Rural and Remote Disability Employment Assistance Study 

5.1 Key features of innovative approaches

There are several features required for innovative approaches for delivery of disability employment assistance to be successful. Successful approaches need to:

• meet the job seeking needs of people with disabilities, their families and carers, including responding to differing requirements for employment assistance activities—work preparation and training, job search and placement, and on-the-job support;
• promote improved access for people with disabilities, and provide equitable support in rural and remote locations, including indigenous communities;
• be financially viable and sustainable;
• be culturally appropriate for indigenous consumers;
• comply with the Disability Services Act 1986, including the Disability Services Standards;
• be flexible in meeting local community needs;
• enable an interface with other funded programs that is practical and sensible; and
• most importantly, innovative approaches should provide a focus on the individual job seeker with a disability.

Access (which relates to travel distance, conditions and mode of travel), employment opportunities and training for employment, are the three most significant problems faced by people with disabilities in rural and remote locations. Places of employment, residences and services are dispersed, and there is often no available transport. Unemployment rates are high, and job markets often competitive, seasonal and averse to perceived risks of employing people with disabilities. Training opportunities appropriate to the needs of job seekers with disabilities are poor.

The viability of disability employment assistance arrangements is also a significant concern, where it is recognised that in rural and remote locations it costs more to provide services compared to urban areas.

Quality assurance is also a key consideration for innovative approaches, presenting particular challenges in rural and remote locations; for non traditional service providers; and for Indigenous service delivery.

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5.2 Framework for improved innovation

This following section outlines innovative approaches or models for improving delivery for disability employment assistance in rural and remote locations, including indigenous communities .

The framework for discussing each model includes each of the following parameters:

Aims of the model - Outlines the particular aim of the model, and summarises the fundamental reasons for proposing the model.

Description of the model - A description of how the model might work at functional organisational and regional levels.

Benefits - The (main) potential benefits to job seekers with disabilities, and to organisations providing services.

Geographical focus - Where the model may be most appropriate - rural, remote, very remote.

Directions for existing disability employment services - Implied directions for existing disability employment services if the model is implemented.

Roles and responsibilities - a chart identifying potential purchasers, providers and employers. This includes key organisations and individuals involved in providing disability employment assistance and other services.

Quality Assurance - describes QA issues, and how the Disability Services Standards will be met, including the organisation responsible for ensuring that Standards are met.

Funding options - possible ways in which the model might be funded.

Next steps - Whether it is feasible to pilot the model, and if so, steps to progress this.

Each of these parameters is discussed in more detail below.

Note that the models should not be viewed as prescriptive nor the only models that may meet the needs of a local community. Rather they serve to illustrate service provision and funding arrangements which would improve access for job seekers with disabilities to employment assistance and employment opportunities in a wide range of situations and promote cost effective service delivery.

Existing disability employment services in rural and remote locations may consider some aspects of some models for improving access for job seekers or for increasing their viability. One or more of these models may be appropriate in a particular rural and remote community, depending on the local circumstances. Variations on the proposed models should be encouraged.

The following sections expand on the coverage of each parameter in the framework in which the models are presented.

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5.3 Aims of the model

The aims of the model are described. These generally relate to improving access for job seekers with disabilities to disability employment assistance, to employment opportunities, or improving service viability. Several models seek to establish ways to provide disability employment assistance in areas where it is not cost effective to establish a stand alone disability employment service.

5.4 Description of the model

The ways in which the model will deliver employment assistance to job seekers is described. The description of a model includes arrangements at functional, organisational and regional/systemic levels. These levels are summarised in Table 5.1 below.

Table 5.1: Functional, organisational and regional levels at which models apply

Level	Description of level
Functional	The elements of disability employment assistance - case management, training, job search, employment and on going support.
Organisational	The way individual organisations arrange their services. Examples include independent stand alone services, organisations with remote outlets or outreach services, or disability employment assistance provided as part of multi-program organisations.
Regional/ Town	The way in which organisations work together and network at a regional and/or town level. There may be several organisations working with job seekers with disabilities. Arrangements may include joint programs, formal protocols, participation in forums, sub contracting, etc.

