Disability changes links and supports for Open Employment Services

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Disability changes links and supports for Open
Employment Services

• Barry Sandison
• Department of Employment
• and Workplace Relations

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Key Objectivesfor People with Disabilities in
Australia

• Increase workforce participation rates
• Increase employment rates
• Reduce welfare dependency

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Budget Initiatives for People with Disabilities

• Payments and Work Incentives
• Work Obligations
• Services
• Employer Demand

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Key Activities

• Employer Roundtable
• Comprehensive Work Capacity Assessments
• Direct Registration
• Job Accommodation Network
• Uncapped Places

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Roundtable - Terms of Reference

• Development of an Employer Demand Action Plan by,
  cleared by the Minister by December 2005.
• Identify and develop opportunities for and the
  benefits from, employing people with
  disabilities.

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Roundtable - Membership

• Mark Bagshaw Chair
• Major employer peaks
• Support Organisations
• Businesses
• Public sector

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Roundtable

• Meeting held 13 May
• - Issues being looked at
• Next meeting is 17 June
• Draft Action Plan for late July
• Links to Ministers Disability Advisory Group

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Comprehensive Work Capacity Assessments - Aims

• Early identification of job seekers with specific
  participation barriers
• Identification of and rapid referral to most
  appropriate intervention to meet their needs
• Streamline and enhance existing assessment and
  referral arrangements
• Provide information to Centrelink for decisions
  on payment eligibility

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Comprehensive Work Capacity Assessments

• Will build upon core elements of existing medical
  and work capacity assessments
• The assessment will be a positive, holistic
  exploration of a job seekers participation
  barriers and the nature of interventions and
  assistance needed to improve current and future
  work capacity.
• direct referral by the assessment provider to
  services.

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Streaming Arrangements

• Comprehensive work capacity assessor will refer
  job seeker to the right service
• to DOE if job seeker needs MORE than 6 months
  support after placement in a job (same streaming
  rule that currently applies)
• to vocational rehabilitation if such a program is
  required
• to Personal Support Programme if multiple
  non-vocational barriers
• to Job Network if none of the above

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Re-assessment process

• If after referral, job seeker requires different
  services, eg ongoing support or vocational
  rehabilitation, services will be able to cross
  refer to other services.
• If job seeker is found to have ongoing support
  needs beyond 2 years or not be able to work at
  award wages, they will be reassessed for DSP, eg
  if SWS needed.
• Will be re-assessment processes.

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Who will undertake the Assessments?

• Assessments will be conducted by a range of
  medical and allied health professionals such as
  rehabilitation counsellors, occupational
  therapists and psychologists.
• Similar to current arrangements for such
  assessments.

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Assessment Reports

• A comprehensive assessment report will be
  provided to both the selected service provider
  and Centrelink.
• Centrelink will use the information and
  recommendations in the report to finalise
  determination of the job seekers income support
  eligibility.

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Implementation Timing

• New Comprehensive Work Capacity Assessments will
  commence 1 July 2006
• Micro policy and implementation will be informed
  by the Early Intervention Engagement Pilot
  currently being conducted.

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Early Intervention Engagement Pilot

• Prototyping new arrangements
• Combines and streamlines current separate
  assessments
• Enables direct referral from assessment to
  interventions
• Target groups DSP claims reviews, NSA/YA
  (Incapacitated), small number of JSCI
  supplementary assessments.
• Pilot commenced 11 April 2005 in 14 CSCs in Qld,
  Vic and WA

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Pilot - Early Feedback

• Positive feedback from assessors, job seekers,
  service providers and Centrelink
• 68 of job seekers assessed accepting voluntary
  referral to services
• Referral destinations are still primarily focused
  on vocational rehabilitation, disability
  specialist services, Job Network and the Personal
  Support Programme

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Direct Registration

• Direct registration starts on EA3000 July 2005.
• DOE providers will be able to either
• continue to collect professionals report for job
  seeker for Disability Employment Indicators OR
• refer job seeker for work capacity assessment at
  no cost to provider
• Results of both assessment will be available on
  EA3000 - replaces most of paperwork required for
  current endorsement process.

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Job Accommodation Network (JAN)

• a free consulting service designed to increase
  the employability of people with disabilities
• It provides
• - individualised worksite accommodations
  solutions
• - technical assistance regarding disability
  related legislation
• - advice/assistance for callers about
  self-employment options.

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JAN (cont)

• Budget funding for an Australian version of JAN
• Information and advice website
• Business and consumer advisory lines
• Links to Workplace Modification Scheme
• Links to Job Able

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JAN

• http//www.jan.wvu.edu/
• http//www.jobable.gov.au/

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Additional Places

• 21,000 places in Disability Open Employment
  Services
• 42,000 vocational rehabilitation places
• 32,000 places in Job Network
• New places are over 3 years for people with a
  disability who have capacity to work 15-29 hours
  a week

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Demand driven (Uncapped) places

• 17,000 places over 3 years in Disability Open
  Employment Services for people with a disability
  who have capacity to work 15-29 hours a week
• independently at award wages
• within 2 years with disability employment
  assistance
• These places will be uncapped, ie demand driven

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Demand driven (uncapped) places

• Assistance for up to 2 years from intake
• Case based funded with outcome fees linked to
  achievement of work capacity, minimum of 15 hours
  a week outcome
• Intermittent support and job in jeopardy
  funding available after exit if needed

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Capped places

• Currently, over 38,000 places in Disability Open
  Employment Services for people with a disability
• Will be 4,000 new capped places over 3 years.
• The capped places are for people who
• do not have participation requirements
• need support for more than 2 years
• cannot work at award wages

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Disability Policy Some thoughts

• Transitions - School-to-work, preventing injuries
  or assisting people with them.
• Workforce Participation.
• Assessments.
• Engaging new and existing DSP customers.

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Disability Policy Some thoughts

• Streaming, referrals and service options.
• Employer and industry engagement.
• Inter- and intra-governmental strategies and
  community partnerships.
• Encouragement incentives/disincentives,
  information provision and myth busting.

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• Questions?