Julie-Anne Clarke – Eworks Employment Solutions Inc

Service provider

Eworks has put together the potential areas that we believe will need to be addressed in delivering the new look DES program. And based on the information provided in the discussion paper we have considered changes that may be required to ensure effective service delivery into the future and to ensure financial viability for providers to effectively deliver on the outcomes required. We hope this information will provide you with insight around the practicalities for delivery of Disability Employment Services.

Service Delivery Model
Good things in the paper
• Focus on Early School Leavers and freeing up access.
• Changes to the administrative requirements of the Tender Process.

Concerns with the Paper
• Boundary changes to ESAs
• Changes to On-Going Support will require additional administration
in obtaining employment hours worked and may have a negative
impact on cashflow.
• Changes to Service fees, if a job seeker fund is created and
outcome fees are increased this will mean lower service fees for
providers and would place a significant strain on providers
cashflow.

Focus on Clients having more input into the program
• Participant control of some funding expenditure- job seeker
employment fund
• In order to attract direct registration of job seekers providers
will be required to undertake additional networking across the
community. These activities will impose additional costs that will
require significant investment in resources.
Staffing
• We will need to monitor caseloads as they could drop below income
requirements quickly or grow faster than we can recruit.
• Servicing may require changes like
o Seeing job ready clients more often
o Using a Case Management model on those requiring more external
assistance before being job ready.
• May need to have more Part time or Casual staff
• May need to Outreach to more locations.

Networking/Marketing
• Increased networking with schools and Disability Organisations is
required now, by existing providers to ensure a flow of clients is
in place for the new look DES model 2018.
Service Coverage
• Concern at growing into new and larger employment service areas.
Small regional providers may be at risk in having to expand rapidly
in response to deliver services into areas with declining
populations and small caseloads.

Recommendations
To further alleviate the administrative burden of tendering we believe that current service providers who have been through the tender process and have not in the past been subject to business re-allocation should be considered for business rollover post March 2018.