Community services agency

Guide for use:

Different collections define agency differently according to their context and varying need for information on the different levels of organisations providing community services. Individual data collections will therefore need to further specify what an agency is for their collection purposes.

Agencies may be government or non-government organisations.

In the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) National Data Collection, SAAP agencies are defined as 'The body or establishment which receives a specified amount of money (SAAP funds) to provide a SAAP service. The agency is the level at which data are collected'.

In the HACC Data Dictionary however, a HACC agency is defined as 'A HACC funded organisation or organisational sub-unit that is responsible for the direct provision of HACC funded assistance to clients'.

In Children's Services, agency most closely corresponds to the definition of service provider `The entity (individual, agency, organisation, body or enterprise) that provides the service(s)'.

At this point in time the National Community Services Data Dictionary definition of Agency is of necessity quite broad. As agency is generally the level at which the responsibility for service provision lies and at which data are collected. As there are different needs for data collection in different areas, a more precise definition would be too narrow to encompass all community services data collections.

Defining agency is extremely important for data collection, as it is the level at which most data are collected in the community services area.

An agency may or may not directly provide the services to clients, but is responsible for their provision, whether directly, administratively or via allocation of funds.

Sometimes agencies may contract out or broker the assistance required by their clients to other service providers. Although the agency may not directly provide the assistance in these cases, the agency paying for the assistance to clients is considered responsible for that assistance and should be able to report on those clients and the assistance they receive.

Regardless of the way in which an organisation is funded, an agency is the level of the organisation responsible for service provision to clients. In some instances one organisation will have more than one or many agencies.