I would like to highlight the funding black hole my daughter has fallen into between the NDIS ‘finding & keeping a job’ line item and the Disability Employment Service Support.

My daughter has an admin job 4 hours a week in a finance consultancy company in town. Her funding through NDIS for on the job support only lasted 7 months before it ran out. I was told by her LAC that that line item is temporary and support should then be offered by a DES. However a DES can’t offer her support for jobs under 8 hours.
I was also told by the LAC that if she wasn’t capable of doing 8 hours then she should be at a Supported Employer (like Waverley Industries)!

If you met my daughter you would be horrified at that suggestion. Whilst at school she was made to do factory line work experience at Waverley Industries, stuffing boxes with tampons etc, and needless to say she hated it!

Luckily my daughter’s employer has kept her on but her story could have been very different.

My daughter wants to work more and has been registered with a DES for over 12 months. The DES requirement of fortnightly meetings is very inconvenient, and after all this time they still haven’t managed to find work for her.

The gap between the two systems is ridiculous! We should be able to access support for employment no matter how many hours a job is.