Disability Royal Commission Final Report
Volume 7, Inclusive education, employment and housing
Part B: Inclusive employment
HOXTON AND THE DISABILITY ROYAL COMMISSION (DRC)
On 29 September 2023, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (the Disability Royal Commission – DRC) handed down its report after four and a half years of submissions and hearings.
Hoxton received the final report from the Royal Commission into the Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability with great interest.
The Commission provided a safe space for people living with disability to be heard; and although we understand it was distressing for people to speak about their experiences of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, we acknowledge the courage they showed in speaking out.
At Hoxton we believe that all people living with disability have the right to live, socialise and work how and where they choose, free from violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
We continue to strive for best practice in our employment and leisure services and look for ways to strengthen the voices of people living with disability in our organisation.
Volume 7 of the DRC report covers inclusive education, employment and housing. As a Disability Enterprise, Hoxton’s concern is mostly with the recommendations made regarding inclusive employment. As part of our Strategic Plan we have read and discussed these recommendations and written responses to them. We will make changes to meet some of those recommendations as part of our Strategic Plan, making sure that the long-term viability of Hoxton for our supported employees – and their right to choose – is at the forefront of all our decisions.
Recommendation 7.28: Improve information about wages and the Disability Support Pension
The Australian Government should fund Disability Representative Organisations to deliver an information campaign for employees with disability in Australian Disability Enterprises. This campaign should provide information about:
- open employment, including wage conditions
- how receipt of the Disability Support Pension (DSP) interacts with a person’s wages, including – o assistance with financial literacy materials o supports for individuals to calculate how changes to their DSP or wages impact their overall income and financial situation
- options for a person to suspend their DSP if they are earning above the threshold
- who to contact to ask questions or obtain further information
- This information should be available in a range of accessible formats.
HOXTON’S RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION 7.28
At Hoxton, we acknowledge that improving information about wages and the Disability Support Pension (DSP) is an important step in any move to inclusive employment.
Hoxton is committed to implementing a program to collect and disseminate information about wages and the Disability Support Pension to our supported employees, their families and/or carers ahead of any campaign funded by the Australian Government. When an information campaign is launched, we will implement a program for the dissemination of information we receive from Disability Representative organisations.
Recommendation 7.29: Embed an ‘open employment first’ approach in the NDIS Participant Employment Strategy
Following the conclusion of the NDIS Participant Employment Strategy in 2023, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) should adopt an ‘open employment first’ approach in the next iteration of the strategy. The strategy should:
- ensure the development of employment goals in participants’ NDIS plans considers employment in open and integrated employment settings as a first option
- provide training for Local Area Coordinators, National Disability Insurance Agency planners and support coordinators to build knowledge, resources and capacity to encourage participants to – o develop employment goals in open and integrated employment settings as a first option
- identify appropriate supports available to achieve open employment goals
- establish a target to increase the proportion of participants in open and integrated employment settings
- build the knowledge and capacity of NDIS employment support providers to assist participants to
- transition from Australian Disability Enterprises to open and integrated employment settings
- provide ongoing support in open and integrated employment settings.
HOXTON’S RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION 7.29
At Hoxton, we support a ‘free and informed choice’ approach to employment. We strongly support the rights of NDIS participants to choose which employment settings they wish to attend – whether it’s in open and integrated employment, in an Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE), or any other employment setting or combination of these.
We will support and assist any of our participants who choose to transition to open and integrated employment settings if that is their free and informed choice.
We will wait to consider how the NDIS will build and support Hoxton and other employment support providers to help participants to transition to open employment and provide ongoing support.
In the meantime, we will work to make Hoxton a workplace where our current and future NDIS participants want to work.
Recommendation 7.30: Support the transition to inclusive employment
The Australian Government Department of Social Services should develop a plan to support people with disability working in Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs) to move to inclusive, open employment options in a range of settings.
The plan should incorporate:
- the option for people with disability to continue working in ADEs, with strong and appropriate safeguards, if that is their free and informed choice. Commissioners Bennett, Galbally, Mason and McEwin provide a recommendation to phase out ADEs by 2034 (Recommendation 7.32). They support this element of Recommendation 7.30 until ADEs are phased out
- action to increase employment opportunities in open and inclusive settings for people with disability (linking with Recommendation 7.29)
- improved information for people with disability about employment supports, opportunities in other settings, wages and the Disability Support Pension (linking with Recommendation 7.28)
- active consultation with people with disability, Disability Representative Organisations and Disabled People’s Organisations Australia, and the adoption of inclusive design principles in developing and implementing the plan
- the Australian Government working with industry to support people with disability to access more inclusive, open employment options and to transform their segregated employment services to a more comprehensive service offering
- improved collaboration between the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Disability Employment Services to ensure different employment services work cohesively to deliver supports for people with intellectual disability and others.
