Post by Banker on Feb 24, 2012 7:56:33 GMT 7
Multiple reports released recently by Government challenge the right of people with disability to quality, person-centred employment services.
On Friday, the Government released their response to last year’s Senate Inquiry into Disability Employment Services (DES). On Monday, an official announcement to tender over 80% of Disability Employment Services was made by Employment Participation Minister, Kate Ellis.
Disability Employment Australia is disappointed that widespread concern regarding the DES tender has gone unheeded.
Lynette May, CEO of Disability Employment Australia said, ‘We support the need for a specialised Disability Employment Services program that guarantees high-quality providers that are best able to assist people with disability to find and maintain employment in the open labour market.
‘We do not believe that this is possible though the current tender process, nor the Performance Framework.
‘It is critically important that employment services for people with disability are measured on quality of service and goal-orientated outcomes. This is not currently the case.’
The DES program was launched in March 2010, with a final evaluation not due until June 2013.
Ms May said, ‘The procurement process is premature. Recent Job Services Australia (JSA) allegations suggest that the performance framework does not function in the best interests of job seekers, and certainly not those with disability.’
The framework is narrowly defined, and fails to:
provide consumer choice,
stimulate innovation, best practice and collaboration between providers,
measure quality services, or
reward person-centred goal-orientated pathways to employment.
Ms May explained, ‘The outcomes dominated system fails to measure pay rates, hours worked, duration of employment past 26 weeks, or person-centred practices. All of these should be inherent to a sustainable specialist labour market program, and integral to a social inclusion program.
‘Looking to the recent JSA example, it is clear that there is no guarantee that procurement initiated under the current performance framework will produce the “best possible employment services” as desired by Minister Kate Ellis.’
Minister Kate Ellis has agreed to a review of the Performance Framework, which would enable a better match between performance indicators and desired behaviour.
With this in mind, Disability Employment Australia calls on the Government to Postpone, Review and Improve the DES program before undertaking a highly disruptive wide-scale procurement process.
This appeal is backed by the recent DES Senate Inquiry Report, which raises considerable concern regarding the procurement process in its current form.
The Senate Inquiry report recommended:
Delaying the scheduled tender process for at least 12 months to avoid disruption during a time of improving performance,
Exploring alternative purchasing models more suitable to the program than competitive tendering,
Extending contracts from three to five years,
Reducing the percentage of DES providers tendered
Allowing for the timely release of a caseload transition strategy to coincide with the draft Request for Tender documents,
Providing clear and transparent information regarding the DES performance framework,
Developing a robust and quantifiable quality assessment mechanism,
Trialling 52 week employment outcomes measures in ESS, and
Developing clear and consistent guidelines regarding inappropriate practices, and methods to rectify inappropriate practices.
Ms May concluded, ‘Our goal is to ensure that the needs of people with disability are met by the Disability Employment Services program, rather than being granted mere lip service from a narrowly focussed labour market program. This is particularly pertinent in the person-centred context of NDIS.’
Read More: goo.gl/AJVqm
On Friday, the Government released their response to last year’s Senate Inquiry into Disability Employment Services (DES). On Monday, an official announcement to tender over 80% of Disability Employment Services was made by Employment Participation Minister, Kate Ellis.
Disability Employment Australia is disappointed that widespread concern regarding the DES tender has gone unheeded.
Lynette May, CEO of Disability Employment Australia said, ‘We support the need for a specialised Disability Employment Services program that guarantees high-quality providers that are best able to assist people with disability to find and maintain employment in the open labour market.
‘We do not believe that this is possible though the current tender process, nor the Performance Framework.
‘It is critically important that employment services for people with disability are measured on quality of service and goal-orientated outcomes. This is not currently the case.’
The DES program was launched in March 2010, with a final evaluation not due until June 2013.
Ms May said, ‘The procurement process is premature. Recent Job Services Australia (JSA) allegations suggest that the performance framework does not function in the best interests of job seekers, and certainly not those with disability.’
The framework is narrowly defined, and fails to:
provide consumer choice,
stimulate innovation, best practice and collaboration between providers,
measure quality services, or
reward person-centred goal-orientated pathways to employment.
Ms May explained, ‘The outcomes dominated system fails to measure pay rates, hours worked, duration of employment past 26 weeks, or person-centred practices. All of these should be inherent to a sustainable specialist labour market program, and integral to a social inclusion program.
‘Looking to the recent JSA example, it is clear that there is no guarantee that procurement initiated under the current performance framework will produce the “best possible employment services” as desired by Minister Kate Ellis.’
Minister Kate Ellis has agreed to a review of the Performance Framework, which would enable a better match between performance indicators and desired behaviour.
With this in mind, Disability Employment Australia calls on the Government to Postpone, Review and Improve the DES program before undertaking a highly disruptive wide-scale procurement process.
This appeal is backed by the recent DES Senate Inquiry Report, which raises considerable concern regarding the procurement process in its current form.
The Senate Inquiry report recommended:
Delaying the scheduled tender process for at least 12 months to avoid disruption during a time of improving performance,
Exploring alternative purchasing models more suitable to the program than competitive tendering,
Extending contracts from three to five years,
Reducing the percentage of DES providers tendered
Allowing for the timely release of a caseload transition strategy to coincide with the draft Request for Tender documents,
Providing clear and transparent information regarding the DES performance framework,
Developing a robust and quantifiable quality assessment mechanism,
Trialling 52 week employment outcomes measures in ESS, and
Developing clear and consistent guidelines regarding inappropriate practices, and methods to rectify inappropriate practices.
Ms May concluded, ‘Our goal is to ensure that the needs of people with disability are met by the Disability Employment Services program, rather than being granted mere lip service from a narrowly focussed labour market program. This is particularly pertinent in the person-centred context of NDIS.’
Read More: goo.gl/AJVqm