Issue 108
2 June 2008
The Australian Fair Pay Commission’s Wage-Setting Decision 1/2008 adjusts the Special Business Services (Employees with a disability) Pay Scale and the preserved Pay Scale derived from the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union Supported Employment Services Award 2005 to include several additional wage assessment tools.
More information can be found on the Australian Fair Pay Commission’s website.
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From this year, the Census will be known as the Disability Program Information Collection (DPIC).
To reduce the administrative burden on business services, FaHCSIA will source most of the required information from FOFMS. To make sure that we have the most current information, it is critical services update their service and consumer data in FOFMS before 30 June 2008. Data for DPIC will be extracted on that date.
FaHCSIA will also take data about supported employment and targeted support services customers’ main income source from the Centrelink database on 30 June.
Some manual input will still be required from services. All FaHCSIA funded employment, advocacy, print disability, respite and disability information and captioning services will have to complete a PDF form to give service outlet level information. Supported employment and targeted support services will also be required to complete an assessment form for worker/consumer information. Service providers can log in to FOFMS to access these forms from 1 July 2008. Completed forms must be submitted by 31 July 2008 at the latest.
The 2007 Australian Government Services Disability Census Report is nearly finalised. A copy of the report will be sent to participating services in the coming weeks.
Should you require further information about the DPIC, you can contact the Helpdesk on 1800 550 244 or via email at disability.census@fahcsia.gov.au
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Each fortnight a product from the Consumer Training and Support product list will be highlighted in disAbility e-news. In this issue we will be looking at Working Safely.
The Working Safely trainer’s guide and presentation has been developed to assist employers to fulfil their obligation to provide OH&S training for employees. Using the slide show presentation, employers can provide OH&S training that is targeted to address the specific requirements of their work venue in a format that makes the presentation relevant to employee needs. The goal is for supported employees to demonstrate safe work practices. The aim is to impart the individual behaviours required to work safely.
The trainer’s guide includes information and tips about various ways the training sessions can be conducted. The guide offers flexibility to support trainers in changing the presentation slides to reflect the participants’ workplace safety needs. The presentation has been designed for supported employees with an intellectual disability; however it is useful for all supported employees. To avoid supported employees having to grasp abstract information and transfer it to their own work environment, this presentation should be customised to reflect their workplace. Images of their work environment, including signs, equipment and hazards from their own workplace, help employees to more easily grasp the workplace behaviours they are to adopt.
A copy of the Working Safely Presentation and Trainer’s Guide and all the other Consumer Training and Support material can be accessed on the FaHCSIA website.
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The Business Service Excellence Awards recognise, encourage and promote the significant contribution business services make in improving the lives of people with disability. These awards also provide an opportunity to recognise the dual focus of business services: being a viable business while providing high quality employment to people with disability.
If you know of a business service organisation that has made a significant contribution in ensuring that people with disability are encouraged to participate to their full potential in employment, tell us about it by nominating them for the Business Services Excellence Awards 2008.
Nomination forms and further information can be found on the FaHCSIA website.
Nominations close on 20 June 2008.
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The BPP established in conjunction with Disability Professionals Victoria (DPV) a special interest group for best practice.
In respect to the collaboration with both NDS and DPV, the BPP is trying to organise suitable forums and presentations to the sector on best practices.
At the same time BPP membership continues to grow, which possibly indicates that sharing and developing sector wide best practices has been an overlooked or under resourced area for disability services. Members now total of 36 and the break up is:
| New South Wales | 9 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Queensland | 1 |
| South Australia | 2 |
| Tasmania | 4 |
| Victoria | 19 |
23 other organisations have an interest in the BPP and are included on our mailing list. They include services in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.
Business Service organisations are encouraged to participate in our Benchmarking Survey by contacting Bronwyn Smith via email: projectofficer@bestpractice.org.au
The major focus of the BPP has been issuing and collating benchmarking surveys from around the country. It involves chasing services to provide the data requested, close scrutiny of data returned, plus follow up consultations to ensure any data submitted is accurate and consistent.
To date the response from services has not been as good as hoped for. For example, in Victoria, time to complete the survey has been hampered by the new Quality initiatives and the new requirements of the Disability Act required by the Victorian State Government on disability service providers. As a result, some services have found they have neither the time nor resources to participate in the survey this time. This is a similar response from across the country and it has frustrated our efforts to collect data from the number of services hoped for.
