Disability employment services in Australian Capital Territory

What are disability employment services?

Disability employment services help people with disability find, start and keep a job. The term covers three separate systems that searchers often mix up: the Commonwealth’s specialist employment program (formerly Disability Employment Services, or DES), employment supports funded inside an NDIS plan, and supported employment in settings such as Australian Disability Enterprises. Inclusive Employment Australia, the specialist disability employment program that replaced DES on 1 November 2025, funds job matching, workplace training and post-placement support for eligible participants, separate from the NDIS (Department of Social Services, 2025).

What happened to DES providers in 2025?

The DES program was reformed into Inclusive Employment Australia, the new specialist disability employment program that commenced on 1 November 2025 (Department of Social Services, 2025). Many established DES providers moved onto the new panel, so an organisation you dealt with under DES may now operate under the Inclusive Employment Australia banner with the same local staff. The reform widened who can take part, including people with a lower assessed work capacity, and put more weight on support that continues after a job starts rather than ending at placement. If you were registered with a DES provider before the change, that provider or Services Australia can confirm how your registration carried across.

How to choose a provider from the list above

Carevo measures whether a provider accepts an enquiry, not when care starts or a practitioner contacts you. Confirm current capacity and a start date directly. How Carevo measures enquiry acceptance.

What do disability employment services cost?

Inclusive Employment Australia is free for eligible participants because the Department of Social Services pays providers directly; you should never be asked to pay for job matching or placement under the program. NDIS-funded employment supports are different: they are charged against your plan at the rates in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements, so every hour of SLES or employment counselling draws down your Capacity Building budget. Before services start, ask for the support item numbers and hourly rates in writing and check them against the current price guide. A provider that quotes a vague weekly program fee without item numbers makes it impossible to see what your plan is buying.

Which funding pays for disability employment services?

Two separate streams fund employment support, and eligibility depends on age and NDIS status. Inclusive Employment Australia is funded by the Department of Social Services and is free for eligible people with disability, injury or a health condition, with or without an NDIS plan; referral usually follows an Employment Services Assessment through Services Australia (Department of Social Services, 2025). School Leaver Employment Supports sits inside an NDIS plan under Capacity Building funding and is only available to participants finishing Year 12 or within about two years of leaving school (NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27). The two streams can run alongside each other.

What is NDIS employment support (Finding and Keeping a Job)?

Finding and Keeping a Job is the Capacity Building category in an NDIS plan that pays for employment supports the mainstream program does not cover. It funds School Leaver Employment Supports, employment-related assessment and counselling, and individual help to build work skills or move from supported employment towards open employment. Funding lands in a plan when it includes an employment goal, so raise work at your planning meeting even if a job feels years away. A support coordinator can sequence these supports with the rest of a plan, and life skills development often runs alongside them for school leavers building travel, money and communication skills.

What is supported employment, and what is an ADE?

Supported employment is paid work in a workplace where ongoing support is built into the job itself, most commonly an Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE). ADEs employ people with disability in work such as packaging, gardening and light manufacturing, with supervisors trained to adjust tasks to each worker. The NDIS funds supports in employment for participants who need frequent on-the-job assistance, and that funding follows the person, so it can be used in an ADE, with a mainstream employer, or in self-employment. Wages in supported employment are set under industrial arrangements that can include a supported wage assessment, so ask any ADE how wages are assessed and reviewed before accepting a role.

Can I use Inclusive Employment Australia and the NDIS at the same time?

Yes. Inclusive Employment Australia is a mainstream government service, so having an NDIS plan does not exclude you, and using it does not spend any plan funding. The NDIA generally expects participants to use the mainstream employment program first for job searching and placement, with NDIS funding picking up the disability-specific supports the program does not provide, such as SLES, personal care at work, or travel training through transport support. Running both at once is common: the employment provider works on the job while NDIS supports build the routines around it.

Availability

Carevo’s network spans 8,918 suburbs, with 32,033 NDIS-registered providers who can deliver the NDIS-funded side of employment support, and records updated 2026-08-26. Inclusive Employment Australia providers sit outside the NDIS register, so many families pair one found through JobAccess with complementary NDIS supports such as community access arranged through Carevo.

How to judge an employment provider on outcomes

Providers look similar on a website, so ask for numbers the brochure does not carry.

Ask about 26-week outcomes, not placements. A placement is someone starting a job. A 26-week outcome is someone still in it. The reform of the old DES model was driven partly by a funding structure that rewarded the first and not the second, so the second is the number that tells you whether a provider’s support actually holds.

Ask which employers they place with in your industry. Employer relationships are local and sector-specific, and a provider with no contacts in your field is starting cold.

Ask what happens at week four of a new job. Post-placement support is where arrangements succeed or quietly fail, and the answer should be specific about who visits, how often, and who talks to the employer.

You can change provider. Transferring is allowed and does not affect eligibility or restart your assessment. If the relationship is not working, say so early.

Where employment support providers are

Carevo lists 32,033 NDIS-registered providers across 8,918 suburbs who can deliver the NDIS-funded side of employment support, with records updated 2026-08-26. Inclusive Employment Australia panel providers sit outside the NDIS register and are found through JobAccess, so the two lists do not overlap and most people end up using one from each.

What Inclusive Employment Australia changed

The reform was not a rebrand. Three things changed that affect what you can expect.

Eligibility widened. People with a lower assessed work capacity can now take part, where the old DES settings excluded them. If you were told you did not qualify under DES, that assessment may no longer hold.

Support continues after placement. The old funding model paid providers heavily on placement, which produced a well-documented pattern of people being placed and then dropped. The new program puts more weight on support that continues once a job starts (Department of Social Services, 2025).

Provider panel rather than contracts. Many established DES providers moved onto the new panel, often with the same local staff, so an organisation you dealt with before may now operate under the Inclusive Employment Australia banner.

If you were registered with a DES provider before 1 November 2025, that provider or Services Australia can confirm how your registration carried across. You do not need to reapply from scratch.

Getting the most from an employment provider

Bring a specific job goal, not a general one. “Something in retail, part-time, close to home, no early starts” gives a provider something to work with. “Any job” produces generic placements that do not last.

Ask what happens in the first month. Post-placement support is where arrangements hold or quietly fail. The answer should name who visits, how often, and who talks to the employer.

Disclose on your own terms. You are not obliged to disclose a disability to an employer, and a good provider will talk through when disclosure helps (accessing adjustments) and when it does not. Adjustments can often be arranged through JobAccess without a full disclosure.

Use both systems where you can. Inclusive Employment Australia is free and does not touch your NDIS plan. NDIS employment funding covers the disability-specific supports the program does not: on-the-job assistance, personal care at work, travel training. Running both is common and a support coordinator can sequence them.

How this page is compiled

The provider rankings and figures on this page come from Carevo platform records, including provider registrations, measured response times and coverage, together with the cited official sources. Carevo is an Australian platform that connects families with NDIS and aged care providers. Carevo does not deliver care itself.

Funding sources and checks

Check the current NDIA pricing arrangements and Support at Home program rules for the proposed service. Funding depends on the approved support and available budget; a Carevo listing is not approval. Confirm availability and a start date directly with the provider.