Source: Thomson Goodall Associates

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5.5 Benefits of the model

There are a range of perceived benefits for each model, for job seekers with disabilities, for service providers and for local communities. Actual benefits should be tested as part of the pilots. Different models will have different aims and hence a different focus in terms of benefits.

For example, benefits to job seekers who are provided with support by family members (Model 10) will mean that job seekers on remote farms will be able to access employment assistance support for on farm employment.

Benefits to service providers from collaboration (Model 1) include improved viability through higher staff productivity and efficiency in resource allocation, enhanced service quality, improved access to providers of other services and improved access to employment opportunities.

Similarly, where local communities are involved in supporting job seekers with disabilities (Model 6), members of the community will be employed to provide support.

5.6 Geographical focus and aspects of service delivery

It is important to identify where models are most applicable - in rural, remote or very remote locations. For example, some service providers may not be present in remote and very remote locations. To provide a basis for understanding where particular models might be useful, Table 5.2 has been developed. Remoteness affects different aspects of service delivery in different ways.

Table 5.2: Remoteness framework for considering model development (open employment)

Aspects of service delivery	Rural	Remote	Very remote
Worker approach and skill requirements	Case management, plus direct support	Case management, worker provides range of supports	Multi-skilled to offset lack of service infrastructure
Frequency of contact with consumers (face to face)	Regular (similar to urban)	Regular but less frequent	Intermittent, depends on availability of consumers, seasonal conditions
Worker productivity due to travel requirements	Less than urban services	Low	Very low
Nature of service location	Centre/office based (with outreach)	Remote outlet (may be part of larger service)	Outreach (mobile)
Training providers available	TAFE College, schools, agency staff, Internet	Agency staff, TAFE College, Internet	Agency staff, community members
On going support providers available	Service (agency), employer based	Community and employer based	Employer and community based
Availability of specialist expertise and support	Some, through visiting specialists	Little	None
Presence of other (support) services for people with disabilities	Good	Variable	Poor
Presence of CRS Australia, Centrelink, Job Network providers	Good	Variable. Outreach based on specific need.	Variable. Outreach based on specific need.
Beneficiaries of benefits of disability employment	Mainly individual, family and community	Individual job seeker, and family and community	Individual job seeker, family and community
Nature of labour market	Poor, but diverse	Poor, limited and seasonal	Poor, very limited, seasonal. CDEP may offer opportunities.
Opportunities for business development	Participation in local economy, self employment opportunities as part of local business chain, business mentor available	Self employment opportunities as supplier to local businesses, and family businesses	Lack of existing businesses, implies innovative new enterprise development required

Source: Thomson Goodall Associates

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5.7 Directions for disability employment services

Employment services operating in rural and remote locations are challenged by higher operating costs, lack of access to training and other services, by seasonal and difficult labour markets and fewer job seekers many of whom may be highly mobile. These challenges will need to be acknowledged in the context of funding reform.

While it may be appropriate for some services to continue to provide case management, training, job search and maintenance support functions the same way they have in the past, others may consider broadening their activities, or alternatively arranging for other organisations or individuals to provide one or more of these functions.

Each of these possible directions is explored on Table 5.3.

'Diversifying' implies that services broaden their role by attracting additional sources of funding. This would smooth out peaks and troughs in work load, and would potentially make travel to remote areas more cost effective.

'Divesting' implies arranging for another organisation or individual to perform case management, training, job search or maintenance support functions. Many disability employment services already appoint co-workers, employ casual workers, and sub-contract selected services. Case based funding may facilitate improved local arrangements for service provision, eg making payment to others to achieve specific outcomes for support provided to individual job seekers with disabilities in their own communities. 'Divesting' aims to provide job seekers with quality services at a lower overall cost due to reduced travel and other overheads where there are poor economies of scale.

Of course, it might be appropriate for an individual service to broaden one function and 'divest' another, depending on local circumstances. There are different directions that services may take, and not every service needs to do either.

For each of the models, there is an explicit or implied direction.

