Kickstarting the Future: Empowering School Leavers Through NDIS, Community Supports and Inclusive Employment Australia
Our Support Coordinator webinar series delves into hot topics directly relevant to your role.
In September, the theme was Kickstarting the Future: Empowering School Leavers Through the NDIS, Community Supports and Inclusive Employment Australia. You can watch a recording below.
The webinar resulted in many thought-provoking questions being asked of its presenters: Ian Charlton from Community Solutions and Mary Ingerton from Support Coordination Academy.
In this Q&A-style article, Ian and Mary address these questions, including those queries related specifically to the Inclusive Employment Australia program.
Your Webinar Questions Answered
These are the real questions Support Coordinators raised – and the expert guidance provided in response.
Mainstream Employment is often promoted as the ‘gold standard’, but for some people it’s neither realistic nor appropriate. How will the IEA program ensure Supported Employment remains viable and well-resourced for those who need it, rather than being treated as a stepping stone that participants are forced out of?
Participants will have choice and control over their employment journey.
Endeavour Foundation is an intellectual disability specialist provider of IEA, and as part of this, the participant will choose if they wish to continue to engage with the program or take time out and come back later.
In general, all providers are responsible for making sure they are appropriately staffed to provide adequate support to participants to gain and maintain paid employment.
Inclusive Employment Australia Explained
Big changes are coming to disability employment.
Starting from 1 November 2025, Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA) will replace the current Disability Employment Services (DES) program.
IEA aims to better emphasise flexible, personalised and long-term support for people with disability.
During this transition period, it is important that Support Coordinators are across the program and what it means for their clients.
As a specialist IEA provider, we can help.
Register with us and receive the latest updates, resources and tips so you are best prepared for the launch of IEA.
Many DES providers have historically struggled to support people with invisible disabilities and complex conditions – often doing just enough to ‘tick the box’ rather than genuinely engaging. What guarantee do we have that the new IEA model will do better? Will the IEA act as a one-stop shop, or will it actively partner with grassroots and regional providers to ensure people have genuine, diverse options for support?
The IEA program has specialist providers that will work with a wide range of conditions. As mentioned above, Endeavour Foundation will specialise in intellectual disability.
But there are other providers that have been successful in gaining contracts for participants with mental health conditions, autism, MS, etc.
It will be up to the provider to make sure that these participants receive the required support for their individual condition.
You mentioned the prospect of employment interventions. What qualifications does your team have regarding this strategy? Do you have Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellors on your team?
With interventions for people with an intellectual disability, it’s more about working with both the employer and participant and offering on-the-job support. This includes showing participants how to carry out a particular duty or step that they may need assistance with.
Is there a website that lists all IEA providers?
Yes, all IEA providers are listed here.
What are the IEA eligibility guidelines for NDIS participants receiving Finding and Keeping a Job supports? Previously there were DES v SLES guidelines that specified a six-month overlap only.
Detailed information should be available once the IEA program commences on 1 November.
Do you have any recommendations to support school leavers when planners often ignore the fact that they are leaving school and will need to be funded for transition supports? Many service providers need to know the funding is available prior to making an offer for supported work.
Being proactive and planning is the key. Start the planning process at a minimum six months before a person is due to transition from school to identify their goals and aspirations for when they leave. Then, identify the supports they will need to achieve those goals, including community supports and NDIS-funded supports.
This approach helps to identify the evidence required from a participant’s support network to substantiate the supports they will require to overcome barriers to pursuing their goals. It also allows time to connect with and trial supports available within the community.
Could you suggest any useful resources to help my participants plan a roadmap and help them and their families create goals and plans for leaving school and going onto the next steps of life?
Your state’s Department of Education should have some helpful templates and other resources to assist families to plan for their loved one’s transition from school. Here are some examples:
Importantly, transition plans must focus on the person’s goals and aspirations.
Endeavour Foundation has an insightful article that details the transition process.
We’re hearing a lot about the important role Support Coordinators will need to play in transition planning. Yet the NDIS is cutting Support Coordinator hours, and there’s a shift towards a navigator model. How do you see this working in practice? How will participants get the transition support they need if Support Coordinators don’t have the funded time to do the work?
Transition planning should not be viewed as an additional activity but incorporated into the person-centred planning facilitated with participants and their families.
It’s about being proactive and acknowledging a person’s life will change once they transition from school – so, looking ahead to identify the supports an individual will need once they transition from school.
There are organisations that specifically offer transition planning, including Parent to Parent.
Other than NDIS funding, what other streams can Support Coordinators tap into so we can best assist our clients?
The role of a Support Coordinator is not just about supporting a participant to utilise their NDIS funding. It is a Support Coordinator’s responsibility to build a resilient network of supports around a participant. This includes researching and connecting with:
- Mainstream support: Health, education and other government-funded services
- Community support: For example, tenancy advice services to maintain independent housing
- Student support services: TAFE, university, etc.
- NDIS-funded supports: To assist a participant to pursue and achieve their life goals
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