A new specialist disability employment program – Consultation
As part of the 2024-25 Budget, the Australian Government has announced that a new specialist disability employment program will commence on 1 July 2025. The new program will replace the current Disability Employment Services (DES) program.
The new program will focus on assisting people with disability, injury and/or a health condition to find and maintain sustainable employment. The new program will be delivered by high-quality providers with a diversity of expertise helping people with disability into employment. Providers will place participants and employers at the centre of their service design and build meaningful relationships with both participants and employers.
Consultation on the new specialist disability employment program
The Department of Social Services will continue to engage with the sector as the design of the new disability employment program is finalised. There will be a number of opportunities for employment and disability service providers; people with disability, their families and carers; disability advocates; employers and other interested stakeholders to have their say on the final design as part of the implementation and transition to the new program.
Information released as part of this consultation and stakeholder engagement process will be made available on this site. This may include papers, slides used during presentations and recordings of any livestreamed events.
Information about the new specialist disability employment program will also be released on the Department of Social Services website as it becomes available.
Current and past consultation and stakeholder engagement
Please note the following engagement activities and their status.
Information papers
The Department of Social Services is developing information papers to provide more detailed information about the new disability employment program on specific topics. These will be shared in advance of the Exposure Draft of the Request to Tender (RFT) expected to be released mid 2024.
The information papers take into account questions that have been asked about the reforms to date and include further questions for consideration.
- Information Paper – Market Structure [PDF 386 kB] | [Word 157 kB]
Disability Employment Australia: Conference
The Disability Employment Australia (DEA) Conference was held 11-13 June 2024.
During the conference, Mr Julian Hill MP, presented on reforms to the disability employment system to support more Australians living with disability into work. The Department also provided a summary on DES Reforms.
- Copy of presentation by the Department of Social Services [PDF 936 kB] [Word 146 kB] [Powerpoint 2.8 MB]
2024-25 Budget – Disability Employment Reforms – Post-budget briefing event (Closed)
On 23 May 2024, the Minister for Social Services, the Hon. Amanda Rishworth MP, and the Department of Social Services held a live event providing details on the Disability Employment Reforms announced in the 2024-25 Budget.
Details, including a recording of the event, copies of the slides and transcripts are available via DSS Engage.
- 2024-25 Budget Disability Employment Reform event – Sydney and online – 23 May 2025 1:30pm to 4:30pm (AEST)
How to provide feedback
The next formal feedback process will be through the Exposure Draft of the RFT. Further information will be provided shortly about the formal RFT Exposure Draft, consultations and time frames for the Tender process. Feedback received will inform the final RFT.
The Department of Social Services welcomes further feedback and questions at any time. This may be provided through peak bodies or Disability Representative Organisations. Feedback or questions can also be provided directly to DESConsultations@dss.gov.au.