HOXTON’S RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION 7.30
At Hoxton, we agree that people living with disability should be supported to move from ADEs to open employment options – if that is their free and informed choice.
We note that some Commissioners recommend that ADEs be phased out by 2034. However, we are adamant that people living with disability have the right to choose where they work, and to work with people they consider to be their peers – just as people without a disability have the freedom to choose where and with whom they work.
The employment model we develop at Hoxton will provide an inclusive setting for people with disability, whatever that setting looks like – open employment with support, supported employment, a combination of these, or some other model.
Recommendation 7.31 Raise subminimum wages
a) The Australian Government should introduce a scheme to ensure that employees with disability are paid at least half the minimum wage. The scheme should include:
revision of the productivity-based wages calculation to accommodate the move to a new minimum amount of 50 per cent of the current minimum wage
a provision for the Australian Government to subsidise employers for the difference between the wages payable under the relevant award or enterprise agreement and the new minimum wage until 2034.
b) A review of the scheme should be undertaken by the Disability Reform Ministerial Council after five years of operation.
c) The Australian Government should use the results of the review to develop a model and pathway to lift minimum wages payable to employees with disability to 100 per cent of the minimum wage by 2034.
HOXTON’S RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION 7.31
At Hoxton, we support the Commission’s recommendation to raise the wages of employees living with disability, accepting that the current wage structure for supported employees is viewed negatively by the wider community.
Our current Strategic Plan addresses this recommendation, and we are planning a phased approach to achieve minimum wages for our supported employees by 2034.
We are aware that the move to award wages will significantly impact the financial viability of Hoxton as well as our supported employees and their Disability Support Pension (DSP). To date there is no commitment from the Australian Government to subsidise employers for the gap in wages. However, we will continue to make plans that account for these impacts and communicate them to our supported employees, their families and/or carers.
Recommendation 7.32: End segregated employment by 2034
a) Commissioners Bennett, Galbally, Mason and McEwin recommend the Australian Government Department of Social Services should develop and implement a National Inclusive Employment Roadmap to transform Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs) and eliminate subminimum wages for people with disability by 2034.
b) The National Inclusive Employment Roadmap should be centred on the following principles:
- equal access for people with disability to all opportunities for employment, starting with the Australian Public Service and state and territory public services
- increased availability of jobs for people with disability, especially in:
- Australian and state and territory public services supported by the payment of full minimum wages to all employees, consistent with the public sector acting as a model employer. This recommendation would operate in advance of Recommendation 7.31 to raise all subminimum wages to the full minimum wage by 2034
- non-government organisations that receive government grants
- private companies that receive government procurement contracts
- availability of evidence-based supports to facilitate job readiness, participation and ongoing development, particularly for people with intellectual disability
- better pathways to work for people with disability
- as set out in Recommendation 7.31, lifting wages to 50 per cent of the minimum wage, with all people with disability moving to the full minimum wage by 2034 (noting our expectation that the public sector, as a model employer, will pay full minimum wages to employees with disability before that time)
- governance and accountability for system change.
c) The National Inclusive Employment Roadmap should address:
- the reform of ADEs to operate in accordance with the social firm model, providing open workplaces in which employees with disability can receive support in an integrated setting to undertake work tasks, develop skills and transition to further open employment
- the establishment of a grant-based Structural Adjustment Fund to support increases in the minimum wage and achieve transformation targets in ADEs
- support for people with disability to transition to open employment through programs such as the School Leaver Employment Supports program.
d) To support the National Inclusive Employment Roadmap as ADEs transform into social firms, government procurement rules should also be amended to give preference to enterprises that can demonstrate they provide employment opportunities to people with disability in open, inclusive and accessible settings and pay employees with disability at least the full minimum wage at the time of the procurement process (this recommendation would operate in advance of the general recommendation to raise all subminimum wages to the full minimum wage by 2034).
e) The implementation of the National Inclusive Employment Roadmap should be monitored by the Disability Reform Ministerial Council.
HOXTON’S RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION 7.32
At Hoxton, we accept that segregated employment in Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs) is viewed negatively by the wider community, and we believe that people living with disability have the right to participate in open employment.
We also believe that people living with disability have the right to determine where and with whom they work – and that wherever that is, they should feel safe and valued. ADEs play an important role in the lives and livelihoods of supported employees, and we believe it’s imperative that their experiences and wishes are taken into account.
Our Voice Australia and the Activ Action Team made a joint submission to the Royal Commission making it clear that the majority of people living with disability and working in ADEs do so by choice – surrounded by peers who share their lived experience, in places where they feel safe, undertake real work, are valued, and make genuine contributions to the economy. That submission also contained the distressing information that in other countries ADE closures resulted in long-term unemployment for most supported employees.
Hoxton is committed to providing a workplace that offers a safe, inclusive and equitable environment for people with disability – whatever that looks like. We envision a workplace where people choose how and with whom they work – open employment with support, supported employment, a combination of these, or some other model.
