Eligibility criteria for participation with Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA) 008-04030020

There is a separate procedure about referring a customer to IEA.

On 1 November 2025, a new specialist disability employment program, Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA) replaced the Disability Employment Services (DES) program.

IEA is an employment service that supports people whose disability, injury or health condition is their primary barrier to finding and maintaining employment. This includes people:

• who have a current baseline work capacity, and a future work capacity with intervention of less than 30 hours per week (partial capacity to work)
• whose employment is at risk due to their disability, injury or health condition

IEA providers deliver support to help customers gain the necessary skills and confidence to find and maintain employment.

IEA is funded by the Department of Social Services (DSS) and is an uncapped service, which means it responds to the demand for places and has no wait list.

IEA gives participants access to:

• support while training for a particular job, where the training may be provided by the provider or subcontracted to another agency
• help in finding a job and starting employment in the open labour market
• continuing support once they have commenced employment
• supports to build work capacity. For example, physical conditioning programs, pain management, disability counselling
• active support including advocacy services, support during job interviews and in dealing with employers

Intensive: for participants who can regularly engage in activities to help prepare for and find work.

Flexible: for participants engaged in work and/or activities or who otherwise cannot participate in intensive services due to personal or family circumstances. For example, participant with a Part Time Work (PTW) approved activity, or participant with a Special Circumstance Exemption (S).

Post-placement and ongoing support services involve maintaining contact with the participant until they:

• have acquired the skills to function independently in the job, and
• are integrated into the workplace

Provision of further training may be available if, for example, the nature of the participant's job changes.

A customer is eligible for IEA if they:

• have a disability, injury or health condition
• are aged at least 14 years but have not yet attained the Age Pension qualifying age
• are at or above the minimum legal working age in their state or territory
• have a current baseline and future work capacity with intervention of less than 30 hours per week (Partial Capacity to Work)
• are an Australian resident including Australian citizen or eligible visa holder (permanent residence visa, protected special category visa (SCV), Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) or Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV))
• are not studying full time (unless the customer is an Early School Leaver or School Leaver Trial Participant), and
• are not working at or above their Employment Benchmark hours (not applicable for Ongoing Support (Work Assist) participants and people who receive National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding for supported employment, and/or Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE) participants)

Customers not receiving an income support payment can volunteer to participate in IEA.

Special eligibility criteria

A customer may also be eligible for IEA if they meet other eligibility criteria that focus on special eligibility. These include Ongoing Support (Work Assist), Special Class Clients (SCC), Eligible School Leavers (ESL) and Pre-release prisoners.

Services Australia has no role in making a formal assessment of a customer’s eligibility for IEA under these criteria. If the customer first approaches the agency seeking assistance under any of the special eligibility criteria, staff should:

• advise the customer to contact an IEA provider for a direct registration, and
• provide guidance about whether their assistance is likely to be suitable

Ongoing Support (Work Assist)

Ongoing Support (Work Assist) supports eligible employees who are unable to fulfil their current employment requirements because of injury, disability or health condition.

The IEA provider will work with the participant and their employer to:

• provide support, and
• maximise the chance of the participant maintaining their employment

The IEA provider will confirm if a customer is eligible for Ongoing Support (Work Assist) provisions, and in most cases no further assistance from the agency is needed.

Special Class Client

SCC eligibility allows customers to access IEA who have acquired a disability, injury or health condition because of being present at, and directly affected by an extreme event.

Customers are eligible if:

• they were present at, and directly affected by, extreme events such as natural disasters or acts of terrorism, and
• as a result of this they acquired a disability, injury or health condition

The following declared extreme event categories are currently eligible for SCC:

• Bali Bombings
• December 2004 Tsunami
• London bombings

On commencement, a SCC participant will be given an Employment Benchmark of 8 hours.

Eligible School Leaver (ESL)

ESL helps students with significant disability to transition from school to post-school open employment.

A student who is an Eligible School Leaver can access IEA through direct registration with a provider without needing an Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) or Job Capacity Assessment (JCA).

