Quality Strategy Toolkit
for Australian Disability Enterprises
and Disability Employment Services
Home » Quality Strategy Toolkit » Section 1: Overview
The Australian Government introduced the Quality Strategy for Disability Employment and CRS Australia in 2002.
The goal is to ensure Australian Government funded services meet certain standards so that they offer employment support and assistance to people with disability in a quality environment, enabling them to enjoy the same basic rights and opportunities generally available to all working Australians.
Specifically, the objectives of the Quality Strategy are to:
The Quality Strategy includes a quality assurance system that passed into law in 2002. It requires services funded under the Disability Services Act 1986 (Cth) to be independently assessed and certified as complying with the Disability Services Standards. All disability employment services must meet the requirements of the independent quality assurance system to receive funding from the Australian Government.
Audits against the Disability Services Standards are conducted by independent third party certification bodies. These certification bodies are accredited to perform audits against the Disability Services Standards by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) (see Diagram 1.1).
Diagram 1.1: Hierarchy of the quality assurance system
There are three linked components to the Quality Strategy (see Diagram 1.2):
The first component of the Quality Strategy is a quality assurance system of accredited certification, well-established in Australian industry, which uses international standards of best practice. Service providers are required to be certified against the 12 Disability Services Standards with 26 related key performance indicators (KPIs).
The second component of the Quality Strategy is continuous improvement. This is about constantly reviewing your organisation's performance against the Disability Services Standards and planning ongoing improvements. The aim is to increase service providers' abilities to fulfil and exceed the requirements of the Standards.
The third component of the Quality Strategy is complaints and referrals. Supported employees/participants who are not satisfied with their service provider's internal complaints and disputes mechanisms can contact the Complaints Resolution and Referral Service (CRRS). The CRRS operates through a free call hotline, which is run in conjunction with the National Disability Abuse and Neglect Hotline. This is the single contact point for anyone to report claims of abuse and neglect of people with disability using government funded services.
The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) is responsible for administering the Quality Strategy for all service types. FaHCSIA also funds the Australian Disability Enterprises service type.
The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) is the funding body for Disability Employment Services, which consist of two service types - Disability Management Services, and Employment Support Services.
The Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) is responsible for accrediting the certification bodies that audit service providers against the Disability Services Standards. The criteria for accreditation of certification bodies are set out in JAS-ANZ Procedure 18 Requirements for Bodies Providing Audit and certification of Disability Employment Organisations. Procedure 18 contains requirements for certification bodies (not service providers). It covers requirements governing the impartiality, confidentiality and competence of the certification body. Procedure 18 also sets out guidance for how certification processes are to be conducted. Procedure 18 is included in this toolkit (see Attachment 1).
JAS-ANZ Procedure 18 should be read in conjunction with the international standard, AS ISO/IEC 17021:2006. A read-only version of AS ISO/IEC 17021:2006 is available on the FaHCSIA Online Funding Management System (FoFMS), if you are a FaHCSIA-funded service provider. Alternatively you can buy a hard copy from SAI Global Ltd, GPO Box 5420 Sydney NSW 2001, ph: 02 8206 6355, fax: 02 8206 6025.
More information about JAS-ANZ, including all JAS-ANZ Procedures, is available online
Certification bodies are third party accredited entities which independently audit organisations funded by the departments against the Disability Services Standards. Certification bodies rate the performance of Australian Disability Enterprises, and Disability Employment Services against the 12 Disability Services Standards and 26 KPIs, using a scale of 0 (major nonconformity), 1 (nonconformity) and 2 (conformity). These results are reported to FaHCSIA in the form of an audit report.
The Disability Services Standards and associated KPIs are based on the Disability Services Act 1986 (Cth). The Standards are central to the quality assurance system. They define the elements of quality service delivery for people with disability. To achieve certification, service providers need to comply with, and demonstrate continuous improvement against, the Disability Services Standards.
The Disability Services Standards have the same intent across all service types, but may require different kinds of evidence to demonstrate compliance and continuous improvement. You must ensure that your organisation follows the relevant set of Standards and KPIs for your service type.
Disability Services Standards for different service types are in Section 2B of this toolkit.
Evidence Guidelines are tools to help you gather and develop evidence to:
There are two sets of Evidence Guidelines; one for Australian Disability Enterprises, the other for Disability Employment Services. This has a particular impact on organisations that provide a mixture of services types, as those organisations are required to provide evidence against each service type.
The Evidence Guidelines are not an all-inclusive checklist. You may have different examples of evidence than those in the guidelines for demonstrating compliance with the KPIs for each Standard.
The Evidence Guidelines for different service types are in Section 2B of this toolkit.
The Quality Strategy applies to three categories, or service types, of Australian Government funded disability employment services:
Australian Disability Enterprises are funded by FaHCSIA, and are sometimes referred to as supported employment services.
Australian Disability Enterprises directly employ and support people with disability who may not be able to work in an open or competitive environment. This type of service approach is aimed at people with disability who require substantial ongoing support to obtain or retain paid employment.
Disability Employment Services are offered through organisations that are contracted by the Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).
Disability Employment Services assists people with disability, injury or health conditions to secure and maintain sustainable employment. Disability Employment Services provides individually tailored assistance to participants, including capacity building, training, work experience and other interventions to help participants obtain suitable employment. Once in employment, Ongoing Support in the workplace is also available to all participants who require it.
Disability Employment Services include two demand-driven programs:
It should be noted that although there are two Disability Employment Services programs, or service types, one set of Standards, Evidence Guidelines and self-assessment worksheets have been developed for use by both.
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