NDIS Employment Support: A Complete Guide

Work matters. For people with disability, employment is not just income. It builds confidence, structures daily life, creates social connection, and is a right, not a privilege. The NDIS recognises this and funds employment support for participants who need more intensive assistance than the national employment system can provide. This guide covers the three funding streams, the 2025-26 rates, the November 2025 system change, and how to get employment funding into your plan.

What Is NDIS Employment Support?

NDIS employment support is funding that helps participants prepare for work, find a job, and maintain employment once they are working. Funding uses two budget types: Capacity Building for skills and job-finding, and Core Supports for ongoing on-the-job assistance.

This support is designed for participants who need more intensive help than the national employment program can provide. The NDIS does not duplicate other employment services. Where Inclusive Employment Australia or another mainstream employment program can adequately meet a participant’s needs, the NDIS will generally not fund the same service. NDIS employment support fills the gap beyond what those programs offer.

The Three NDIS Employment Support Streams

Employment Assistance (Capacity Building)

Employment Assistance is funded under Capacity Building: Finding and Keeping a Job (Support Category 10). This is time-limited, skills-building support designed to help a participant find and keep work. It covers:

• Work experience in inclusive employment environments
• Identifying strengths and barriers to work
• Developing a work goal and career plan
• Job matching and connecting with employers
• Job customisation and carving
• Building workplace skills: communication, time management, workplace behaviour
• Travel training for independent commuting
• Support to transition from supported employment to open employment
• Employer education about the participant’s disability and support needs
• Employment-related assessment, counselling, and advice delivered by allied health professionals

The 2025-26 rate for Employment Assistance is $80.06 per hour (line item 10_016_0102_5_3, registration group 0102).

Supports in Employment (Core)

Supports in Employment funds ongoing, frequent on-the-job assistance for participants who are already working. This stream moved from Capacity Building to Core in July 2020, reflecting its ongoing rather than time-limited nature.

Core employment supports can be used in any workplace: a mainstream employer, an Australian Disability Enterprise, a social enterprise, a micro-business, or self-employment. This is a significant flexibility that competitors rarely mention.

On-the-job Supports in Employment includes:

• On-the-job coaching and mentoring
• Setting up workspace or equipment to suit the participant’s needs
• Support to perform specific job tasks until the participant can do them independently
• Personal care at work (such as assistance with meals)
• Support to manage complex disability-related needs in the workplace
• Assistance to adjust to a new role or employer following disability onset or exacerbation

The weekday daytime rate for Supports in Employment is $70.23 per hour for individual support, the same as the standard disability support worker rate. For group support, the rate is divided equally by the number of participants receiving support at the same time.

School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES)

School Leaver Employment Supports are for young people who have difficulty with learning, social interaction, or self-management as they transition from school to the workforce. SLES is also funded under the Finding and Keeping a Job category.

SLES funding can be provided for up to two years, depending on the participant’s progress and the likelihood of achieving an employment outcome. Supports are individualised and may include:

• Work experience in real workplaces
• Vocational skills training
• Job readiness programs
• Independent travel training
• Money handling and time management
• Communication skills for workplace settings
• Employer connection activities
• Discovery activities to identify interests and strengths

Providers delivering SLES must submit quarterly reports to the NDIA. These reports document progress, the work goals being pursued, and the participant’s employment trajectory. Funding beyond the initial two-year period depends on demonstrated progress.

Employment-Related Assessment, Counselling and Advice

Within the Finding and Keeping a Job category, allied health professionals can deliver employment-related assessment and advice. This is a separate and often overlooked support type. Allied health professionals can provide this type of support. Examples include:

• Complete a vocational or functional capacity assessment
• Identify a participant’s strengths and disability-related barriers to work
• Help define a realistic work goal matched to ability and interest
• Advise on workplace adjustments and modifications
• Provide counselling when disability has prevented return to previous employment
• Educate employers about a participant’s specific disability and workplace implications

This type of support is particularly useful at the start of the employment journey, when a participant needs clarity about what kinds of work are realistic given their disability and functional capacity.

NDIS vs Inclusive Employment Australia

Most guides to NDIS employment support describe the relationship between NDIS and Disability Employment Services (DES). DES no longer exists. It was replaced by Inclusive Employment Australia on 1 November 2025. This is a significant change that very few competitor guides have updated to reflect.

Inclusive Employment Australia is a national government employment program for people with disability. It is funded by the Department of Social Services and sits entirely outside the NDIS system. It replaced DES to improve flexibility, remove time limits, and better support people with varied disability types and needs.

