FEBRUARY 2025

In this month’s spotlight you can read about the impact of Saver Plus over its 21 years and our positions on a range of disability topics. The latest BSL Talks recording: Removing employment barriers for young people with disability is also featured.

You can read more about our current work at www.bsl.org.au/research and also browse our policy submissions. 

Please share this policy and research update with your colleagues and encourage them to subscribe.

RECORDING: REMOVING EMPLOYMENT BARRIERS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY

Our 29 November BSL Talks was titled ‘Opening opportunities: removing employment barriers for young people with disability’. The panelists looked at ways to address the culture of low expectations for young people with disability and to create systems that support a successful transition from education into decent and meaningful employment.

Our panel included youth advocate Maddison Bergen, Swinburne Centre for Social Impact’s Dr Jenny Crosbie and an employer who has been actively championing inclusion in his workplace, Damien Charles, Regional Manager Northern Territory at NEC Australia. The discussion was facilitated by BSL Chief of Services, Julie Ware.

Watch the talk Opening opportunities: removing employment barriers for young people with disability

SYMPOSIUM: DEFINING AND MEASURING POVERTY

As part of our ongoing work towards better understanding real rates of poverty in Australia, in November we also held the ‘Defining and Measuring Poverty Symposium’ in partnership with Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research at the University of Melbourne.

The symposium was opened by Prof Beth Webster (Director, Melbourne Institute) and Dr Travers McLeod (Executive Director, BSL). More than 60 public servants, advocates, industry experts, academics and people with lived experience discussed a proposed model for defining and measuring poverty in Australia.

The Defining and measuring poverty project is part of the partnership between BSL and the University of Melbourne. The symposium build on the visit from Prof. Sabina Alkire who shared her expertise on the development of Multidimensional Poverty Indexes. 

REPORT: SAVER PLUS AT 21

BSL, with ANZ, recently published Saver Plus at 21, a report building on previous Saver Plus evaluations. It investigates the impact of Saver Plus after 21 years of delivery, exploring the long-term impact of the program on savings, financial skills and confidence. We also explore the effect of these changes on overall resilience.

In undertaking this evaluation, we surveyed 953 previous Saver Plus participants between November and December 2023 to understand their financial situation, behaviours and attitudes following the program. We conducted in-depth interviews with 25 past participants in early 2024. Program data, including enrolment and budget data, were also analysed.

This research was awarded runner up in the 2024 SIMNA Awards Excellence in Social Impact Measurement category.

Read the report by Dr Emily Porter, Dr Dina Bowman, Dr Mitali Panchal, Prof. Peter Fairbrother and Dr Marcus Banks, Saver Plus at 21: building resilience that lasts (PDF, 3.8 MB)

SUBMISSION: A NEW SPECIALIST DISABILTY EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

BSL welcomed the opportunity to comment on the future direction of disability employment services. We recommend a system that is people centred and place centred, with effective and empowering pathways to economic and social participation. A critical part of disability employment services is meaningful engagement between people with disability, providers and job plan requirements. There needs to be a clear plan to operationalise meaningful engagement at the provider level that includes roles and responsibilities and accountability mechanisms.

BSL recommends that service providers co-produce job plans alongside people with disability, as demonstrated in some of our programs and services. This would ensure the participant’s real goals, needs and circumstances are represented. It would hold both providers and participants accountable for achieving the goals set out in their job plan and ensuring the goals are aligned to their aspirations and interests.

Read the submission, A new specialist disability employment program (PDF, 285 KB) 

POLICY: FOUNDATIONAL SUPPORTS

BSL has also submitted to consultations on General Foundational Supports and Foundational Supports for children with developmental concern, and/or disability. We see the Foundational Supports Strategy as critical to the wellbeing of millions of people in Australia living with disability who cannot access the NDIS.

Our recommendations for any Foundational Supports are that government advance reforms to the disability supports ecosystem in a clear and coherent manner; and there is adequate resourcing for Foundational Supports to meet demand. We recommend that the Foundational Support Strategy include the provision of local, physical spaces for people to visit if they need information, advice or referrals, and built-in mechanisms to identify service gaps for people with disability.

Foundational Supports must also be integrated into mainstream supports and the strategy must include a ‘no wrong door’ approach. Without this, the expertise of key workers will be missed in the referral pathway and opportunities for support lost.   

BSL made eight recommendations for Foundational Supports for children, including that federal and state/territory governments co-invest in:  

• Early Years Integrated Services that includes:
  • Providing information, advice and referrals through services already linked with families and if possible through a Lead Practitioner
  • Peer-support models to reduce isolation
  • ECEC settings with professional development and time to implement inclusion strategies
• One-on-one early supports for families with children with developmental differences.

If given the opportunity, BSL’s work, insights and networks, especially in early childhood, and peer support – along with the pilot projects we are undertaking to test elements of the NDIS Review recommendations – can contribute valuable input to the Strategy.

Read our submissions: A disability support system that leaves no-one behind (PDF, 352 KB); Supporting children where they live, learn and play (PDF, 489 KB)

BSL LIBRARY: ALWAYS LEARNING

​The Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) is a social justice organisation that works to prevent and alleviate poverty across Australia. You are receiving this email as you have previously subscribed to the BSL Research and Policy Centre e-newsletter. To unsubscribe, please click on the link below.