The Australian Government: Inviting Applicants for 2018 Disability Employment Services (DES) Grant Program

Deadline: 24 October 2017

The Australian Government is currently inviting applicants for its 2018 Disability Employment Services (DES) grant program in order to provide a suite of employment services to people with disability, injury or health condition who are looking for work in the open labour market. The DES grant opportunity is intended to improve the participation rates of people with disability in employment.

The objectives of the grant opportunity are to provide effective employment services to people with disability and deliver a range of services to meet the needs of employers. DES has two uncapped demand-driven programs. These are:

Employment Support Services (ESS) for eligible job seekers with permanent disability and with an assessed need for regular Ongoing Support in the workplace, and
Disability Management Services (DMS) for eligible job seekers with disability, injury or health conditions who are not expected to need long-term support in the workplace but may need irregular flexible support to keep a job.

Grant Information

A total of around $4 billion over five years for the Disability Employment Services program is available for this grant opportunity, starting 1 July 2018.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible applicants must:
- be one of the following entity types:
  - Aboriginal Corporation
  - Australian Government
  - Private Company
  - Public Company
  - Incorporated Cooperative
  - Trustee on behalf of Trust
  - Incorporated Association
  - Organisation established through a specific piece of Commonwealth or State/Territorylegislation
  - Individual/Sole Trader
  - Local Government
  - Non-Entity Joint Venture
  - Partnership
  - State / Territory Government
  - Other Incorporated Entity; and
- have legal personality; and
- have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN).
An individual or organisation will have legal personality if it has the rights and obligations of a legal person. These include, but are not limited to, the right to buy, sell, assign or lease any property, enter into contracts and sue and be sued in their own name.