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Table 5.3: Possible directions for disability employment services

'Divest' (ie. brokerage)	'Stay the same' (ie current function of disability employment service)	'Diversify' (ie. broaden role)
The disability employment service negotiates with other organisations to provide one or more elements of case management Eg. State based services, CRS Aust, or other appropriate organisations. May involve sub contracting or other purchasing arrangements	The disability employment service provides « --- Case management --- »	The disability employment service broadens its case management role Eg. Provide case management to other job seekers, or people with disabilities with needs other than employment This would mean pursuing a range of funding sources (beyond disability employment)
The disability employment service purchases training from other organisations Eg. TAFE to provide disability specific employment programs State based services to provide Independent Living Training RTOs to provide disability specific employment programs	The disability employment service provides « --- Training --- »	The disability employment service broadens its training role Eg. Provide Independent Living Training to State funded consumers This would mean applying for funding from State/Territory, Commonwealth governments
The disability employment service negotiates with other organisations to provide job search services Eg. CRS Australia, Job Network providers, or a joint venture job search organisation	The disability employment service provides « --- Job search, placement --- »	The disability employment service broadens its job search role Eg. Provide job search services to people with disabilities, other than FaCS disability consumers Funding would be sourced from Job Network providers
The disability employment service purchases maintenance support from other organisations and individuals Eg. Casual support workers, co-workers, family, friends	The disability employment service provides « --- Maintenance support --- »	The disability employment service broadens its maintenance support role Eg. provide maintenance support to people with disabilities, other than FaCS disability consumers Source funding from State/Territory

Note: Service providers might divest one service, and diversify in another. The Table serves to illustrate possibilities, it is not intended to be prescriptive.

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5.8 Roles and responsibilities

Each model identifies purchaser(s) and provider(s), with each of the provider functions separately identified. FaCS is a purchaser of disability employment assistance in all models. Some models include collaboration with other service providers which are funded by other government organisations, or directly with an employer.

The proposed models are largely within the capacity of FaCS to progress and implement. While models may require the cooperation of other purchasers such as ATSIC and State/Territory governments, their cooperation is considered to be within their current program funding.

Nevertheless FaCS may wish to pursue a range of issues with these organisations in order to provide programs which improve access to disability employment assistance and employment opportunities.

The purchase of services is possible only where there are service providers who can deliver the required services in a timely manner, and at the required level of quality, for an agreed cost. Case based funding levels for the trial are based on budget costs for Australia as a whole, and thus reflect the average cost of providing services across Australia. In rural and remote locations, purchasers may find it difficult to actually purchase services, as appropriate providers often do not exist. Where they do exist, sufficient funds will be required.

For each of the key disability employment assistance functions - case management, support, training, job search and maintenance support, there are a range of possible providers. These include disability employment services, State/Territory disability services, local government, CRS Australia, TAFE, Job Network providers, and CDEP. The role of employers is also noted, as providers of open or supported employment.

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5.9 Quality assurance

The proposed models are structured in order to comply with Disability Service Standards. The way in which each model would comply with Standards is summarised, including identification of the organisation responsible. In some cases there are particular QA issues which are noted.

5.10 Funding options

Funding options outlines how the funding principles outlined in Section 3 will be addressed and the implications for case based funding for the particular model.

5.11 Next steps

Next steps covers the steps that will need to be addressed by FaCS. It is expected that some of the proposed models will be investigated further by implementing pilot projects. Thus potential partners in piloting the models are identified.

Several models involve alternative funding arrangements. These need to be decided. Establishing funding levels appropriate to the circumstances of the pilot may be done arbitrarily for the purposes of initiating pilot projects in the short term, or more detailed funding formulae may be established. Otherwise some pilot projects might proceed without alternative funding arrangements, but include provision in the pilot (and evaluation) to identify the additional costs involved.

All pilots require clear management and accountability requirements, and evaluation components. FaCS will need to develop an approach to the evaluation of selected pilots, but at a minimum it is proposed pilots provide quarterly activity statements and acquittal reports, plus a final evaluation report against set evaluation criteria. It is understood that FaCS would engage an independent evaluator for the pilots.

A set of outcomes needs to be established which will enable FaCS to assess each of the models during and at the conclusion of the pilot stage. Outcomes would include:

• extent to which Service Standards have been met;
• viability of model;
• consumer/ family/community satisfaction; and
• extent to which accountability requirements to funder(s) have been met.

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