On commencement, an ESL participant will be given an Employment Benchmark of 8 hours.

Pre-release prisoners

Pre-release prisoners or detainees may be eligible to access IEA while in custody.

A person is not eligible for IEA if at the time of referral, they:

• have an assessed current or future work capacity of 30+ hours per week
• are employed, where they have been working at or above their Employment Benchmark hours for 6 consecutive fortnights, and are likely to continue working at or above the relevant benchmark. (Note: this restriction does not apply to people seeking a referral to IEA for Ongoing Support (Work Assist)
• are studying full-time
• studying part-time and fully meeting their participation requirements because of that study, or
• have been granted JobSeeker Payment (JSP), or Youth Allowance (YA) under the non-protected SCV holder residence exemption

An ESAt or JCA referral recommendation for IEA or other employment services providers does not consider if a customer is currently working at their assessed benchmark hours. If needed, the IEA provider will determine at the initial interview whether the person's current work or study affects their eligibility for IEA.

A referral cannot take place unless IEA is recommended in the customer’s most recent current and valid:

• Job Capacity Assessment (JCA), or
• Employment Services Assessment (ESAt)

The exception to this is National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants and Disability Support Pension (DSP) customers. These customers can be referred to IEA regardless of the age or recommendation in their ESAt/JCA. This means the ESAt/JCA can be more than 2 years old, and the recommendation can be to another employment service provider or ‘unable to benefit’.

If needed, a person may be referred for an ESAt to assess eligibility for IEA, including those who 'directly register' with an IEA provider.

Customers with mutual obligation requirements or DSP participation requirements are able to concurrently participate in both IEA and Self-Employment Assistance. Eligible persons will benefit from specialist assistance from their IEA as well as specialist small business services as delivered by the Self-Employment Assistance provider.

When a customer has been exited from IEA a new ESAt may be required to allow the customer to be re-referred to IEA. See Referring a customer to Disability Employment Services (IEA) for more details.

A new ESAt is not required where:

• it has been 13 weeks or less since the exit, and the customer confirms there has been no significant change in circumstances likely to affect their work capacity or referral recommendation,
• it has been more than 13 weeks since the exit, and the customer has a current and valid ESAt/JCA, or
• the customer is an NDIS participant or DSP customer who has had an ESAt/JCA regardless of when the assessment was conducted, as long as the assessment is still valid

The determination of significant change will be the responsibility of the IEA provider, not Services Australia.

Participation in IEA is an approved activity, which means a customer will satisfy their mutual obligation requirements while participating. Customers with compulsory mutual obligation requirements are required to take part in IEA as set out in their Job Plan.

The IEA provider includes the IEA activity in the Job Plan when the customer commences. Services Australia is not able to code the IEA activity in the customer’s Job Plan.

See the Process page for more information about the requirements for people participating in IEA including those with a pending compensation claim.

All employment income must be advised and coded for people participating in IEA. See Recording and correcting employment income details for assistance.

Any self-employment income earned if participating in Self-Employment Assistance must also be advised and coded.

Special rules apply for IEA participants who receive Disability Support Pension (DSP) to make sure hours worked and income received do not cause their payment to cancel incorrectly.

Customers can choose to exit IEA if they are:

• not on an income support payment
• receiving Disability Support Pension (DSP) and do not have compulsory participation requirements, or
• a customer with mutual obligation requirements who can participate in IEA on a voluntary basis because they have a partial capacity to work or a temporary reduced work capacity of less than 15 hours per week

IEA providers cannot exit customers with mutual obligation requirements without having achieved an employment/education outcome for the job seeker

If IEA program is no longer suitable, IEA providers:

• should refer the customer for an ESAt, and
• continue to service the customer in IEA pending assessment outcome

The Assessor may then recommend the customer:

• be referred to another service, or
• may confirm that IEA remains the most suitable service

Customers located in a Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) designated remote area are referred to a Remote Australia Employment Service (RAES), not an IEA provider. The RAES provider will provide similar IEA services to eligible customers.