Even with the support of NDS, to date only 16 completed surveys have been received. They include responses from services in:
| New South Wales | 2 |
| South Australia | 1 |
| Tasmania | 3 |
| Victoria | 10 |
The BPP will continue to encourage as many responses from services as possible. Even allowing for the low number received to date, the data is useful and consistent with the first benchmarking trial undertaken in 2007.
The strategic alliances with NDS and DPV will provide stronger foundations to develop and promote forums on successful partnerships in business services. The DPV Best Practice Special Interest Group is looking to schedule a forum in early July 2008 on the benefits of strategic alliances. This will focus on an alliance partnership which has secured major packaging contracts. These contracts would not have been possible for one business service on their own. It is a very positive outcome for the sector. A second special interest forum is looking at being scheduled around August / September.
For further information visit our website www.bestpractice.org.au, or contact Bronwyn on (03) 5153 0111 or by email projectofficer@bestpractice.org.au
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The collection of data for the new business service website was due last week. We had a great response and would like to thank you all for your cooperation. If you have not sent us your information, or you would like to add a photo or logo, please email michelle.creed@fahcsia.gov.au immediately.
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To strengthen FaHCSIA’s online security process it is now compulsory for users to change their password in FOFMS every 90 days.
When users log on to FOFMS for the first time after Thursday 22 May, they will be asked for their current user ID and a password. This password will be defaulted to the answer of their challenge question (taken from their user access form). This answer generally relates to the user’s mother’s maiden name.
Users need to be aware of the following rules when attempting to use their new password:
If users are unable to remember their challenge question they should contact the FOFMS helpdesk, who will prompt users with their individual challenge question, which may help in recollecting the answer. Otherwise users will be required to submit a FOFMS System Access Request Form to the FOFMS helpdesk, signed by their CEO requesting their password to be reset.
If you have any further questions regarding FOFMS access please contact the FOFMS Helpdesk on 1800 020 283.
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You must Exit a Supported Employee on FOFMS if the Supported Employee no longer requires services from your outlet, or if, in your reasonable opinion, the Supported Employee is unable to continue in Employment because of medical reasons or reasons related to the Supported Employee’s disability for more than 12 months. Any Supported Employee that meets the conditions above must be exited on FOFMS immediately. Paragraph 19.2 of the Additional Procedures and Information (Exits) states: “We may terminate the Agreement if You fail to Exit a Client’s Case immediately”.
If we determine (in our absolute discretion) that you should have notified us of a Supported Employee’s Exit, any payments made after that employee has ceased receiving employment assistance will become a recoverable amount. Please note that any attempt to back date or alter exit or suspension dates will be deemed as a breach of your funding agreement and may be referred to our Fraud Control and Investigations Team for further investigation.
If you have any queries relating to case exits and suspensions please contact the Case Based Funding Helpdesk on 1800 034 887.
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Waverley Helpmates is a supported employment and training program located in Victoria providing meaningful work for people with disability. Their aim is to help each person realise their own work potential and develop independence.
Training is provided on-site through lawn mowing and contract cleaning. Each Helpmate works individually on their job site, encouraging ownership and responsibility for the work done. This allows for social skills to develop over time, as relationships grow with their customers.
From the office to the finished job, Helpmates have a very professional image. Skills in the areas of literacy and numeracy also develop through work based training. Resumes and interview skills can be established to promote opportunities for open employment if desired.
Twenty-five employees work in the area of garden maintenance. Job sites include private houses, schools, offices, etc. Helpmates make use of lawn mowers, whipper snippers, blowers and hand tools. A minimum of seven jobs per week are completed by each full time Helpmate; leaving three afternoons for office based training and maintenance. During these times such things as cleaning/maintaining equipment, filling in pay sheets and small work groups of interest/need are completed.
Five employees work in the area of cleaning. This work involves cleaning an entire school, every school day. This requires the use of a variety of equipment including a floor polisher and vacuum. Each Helpmate is assigned their own set of tasks within the school that they are responsible for, enabling them to develop a wide range of skills.
For more information about Waverley Helpmates please call (03) 9807 1155 or email whm@bigpond.net.au
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Email disAbility e-news if you'd like more information on a particular issue or program in disAbility e-news or to let us know what you think of the newsletter.
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Your contributions to disAbility e-news are welcome. Do you want to let others know about your successes? Or how you engage with local businesses to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities? Email your story idea to disAbility e-news.
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