Inclusive Employment Australia provides generalised employment assistance to the broader disability population. NDIS employment support is individually funded and more intensive, addressing barriers that exceed what Inclusive Employment Australia can meet.

Both systems can operate concurrently for the same participant, but only where they fund different, complementary activities with no overlap. Where both providers are involved, a joint plan must be developed to clearly outline which provider is delivering which support. Duplicate claiming from both systems for the same activity is not permitted.

Inclusive Employment Australia offers employers a wage subsidy of up to $10,000 per eligible participant to support sustainable employment outcomes for people with significant support needs.

Australian Disability Enterprises

Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs) are supported workplaces providing employment to people with moderate to severe disability. Around 20,000 NDIS participants work in ADEs. These workplaces operate across manufacturing, packaging, horticulture, recycling, laundry services, and other industries.

Since 2020, Supports in Employment funding can be used at ADEs under the same pricing framework as open employment. This means participants in ADEs are no longer on a separate pricing track. They access the same Core-funded support as participants working in mainstream workplaces.

ADEs are not the right path for every participant. Some participants thrive in the structured, supported ADE environment. Others benefit more from assistance transitioning from an ADE to open employment. NDIS employment assistance supports both pathways.

Job Customisation: The Employment Strategy Most Guides Ignore

Job customisation, sometimes called job carving, is one of the most effective and underused employment strategies in the NDIS system. Most guides describe employment support as helping a participant find and apply for existing jobs. Job customisation takes a different approach.

Job customisation analyses a workplace’s tasks, identifies which ones the participant can perform well, and builds a role around those tasks. The resulting role fits both the participant’s abilities and the employer’s genuine business needs.

This approach is particularly effective for participants whose disability creates uneven functional capacity. Someone might excel at detailed, repetitive tasks but struggle with the social demands of a customer service role. Job customisation finds the employer who needs those skills and builds a role that excludes the elements the participant cannot perform.

NDIS employment providers can fund job customisation activities under the Employment Assistance category. Participants looking for employment support should ask prospective providers whether they offer job customisation as part of their service model.

Employer Responsibilities vs NDIS Responsibilities

Understanding this boundary prevents both under-claiming and over-claiming in employment support plans. Employers have their own obligations under Australian disability discrimination law to provide reasonable workplace adjustments. The NDIS only funds support beyond what an employer can reasonably be expected to provide.

Reasonable employer adjustments include: modified workstations, written instructions, adjusted start times, rest breaks, extra training time, and accessible workspace. These are employer responsibilities, not NDIS supports.

NDIS employment support funds intensive on-the-job coaching beyond what any employer can reasonably provide, personal care at work, and complex workplace adjustments requiring specialist knowledge.

The Employment Assistance Fund (EAF), a separate Commonwealth-funded program through JobAccess, can provide financial assistance for work-related equipment, workplace modifications, and Auslan interpretation. EAF is not NDIS funding and does not come from the participant’s NDIS plan.

How to Get Employment Support Into Your NDIS Plan

1. Set an employment goal. Employment support is only funded where a participant has an employment goal in their plan. This must be specific: not “I want to work” but “I want to work in a café environment 10 hours per week, building toward full-time employment within 18 months.”
2. Request the right funding stream. If you want help building skills and finding work, request Employment Assistance under Finding and Keeping a Job (Capacity Building). If you are already working and need on-the-job support, request Supports in Employment under Core. For school leavers, request School Leaver Employment Supports.
3. Provide supporting evidence. A functional capacity assessment or vocational assessment from an allied health professional strengthens the case for employment support funding. This evidence should describe what the participant can and cannot do in a work context and why standard employment programs are insufficient.
4. Identify a provider. Use the NDIS provider finder or ask your support coordinator to find employment providers in your area. Ask specifically whether they offer job customisation, have experience with your disability type, and whether they work alongside Inclusive Employment Australia providers if both streams are relevant.
5. Complete the typical pattern of supports. Once engaged, your employment provider will document the typical pattern of supports: frequency, intensity, and what will be delivered. This document must be completed before employment funding is claimed.

Employment Support for Women with Disability

Most employment support guides describe a participant who is ready and willing to work, facing only the practical barriers of disability. The reality for many women with disability is more complex.

Women with disability face intersecting barriers. Beyond disability-related barriers, these include the effects of trauma, disrupted employment from caring responsibilities, and in some cases family violence that created gaps in employment records.

For women returning to the workforce after family violence, the NDIS employment support system can help rebuild skills and confidence. Short-term work experience, supported volunteer roles, and structured skills programs can bridge the gap between where a person is now and where they want to be. Job customisation is particularly valuable here, creating roles tailored to what a person can do now rather than before their circumstances changed.

