New South Wales,
Australia — Minister for Disability Services,
Carmel Tebbutt, said today that reforms to programs for
school-leavers with a disability were not intended to
result in a reduction of hours for participants.
"These reforms are designed to
achieve:
- improved participation of young
people with a disability in supported and open
employment through the Transition to Work
program;
- a long-term commitment to
appropriate support through the Community
Participation program for young people with a
disability who are not able to move into employment.
This will include regular reviews to ensure that
clients have access to flexible support to meet their
changing needs."
Ms Tebbutt acknowledged that the
reforms announced on 8 July had led to concerns among
parents and service providers.
"I am happy to look at the concerns
about our proposal to introduce the Transition to Work
and Community Participation programs.
"The reforms are not intended to
result in a reduction of hours for clients. Our focus is
on improving employment outcomes and providing longer
term certainty to young people - not reducing access to
programs.
"However, this can only be assessed
effectively through the expression of interest process
which concludes on 3 September. If, through this, it
becomes clear that service providers cannot deliver what
we are asking, we will have to look at that."
Ms Tebbutt said that it was
generally agreed that the programs for school-leavers
needed reform - particularly in the light of wide
divergences in both the services, and the cost of
services, that were being offered to young
people.
"There was only a 3% success rate
of getting young people into work. And it was also clear
that young people who were unable to move to employment
within the two year time frame of ATLAS needed a program
that was not time-limited."
Ms Tebbutt pointed out that the
average level of funding per individual under the
Transition to Work program would be equivalent to that
under the current ATLAS program.
"However, the lower average funding
under the Community Participation program reflects the
less intense support that needs to be provided."
Ms Tebbutt said the NSW Government
was committed to improving outcomes for school-leavers
with a disability.
"That's why we have committed to
raise annual funding for the new programs from just over
$50 million this year to over $60 million by
2007/8.
