People on the national disability insurance scheme who want to work will be connected with a disability employment services provider under a trial to be established by the Albanese government.
In a speech on Wednesday, the social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, will confirm the establishment of a pilot scheme aimed at lifting employment rates among people with disability.
“The unemployment rate for people with disability is more than double that of working age people without disability,” Rishworth is expected to say.
“The rates of disability employment have remained largely unchanged for almost 20 years. Of course not everyone wants to work. But it is vital we ensure the choice is there.”
It comes with the government electing to delay reform of disability employment services for two years in order to undertake further consultation, with Labor saying the reform process was not sufficiently progressed under the Coalition.
The scheme, which costs about $1.3bn a year, has faced criticism that it is ineffective and allegations of rorting by the outsourced providers.
A report by Boston Consulting Group, commissioned by the previous government, found reforms to the Des program enacted by the Coalition had seen provider revenue surge without an equivalent spike in job placements for people with disability.
When it was established the national disability insurance scheme was pitched as a key tool to lift disability employment rates, which have remained stubbornly low for nearly two decades.
While there have been many individual success stories, data released by the National Disability Insurance Agency has suggested employment levels among some age cohorts had remain steady, or even declined.
Almost 2.1 million people with disability are of working age in Australia, but research has shown 93% of unemployed people aged 15 to 64 with disability have faced difficulty finding employment.
The disability royal commission heard evidence last year that disability employment rates at some of Australia’s top companies was less than 1%.
People who have an NDIS plan are asked to list goals which are then used to determine what supports and services they are able to access in their funding package.
About 37% of working age NDIS participants – or about 108,000 – had an employment goal in their NDIS plan.
The pilot, which will be trialled in five locations, is expected to begin in early 2023. It will connect those in the NDIS with an employment goal to a disability employment services provider.
The pilot is for people who don’t have mutual obligations, meaning they will not face penalties while taking part in the Des program. Currently, NDIS participants can choose to engage with a Des provider and the pilot is expected to better connect those individuals with a provider.
Rishworth will tell a national forum for stakeholders involved in the creation of the Australian Disability Strategy on Wednesday that the new trial will “contribute to a stronger understanding of ‘what works’ in the context of Des”.
The NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, said the original premise of the scheme was “not just to provide supports and services, it was also to help people with disability to find ways into work”.
Welfare groups such as the Australian Council of Social Service have warned the Des scheme has been “failing for too long”, with some jobseekers funnelled through unhelpful activities and training.
Acoss warned reforms to the Des scheme would need to “happen in such a way that the problems of the past are not reproduced”.
The Antipoverty Centre panned the announcement, accusing the government of failing to listen to criticism of the disability employment services scheme from within the disability community.
“The NDIS is far from perfect but increasing the involvement of Disability Employment Services providers can only make things worse,” said Antipoverty Centre spokesperson Kristin O’Connell. “Des has been failing disabled people for as long as it’s existed.
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Jay Coonan, of the Antipoverty Centre and a co-author of a submission into Des for peak body, People With Disability Australia, said the answer to employment barriers was not funnelling money to “failed services”, but to tackle discrimination in the labour market.
Separately, a parliamentary inquiry is currently investigating Workforce Australia, the main flagship employment services program, which has faced many of the same criticisms as Des.
In August, a number of Des job agencies lost significant contracts under a scheduled review, with Rishworth saying about 6% of providers were “not up to scratch”. Among the providers that lost some market share was one that came under fire at the disability royal commission for a questionable barista course which lacked basic equipment.
