The closure will affect about 90 employees and 700 supported employees in Bentley, Osborne Park, Rockingham, Banbury, Basselton, Kalgoorlie and Geraldton.
Announcing the move, the foundation said it would redirect its efforts to opportunities in smaller settings such as cleaning, maintenance and gardening, allowing Activ employees to spend more time with individual employees supported.
In July 2020, a change in federal funding for supported employment was announced when NDIS adopted the Department of Social Services’s Disabled Employment Assistance program and organizations were given until early 2022 to move to the new structure.
Heath said that this year Activ expects a loss of $ 6.5 million in business employment when it switches to the NDIS funding model.
He said the fund is working with NDIS and the federal government to create its new services “as soon as possible.”
NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds has denied downsizing NDIS and said WA members ’funding is at a“ record level ”, pointing to $ 2.7 billion invested in 2020-21.
Ms. Reynolds said the decision to quit supported employment was an Activ business decision.
“The Morrison government is committed to giving people with disabilities the opportunity to work normally after the release of the National Disability Employment Strategy in December 2021,” she said.
Opposition NDIS spokesman Bill Shorten said the Labor government would work with Activ, its clients and their families to find a solution.
“Active” is a proud WA organization that has existed for 70 years but has not survived the Morrison government, “he said.
“It’s a disaster caused by Mr. Morrison’s reduction to a preventable disability.”
State Disability Minister Don Punch said he expects Activ and NDIS to support participants and their families on an individual level to access alternative services in their communities.
“We would like the Commonwealth government to allow a longer transition period for supported employment providers to introduce new funding models as part of the transition from the Commonwealth Department of Social Services to NDIS,” he said.
with Nine News Perth
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/such-little-value-wa-families-horrified-by-activ-s-decision-to-close-disability-employment-workshop-20220516-p5alvf.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed
