Disability Employment Services (DES) can help you find and keep a job if you live with:

• disability
• injury
• medical condition.

There are some things you need to do when you start a DES program.

On this page:

• Getting started with DES
• Starting your program
• Making and following a job plan
• Pausing your DES program
• Keeping your job

To take part in a Disability Employment Services (DES) DES helps people with disability find and keep a job. The Australian Government runs DES. program, you need to meet the rules about who can get help.

You can find out more on our page about who is eligible for Disability Employment Services.

If you can use DES, Services Australia can help you to contact a DES provider. DES providers support people with disability to find and keep jobs. This is called a ‘referral’.

Services Australia will give you information about DES providers in your local area.

It’s a good idea to look up DES providers before you go to Services Australia.

You can contact DES providers to find out:

• how they can help you
• which one you feel most comfortable with.

You can then ask Services Australia to give you a referral to the DES provider you want.

To help you choose a DES provider, you can visit our page about searching for a DES provider.

To start DES, you’ll need to have an interview with your DES provider.

This is so they can make a job plan to suit what you need.

The DES provider will ask you about:

• what you’re interested in
• any work and training you’ve done before
• what you can do now
• what help you need to find and keep a job.

At the interview, the DES provider will explain your rights. Your rights are rules about how people need to treat you fairly and equally.

They will explain things you must do when you take part in a DES program.

We call these ‘obligations’.

They’ll give you 2 documents.

This includes a document about the services a DES provider must deliver.

You can find out more in the DES Service Guarantee section.

They’ll also give you a document about the rules a DES provider must follow.

You can find out more in the DES Code of Practice section of this website.

The DES provider will help you to create a job plan at your interview.

Your job plan will include:

• what you’ll do to get and keep a job
• what the DES provider will do to help you
• how you’ll work together.

The job plan may also have information from the assessment that Services Australia did to find out if you could use DES.

You can find out more about this assessment on our page about who is eligible for Disability Employment Services.

The DES provider will use your job plan to decide what services you need.

You and your DES provider need to agree to the job plan before your services start.

You can change your job plan if you need different services.

The job plan might have things you must do to keep getting income Your income is the money you earn from working. support payments.

We call these things ‘mutual obligations’.

They can have things like:

• meeting with your DES provider at certain times
• searching for a number of jobs each week
• going to job interviews
• training.

Your DES provider will let you know if you need to do things to keep getting income support payment from Services Australia.

You might not have to do anything.

You might have to do different things instead if you’re:

• under 35
• getting the Disability Support Pension (DSP). The DSP is a payment for people with a disability that affects how much they can work.

We call these things ‘compulsory participation requirements’.

You can keep track of what you’ve done in your job plan by logging into your myGov account.

Your DES provider can help you do this.

If you don't do the activities in your job plan, Services Australia might

• stop your income support payments.

This might happen if you don’t have a good reason why you didn't do the things in your job plan.

If you don’t have any mutual obligations, your income support payments won’t change.

But your DES provider might still decide to stop giving you DES help, for example if you:

• don’t do the training you planned
• keep missing job interviews.

You must follow your job plan unless Services Australia says you don’t have to.

For example, you might not be able to follow your job plan if you get very sick.

If Services Australia agrees, they can pause your program until you are well.

You will need medical evidence for this pause to happen.

You can still get DES services during this time if you want to.

If you have a medical certificate from your doctor saying you’re sick, you need to give it to Services Australia.

You don’t give it to your DES provider.

Once you get a job, your DES Provider can help you with:

• on-the-job training
• talking to your employer and people you work with
• ongoing help.

When you take part in DES, you can choose:

• the services you get
• how you get them services.

For example, you can work with your DES provider about having appointments:

• in person
• by phone
• by video chat.

You can also change your DES provider:

• at any time
• as many times as you like.

You don’t have to explain why you want to change.

To change your provider, contact the National Customer Service Line.

You can call them.

1800 805 260

You can email them.

nationalcustomerserviceline@dewr.gov.au

Find a Disability Employment Services provider

Disability Employment Services funding

How your personal information is protected