Issue 101
25 February 2008
An additional 250 supported employment places for people with disability will be allocated in areas of high demand from 1 July 2008. These places were first announced in June 2007 as part of the Disability Assistance Package.
Eligible organisations are invited to submit their Expressions of Interest for 250 New Disability Supported Employment Places in Areas of High Demand. Expressions of Interest close on Thursday 20 March 2008. Priority target groups for service delivery include:
Funding is limited and applications will be assessed and prioritised according to the extent to which they meet the Expression of Interest Selection Criteria. Short listed applicants will then be invited to participate in a Competitive Selection Process for the final allocation of 250 New Disability Supported Employment Places in Areas of High Demand.
An Application Package (including the Selection Criteria) can be downloaded from www.fahcsia.gov.au/funding. The contact person for this Expression of Interest is Mark Heywood on 1800 108 196.
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This is a reminder that to meet their industrial obligations outlined in the Australian Fair Pay Commission’s (AFPC) 2006 Minimum Wage Decision all business services must have in place an approved process to determine pro rata award based wages by May 2008. More information on the 22 wage tools approved for use in business services and the AFPC’s decision is available via the above link or at the AFPC’s web site: www.fairpay.gov.au
Earlier in the year, FaHCSIA emailed business services to identify which wage assessment process they were using and whether they were at risk of not having a compliant process in place by the deadline. The majority of business services indicated they were already using an approved wage tool or were intending to adopt an approved tool by May 2008.
A small number of business services elected to have their own wage tool assessed by independent third party consultant Jenny Pearson and Associates. The closing date to submit a wage tool for assessment was 31 August 2007 and all tools have now been received and reviewed by the consultant. The AFPC is responsible for making the final decision about which of the additional tools will be sanctioned for use in business services. Services that submitted a tool will be informed by the AFPC of the outcome of this process.
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The Training and Assessing resource manual and CD Rom developed by the Consumer Training and Support Provider, Wodonga TAFE, have now been distributed to FaHCSIA’s funded disability business services and advocacy services.
These tools have been designed to increase the skills and confidence of staff who will be involved in training in the disability employment and advocacy arenas. They are key resources to use in conjunction with the other training and information products, and should be stored in the blue Trainer’s Guide manual, previously provided.
Other training and information products produced to date include:
These products are also available for download from the FaHCSIA website at http://www.facsia.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/disabilities/representation-consumer_training_support_products.htm
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Australian Apprenticeships is the new name for the scheme formerly known as ‘New Apprenticeships’. Responsibility of this program has been moved into the newly created Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations www.deewr.gov.au. Under the scheme the Australian Government incentives and personal benefits program are still the same.
The change to the name of the scheme and the department responsible for the program in no way affects the scope or entitlements under the Funding Agreement for Disability Employment Assistance Services from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2010, Schedule F3.2 (v) and Additional Procedures and Information Item 23.
The new website for Australian Apprenticeships is http://www.australianapprenticeships.gov.au/default.asp
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This week Michael Griffith provides more information on the Case Based Funding Helpdesk.
If you have a DEA or FOFMS question for Michael, please contact the CBF Helpdesk by calling 1800 034 887, or by emailing helpdesk.cbf@facsia.gov.au
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Work Based Personal Assistance (WBPA) is available to business services to help meet the recurrent costs associated with the provision of personal care services to workers with very high support needs. This includes assistance with personal care tasks such as personal hygiene, feeding by mouth, or assistance from a Registered Nurse to administer medical interventions. Section 30 of the DEA Program Procedures outlines what is required to qualify for WBPA.
An assessment and written report is required to confirm the high support needs of individual service users and a WBPA requirements form (available on the FOFMS literature site) must be completed prior to any claim being lodged with FaHCSIA. Business services must ensure that the person performing the assessment is:
or
WBPA is paid to providers in arrears upon receipt of a claim. Providers have three months in which to make a claim from the time services have been provided to the individual. WBPA can be claimed for a maximum of 40 hours over a four week period. Two rates of payment apply:
If you have a worker who qualifies for WBPA and you wish to make a claim, WBPA Claim Forms are available under the ‘Literature’ Tab on FOFMS. These should be completed and sent to The CBF Helpdesk, GPO Box 9820, Brisbane, 4001; or faxed to the CBF Helpdesk on 07 3004 4688.
