Issue 149
9 March 2010
To help support the marketing of Australian Disability Enterprises, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) has appointed a public relations agency, Horizon Communication Group, to help build awareness of Australian Disability Enterprises within the business, community and government departments through a public relations campaign.
For the next four months, the public relations campaign will focus on creating written and digital testimonials from Australian Disability Enterprise customers. The written testimonials will explain the value Australian Disability Enterprises provide and will be used in a media relations program and on the Australian Disability Enterprises website and promotional products. A four minute digital testimonial will also be produced, featuring high profile customers talking about why they would recommend Australian Disability Enterprises to other businesses. This will be provided on a DVD to all Australian Disability Enterprises, for use as a marketing tool.
Horizon will be contacting Australian Disability Enterprises shortly. They will be looking for help to:
If you wish to contact Horizon directly with information, please call (02) 8572 5600 and ask for Kate Young or Claudia Tyral or email kate@horizoncommunication.com.au
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For people with disability, finding a job can be a significant challenge. The Australian Government offers employment assistance services for people with disability, to help make it easier for them to find and secure work.
Since 1 March 2010, new Disability Employment Services have been introduced and comprise two program streams:
The two new programs are not capped, which means there is no limit to how many people can access the service.
Centrelink will help arrange a Job Capacity Assessment where no current review exists. This assessment will help Centrelink determine the most appropriate service to assist people with disability find work. The Job Capacity Assessment provider can then refer them to the appropriate Disability Employment Service program.
For information about the new Disability Employment Services, visit the Centrelink website at www.centrelink.gov.au, call 13 27 17 or visit a Centrelink Customer Service Centre. For information in your language, call 13 12 02.
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The ACE Disability Employment Services Conference will be held on 16-18 June 2010 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Hobart. The conference is an important annual event for disability employment professionals. As part of its ongoing commitment to industry development and growth, ACE aims to provide delegates with opportunities to think, question and respond to a range of critical industry issues in ways that are meaningful to their organisation, jobseekers with disability and the industry more broadly.
Anyone with an interest in open employment assistance for people with disability including: management and staff of the Disability Employment Services (Disability Management Support and Employment Support Services), Job Services Australia providers, Australian Disability Enterprise representatives, advocates, training organisations, policy makers, researchers, employers and their representatives.
As the new Disability Employment Services program kicks off on 1 March 2010, this year's conference will provide an excellent opportunity to assess implementation and consider ongoing review and refinement of the model over time. Time will also be dedicated to more strategic matters, in particular, sector leadership and where Disability Employment Services fit within the broader labour market agenda.
For further information about the conference, including how to submit, register and receive the draft program agenda, visit the conference website at www.conferenceworks.net.au/ace.
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It is important to keep your information up to date on the Australian Disability Enterprises website.
The success of the website relies on the accuracy of the information provided to consumers. Keeping your contact details up to date is particularly important for ensuring you receive information on jobs logged through the 'Log a Job' function on the website and government business opportunities from the Disability Procurement Manager.
All Australian Disability Enterprises should have received an email advising that all listings will be updated on a six monthly basis. Notification emails will be sent out to remind enterprises when their listings are due to be updated.
To update details, or create new listings, please complete a Website Update Form and email to Australian Disability Enterprises (australiandisabilityenterprises@fahcsia.gov.au).
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The Hon Bill Shorten MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services, and Mr Greg Hartung, President of the APC, launched the Paralympic Diversity Workplace Program, a joint initiative of FaHCSIA and the APC, in Sydney on 2 March 2010.
The launch was attended by several current Australian Paralympic athletes, as well as representatives from many top Australian employers, including Australia Post, Qantas, Telstra and Toyota.
The Paralympic Diversity Workplace Program will see Paralympic athletes act as 'ambassadors for diversity' within the Australian business community.
Jason Hellwig, Chief Executive of the APC, said the Paralympic Diversity Workplace Program will produce a range of benefits for participating Paralympic athletes and business organisations around Australia.
'The APC has invited each member of its Paralympic Preparation Program to signal their interest in becoming involved in the program, because we see it as a very useful mechanism for career enhancement outside of Paralympic sport,' Mr Hellwig said.
'The program will provide current Paralympic athletes with flexible employment arrangements to support their training and competition commitments. Such an arrangement would be of huge benefit to many athletes as we head towards the London Games in 2012.'
'And as part of their roles, the athletes will act as 'Diversity Ambassadors' within the organisation to deliver key diversity messages among their work colleagues.'
Expressions of interests from business organisations and Paralympic athletes are still welcome and can be submitted by calling 02 9704 0515.
This program was developed in response to the Australian Paralympic Committee’s call to increase the number of people with disability in the workforce.
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When entering a new client record onto FOFMS some caseworkers are receiving an error message saying, 'The CRN entered for the client is not unique' when they are entering the address details for a new client.
This is a false error message and has been reported for a technical solution.
If you are creating a client record and encounter this error message you only need to exit the client record and then go back by using the query facility. You will then be able to continue with entering the address and other client details.
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When returning a Suspended or Exited Case on FOFMS, if there are other Cases for this Supported Employee, FOFMS will not allow you to proceed with the Return from Suspension procedure. When you receive an error message you will need to call the Case Based Funding Helpdesk for assistance. This process ensures that there are not two active cases on FOFMS for the one client and prevents dual funding.
FaHCSIA has developed a series of short FOFMS training movies which are now available to all Disability Employment Assistance (DEA) FOFMS Users. Instructions and information about managing and updating case records can be found in the Australian Disability Enterprises Creating and Managing a Case Record in FOFMS training video on the Australian Disability Enterprises FOFMS Training Resource Centre website.
Please contact the Case Based Funding Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or by email to Helpdesk.CBF@fahcsia.gov.au if you require further information.
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Should you realise that a Case on FOFMS has been left active when it should have been Exited or Suspended, please contact the Case Based Funding Helpdesk for assistance in resolving the issue.
The Helpdesk can advise you about what action to take and if there have been any overpayments. If there has been an overpayment, we create a debit in FOFMS which is off-set against your future case based funding payments and a notification is forwarded to you setting out the details of the recovery to assist with any Audit and Compliance processes.
The Case Based Funding Helpdesk can be contacted on 1800 034 887 or at Helpdesk.CBF@fahcsia.gov.au.
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Australian Disability Enterprises are required to obtain signed consents from people with disability before they receive Disability Employment Assistance (DEA). This requirement is stipulated in Item P11.1 of the Schedule to the current DEA Funding Agreement. The Client Consents must be consistent with the FaHCSIA Client Consent Form at Additional Procedures and Information - Annexure D (available on the FaHCSIA website).
The consent allows the Australian Disability Enterprise to pass certain client information to FaHCSIA for the purposes of administering Case Based Funding.
FaHCSIA has recently updated the Client Consent Form to allow the department to pass client information to another Australian Disability Enterprise if the client commences working for another organisation. The new Client Consent Form is now available on the FaHCSIA website and all Australian Disability Enterprises organisations are required to use this form from 9 March 2010.
If you have any questions about Client Consents, please contact the Case based Funding helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or email: Helpdesk.CBF@fahcsia.gov.au
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