of a decision that has become necessary due to recent developments impacting Cocoons SDA Care,” the message read.

“The company has experienced a significant and unforeseen loss of business and, in addition, has been suspended from operating under the National Disability Insurance Agency. These events have severely affected our ability to deliver services and retain staff.

“After careful consideration and having explored all viable alternatives, we must inform you that your employment with Cocoons SDA Care will cease effective immediately.”

Asked how many staff were sacked by email, co-founder and corporate strategist Zaffar Khan implied almost the entire workforce had been laid off.

“Regrettably, about 1200 staff have been impacted nationally, with the largest concentration in Victoria. This has been an incredibly difficult decision, made only after exhausting all other options.

“As we consider our legal options moving forward, we maintain our view that the actions of the NDIA and other government agencies have been heavy-handed and disproportionate.”

Cocoon SDA Care’s parent company, Horizon Solsolutions Australia, and the entities it controlled had 1116 employees, according to its 2024 financial report.

Mr Khan previously went bankrupt in New Zealand and was the subject of a 2007 consumer warning in Australia.

The National Disability Insurance Agency in March began manually reviewing all of Horizon’s NDIS payment claims, rather than automatically approving them, disrupting the company’s cash flow.

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission informed Horizon the same month of a proposed permanent ban on the company and its nominated director, Muhammad Latif, and this month suspended the firm due to safety concerns detected in site visits.

Mr Drew could not be contacted on Sunday.

Mr Toohey said on Friday he had only a limited role as a consultant for the company in 2021 and 2022, and that anyone who identified serious concerns should have raised them internally through formal and informal channels or made a complaint to authorities.