The pathway back to employment requires patience, flexibility, and workers who understand that employment is part of broader recovery, not a standalone goal. Trauma-informed employment support starts with where the person is, not where a service agreement says they should be.

Why Choose Tenax Supports for Employment and Skills Support

Employment is not a destination you reach once. It is something you work toward, sometimes lose, rebuild, and reach again. We support people through all of those stages.

Tenax Supports is a Victoria-based registered NDIS provider. Our Community Access service helps participants build the practical and social skills needed for employment and community participation. Employment support at Tenax Supports is part of a broader process of building the life a person wants to live.

Our Community Access service also helps build foundation skills that employment requires: public transport use, money management, workplace communication, and social participation. These skills form the base that employment support builds on.

Our Support Coordination service helps participants access the right combination of NDIS employment support and Inclusive Employment Australia, with joint plans where both systems are involved.

Allied health therapy services, such as occupational therapy and psychology, can deliver employment-related assessment, counselling, and advice under the Finding and Keeping a Job category. These services provide the functional assessments that strengthen employment funding requests at planning meetings.

Participants whose employment funding has been declined, or who need help navigating NDIS and Inclusive Employment Australia, can seek support through their support coordinator or an independent advocacy service.

For related reading, see our guides to the NDIS in Australia, NDIS community participation, NDIS support coordination, and NDIS disability support services.

Tenax Supports is a registered NDIS provider based in Victoria, committed to delivering quality support in line with NDIS Practice Standards.

For current information on Tenax Supports’ NDIS registration, search the NDIS Commission Provider Register at ndiscommission.gov.au.

Contact Tenax Supports at tenaxsupports.com.au/contact or call 03 7018 8666. For NDIS queries call 1800 800 110. Referrals can be submitted at tenaxsupports.com.au/referrals.

Frequently Asked Questions About NDIS Employment Support

NDIS employment support helps participants prepare for work, find a job, and maintain employment. Employment Assistance, Supports in Employment, and School Leaver Employment Supports are the three funding streams. NDIS employment support is more intensive than Inclusive Employment Australia and addresses barriers that national programs cannot fully meet.

What is the NDIS employment support rate in 2025-26?

Employment Assistance (capacity building) is $80.06 per hour under line item 10_016_0102_5_3, registration group 0102. Supports in Employment (Core) uses the standard support worker weekday rate of $70.23 per hour for individual support. Group support rates divide the hourly rate by the number of participants in the group. All rates are from the PAPL v1.1, effective 24 November 2025.

What is the difference between NDIS employment support and Inclusive Employment Australia?

Inclusive Employment Australia (which replaced Disability Employment Services on 1 November 2025) is a national government employment program outside the NDIS. NDIS employment support is individually funded through a participant’s plan and is more intensive for participants with greater barriers. Both can operate concurrently with a joint plan, but they cannot fund the same activity. NDIS employment support fills the gap beyond what Inclusive Employment Australia can provide.

What are School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES)?

SLES is NDIS-funded support for young people with disability transitioning from school to employment. Funding runs for up to two years based on progress and employment likelihood. Supports include work experience, job readiness training, travel training, money handling, and employer connection. Providers must submit quarterly reports to the NDIA. SLES is funded under Finding and Keeping a Job (Capacity Building).

What is job customisation in NDIS employment support?

Job customisation analyses a workplace’s tasks, identifies which the participant can perform well, and works with the employer to structure a suitable role. The resulting role fits both the participant’s abilities and the employer’s genuine needs. Rather than matching a participant to an existing job, job customisation creates a role that fits both the participant’s abilities and the employer’s genuine needs. NDIS employment providers can fund job customisation under Employment Assistance.

What is the Employment Assistance Fund?

The Employment Assistance Fund (EAF) is a separate Commonwealth-funded program through JobAccess that provides financial assistance for work-related modifications, equipment, Auslan services, and workplace support. It is not NDIS funding and does not come from the participant’s NDIS plan. Inclusive Employment Australia has also introduced a wage subsidy of up to $10,000 per eligible participant for employers supporting people with significant employment barriers.

Who is responsible for employment support: NDIS or the employer?

The NDIS funds support beyond what an employer can reasonably provide under disability discrimination law. Employers are responsible for reasonable adjustments: modified workstations, adjusted start times, written instructions, and physical accessibility. NDIS funds what goes beyond those adjustments: intensive coaching, personal care at work, complex workplace management, and specialist disability support.