A handful of major employment service providers have failed to adequately support Australians with disabilities in the job market as the federal government hands down its first public report card on the industry.
Of the 88 providers assessed on the disability employment services program in July, 92% were meeting quality expectations while 90% exceeded or met effectiveness expectations.
But some of the largest providers are among those needing to improve their services, with seven needing to improve quality standards and five failing on effectiveness.
Disability employment service providers are given ongoing service fees from the federal government for their work and can also receive outcome fees when a client has a job for four, 13, 26 and 52 weeks. Around 250,000 Australians currently use disability employment service providers.
The federal government’s new scorecard, which will be released quarterly, shows the majority were meeting expectations on quality and effectiveness. Their efficiency in getting clients into work will be reported on in the new year.
One of the biggest job service providers, APM, was rated as requiring improvement on effectiveness. The government’s scorecard shows this indicates the provider “did not fully meet service expectations and improvement was required”.
Others requiring improvement on effectiveness included Max, gforce, Joblink Plus and Madec.
On the quality scoresheet – which considers factors such as participant rights, compliance, provider capability and understanding quality – uLaunch, CVGT, CoAct, Campbell Page, Outlook and Kuditj failed to meet expectations.
The Department of Social Services will work “closely” with providers scoring low on minimum requirements.
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, said the new public reporting mechanism would provide greater insight and transparency into the program.
“While it’s great that most providers are meeting expectations, the scorecards give providers, employers and participants – as well as the general public – a very clear picture of what is expected of providers and how they are stacking up,” Rishworth said.
“We know how important it is for people with disability to fully participate in society, and the role that paid employment has in facilitating that.”
Earlier this year, Guardian Australia reported some job providers were being paid millions of dollars in public money for work that jobseekers are finding themselves.
Some of the disability job providers also offer services to jobseekers, who are signed on to mutual obligations in order to continue receiving welfare payments.
It was revealed in March the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations had paid providers more than $3.6m in the past five years for pre-existing employment, where someone on jobseeker found a job prior to starting with a provider.
In responding to the disability royal commission, the Albanese government announced it would focus on improving job pathways for Australians with disabilities as part of a broad $371m package.
Around $228m will go towards designing a specialist disability program announced in the May budget, which will replace the existing disability employment services system.
Another $23.3m has been set aside to create a Disability Employment Centre of Excellence to help providers deliver effective employment services.
Around 2.7 million Australians with disability are of working age, figures show. The unemployment rate for people with disability stands at 7.5%.
