Disability Employment Services 2018 Grant Opportunity Restricted Application Process - Stage two

Grant Category Services for People with Disabilities Employment Services
Grant Status Closed
Delivered on behalf of
Selection process
State/Territory National
Closing Date/Time

Disability Employment Services (DES) provides a suite of employment services to people with disability, injury or health condition who are looking for work in the open labour market. Since it commenced in 2010, DES has achieved more than 360,000 job placements, including more than 200,000 jobs lasting six months or more.

DES has two uncapped demand-driven programs. These are:

  1. Employment Support Services (ESS) for eligible job seekers with permanent disability and with an assessed need for regular Ongoing Support in the workplace, and
  2. Disability Management Services (DMS) for eligible job seekers with disability, injury or health conditions who are not expected to need long-term support in the workplace but may need irregular flexible support to keep a job.

Both streams offer Generalist Services and Specialist Services:

  • Generalist Services are delivered to all DES Participants regardless of the nature of their disability, injury or health condition, and
  • Specialist Services are delivered to a group of Participants with specialist needs.

DES is delivered across 110 Employment Service Areas (ESAs). For the purposes of the selection process, ESAs have been identified as either metropolitan or regional. Maps providing information on ESAs are provided as part of the Application Pack.

Following extensive community consultation involving people with disability, disability peak organisations, disability service providers and employers, the following key changes will be implemented to improve DES performance, commencing from 1 July 2018:

  • improving choice and control for Participants
  • generating greater competition and contestability between Providers
  • improving financial incentives for Providers through a new risk-adjusted funding model designed to reward Providers commensurate to the difficulty in placing the participant into sustainable employment, and
  • indexing DES payments to maintain their real value.

More information

More information about the Disability Employment Services and requirements for Applicants can be found in the Grant Opportunity Guidelines:

  • Grant Opportunity Guidelines

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Contacting the Community Grants Hub

If you would like assistance please call the Community Grants Hub Hotline on 1800 020 283 and/or [email protected]

More information about the Community Grants Hub can be found at the Community Grants Hub website.

Please quote 2017-1034 Disability Employment Services 2018 when you phone or email the Community Grants Hub.

Application Pack