NPA Performance Benchmark

NPA Centres

This page applies to centres funded under the National Partnership Agreement only.

On this page

  • What is the NPA Performance Benchmark and how is it measured?
  • How can you check if your Centre is meeting the Benchmark?
  • Instructions on how to confirm your data entry practices


What is the NPA Performance Benchmark and how is it measured?

From 2016-17 to 2018-19, CLCs funded under the NPA, must deliver 90% of their total representation service to financially disadvantaged people. The Benchmark is calculated as a state/territory aggregate. 

Representation services are defined as “where a service provider takes carriage of a matter in an ongoing representative capacity”. Representation services are:

  • Dispute Resolution
  • Court/Tribunal
  • Other Representation


Only representation services closed in the reporting period are considered for the report. Reporting periods are 1 July to 31 December, and 1 January to 30 June.

Financial disadvantage is measured using the Financial Disadvantage Indicator in CLASS. This is a mandatory field, found on the service page, not the client. The possibly answers in the drop down menu are:

  • Yes – does not have means to pay
  • Yes – Centrelink benefit
  • Yes – cannot access finances temporarily
  • Yes – other, see notes
  • No
  • Unknown

Financial Disadvantage Indicator is a new field in CLASS, and did not exist in CLSIS. All CLSIS records will have Unknown in the Financial Disadvantage Indicatory. Unknown responses are explicitly excluded from the Performance Benchmark.

Instructions on how to confirm your data entry practices

The Performance Benchmark relies on Centre’s timely and accurate data entry practices. Services must have a close date recorded within a reasonable amount of time after closing the matter. It is also 

Responses of Unknown in the Financial Disadvantage Indicator are excluded from the report. They do not contribute to the Benchmark Proportion & Total. Unknown was the default answer for any services migrated from CLSIS, as the field did not exist yet.

Only answers of Yes contribute to the Benchmark.

This step-by-step example shows you how to generate a list of Representation Services closed in a six month period. Representation Services include Other Representation, Court/Tribunal or Dispute Resolution.

The following steps and principles may be applied to any other search with the Filter Builder. Images are provided to the right. Click here for more information on the Filter Builder.

Step 1. Select the Search Services menu from the left hand side menu.

Step 2. Right click on any column title, and select Filter Builder from the menu options. You can also display the Filter Builder by selecting the blue, underlined text at the bottom of the screen. This text shows you what you are currently searching.

Step 3. Add a search filter: Select the + icon, to the right of And.

Step 4. Select Actions and choose the column or field you wish to base the first criteria on. In this example we will start with Service Type.

Step 5. Select Begins with, and choose is any of from the menu. This will display results that meet any of the values entered in the next step.

Step 6. Now enter in the values. It’s important to spell the full service type, exactly as it appears in CLASS.

a. Into <enter a value>, type Other Representation
b. Click the icon to the right of Other Representation to add another value, separated by and.
c. Type Court/Tribunal into the second <enter a value>.
d. Click the + again, and enter Dispute Resolution into the third <enter a value>.

Step 7. Add another search filter:

a. Select the + icon, to the right of And
b. From Actions, select Close Date. This will narrow results to only those closed in the period.
c. Change Begins With to is between.
d. 
Enter 1/1/2017 and 30/6/2017 as the values 

Step 8. Select OK. You should now see a list of any representation services closed in the reporting period.

Step 9. You can check that the financial disadvantage indicator has been correctly answered, by clicking the blue, underlined Service ID (e.g. S421). 

It is important to check each one of these services has correctly recorded the financial disadvantage status of the client. If you are unsure of the client’s financial status, it may be noted elsewhere in CLASS. For example, Income Level or Income Source, or notes. You could also check the paper records, and with the solicitor, or principal solicitor.

[Click to enlarge images]

Step 8 –  Your Filter Builder should look like this

Step 9

Refer to the Data Consistency Guide for definitions of Service Types such as Discrete Services, Ongoing Services and Community Projects. 

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