About

The Workforce Innovation through Self-Managed Supports project documents the experiences of people across Australia who are in self-managed employment relationships. It considers self-management from both the perspectives of the employer (the person living with disability and/or their family) and their paid support workers.

This project draws on the experiences of 25 people living with disability and their families who have been self-managing their support for some time and 15 of their support workers. The goal is to identify and share the key factors for success (or difficulty) in these arrangements.

To date, people living with disability who self-manage the employment relationships with their support workers have largely learnt the process by trial-and-error. The practical logistics of recruiting, training, remunerating and retaining workers is complex, with both social and legal requirements.

This project builds a body of knowledge about the innovative ways people are mobilising the workforce through self-managing their paid supports. It captures stories, examples and practical information that would benefit others who are self-managing or thinking about self-management of their NDIS plan.

The project is the result of a collaboration of six capacity building organisations across Australia: JFA Purple Orange (in SA); Belonging Matters (in Victoria); Community Resources Unit (in Queensland); Valued Lives Foundation (in WA); Family Advocacy (in NSW) and Imagine More (in ACT).