In order to assist with processing of WBPA Claim Forms you should ensure that:
If you require any further information on WBPA please contact your Contract Manager or the CBF Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or helpdesk.cbf@facsia.gov.au
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You can monitor when your service’s Supported Employees are due for a DMI assessment or DMI reassessment by simply using the predefined queries that are built into FOFMS. To access the predefined queries you will need to be in the ‘Cases’ view. Then, from the ‘Queries’ drop down menu you can select either:
You should run these queries each month to help you monitor and plan your service’s DMI reassessment workload.
If your Supported Employees are exited because a DMI assessment or DMI reassessment was not completed and authorised within the due dates, you will need to contact the CBF Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 to request that the case status be returned from suspension.
To help you monitor DMI assessment and reassessment dates, FOFMS will provide notification in the selected case worker’s FOFMS homepage.
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There are currently a large number of Supported Employees who are overdue to have a DMI reassessment completed. Reassessments are due on the two-year anniversary of when they were first completed. If the DMI reassessment is not completed, authorised payments will be suspended and the case will ultimately be exited. The following rules are automated in FOFMS:
and
It is your responsibility to monitor DMI assessment and DMI reassessment dates. If payments are suspended or cases are exited as a result of DMI assessment or DMI reassessment dates not being met, you will not be back-paid. If there is a legitimate reason why a supported employee’s DMI reassessment cannot be completed by the due date, please contact the CBF Helpdesk on 1800 034 887 to negotiate an extension before the due date.
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Supported Employees who are not maintaining employment for at least eight hours per week, for a period which you reasonably expect to be longer than one calendar month but less than twelve months, must be suspended on FOFMS immediately. Supported Employees whom you reasonably expect will not require ongoing activities for longer than twelve calendar months, must be exited on FOFMS immediately.
Please note that if your outlet’s full-time business hours for one work day is less than eight hours (i.e. 7.5 hours with a half hour break), this meets the eight hours per week employment requirement for employees working only one day per week.
If you have any further queries relating to Employment Assistance, please contact the Case Based Funding Helpdesk on 1800 034 887.
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If a Supported Employee is unable to meet the eight hours per week employment requirement for more than one calendar month due to behavioural issues, poor attendance, and recreational or long service leave, you must suspend the Supported Employee on FOFMS.
This requirement period is increased to two calendar months in instances of involuntary leave such as sick leave, maternity leave and workers compensation. It is not necessary to suspend Supported Employees over a Christmas Shutdown period.
For example:
Please note: Suspension must be for a minimum period of one calendar month to avoid the possibility of overpayments.
If you have any further queries regarding suspensions please contact the Case Based Funding Helpdesk on 1800 034 887.
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The Case Based Funding Helpdesk has a new fax number. Please fax all Work Based Personal Assistance and New Apprenticeship claims to 07 3004 4688. Claims sent by mail can still be forwarded to GPO Box 9820, Brisbane QLD 4001.
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Tastex Knitwear Inc is a unique business service that employs 14 supported employees. Tastex is the only Knitting Mill in Australia which is also a Business Service, and has been producing knitwear with a reputation for unsurpassed quality and workmanship since 1946.
Tastex Knitwear is based in Glenorchy, Tasmania and supplies high quality knitwear to schools, government departments, and corporate clients throughout Australia.
Over the past five years Tastex has built a firm customer base throughout Tasmania and mainland Australia, through face to face marketing. This has involved the management team personally visiting many potential customers such as schools and businesses throughout Australia.
At Tastex, innovation and change is embraced as a way of moving towards the future. All staff are encouraged to undertake recognised training in their field of expertise. For example, a new embroidery machine is currently on order which will provide a new area of skills and training for supported employees whilst providing new opportunities to assist customers by completing the requirements of individual orders.
Tastex is currently developing a new marketing idea to be used to promote their Glen Mill School knitwear range. This includes a poster featuring a lamb with an attitude, sporting a Tastex Glen Mill School jumper and the slogan, ‘The only way to improve on Nature’. The lamb will be shown for the first time at the School Uniform Expo in Brisbane on 29 March 2008
The Tastex Committee of Management, Manager and staff are focused on making Tastex a preferred supplier of Australian high quality knitwear while continuing to enable people with intellectual disability to experience meaningful employment.
The only way to improve on Nature
For more information:
Tastex Knitwear Inc.
Vicki Hawker, Manager
12 Mill Lane
Glenorchy Tasmania 7010 Australia
Tel 03 62728877
Fax 62728887
Email sales@tastex.com.au
Mobile 0417387243
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