What supports in employment are
Some people need more help at work than an employer or an employment service can give. Supports in employment fund that extra, ongoing help so you can stay in your job. It might be a support worker who helps you learn tasks, supervises a shift, helps with personal care at work, or steps in when something changes.
This is sometimes called supported employment. The NDIS term is supports in employment.
Where you can use them
Supports in employment are mostly delivered in Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs), businesses set up to employ people with disability. But you are not limited to an ADE. The funding can be used in private, public or not for profit workplaces, social enterprises, self employment and small or family run businesses.
How they are funded and claimed
Supports in employment are usually funded in the Core part of your plan, under assistance with social, economic and community participation. The expected amount and frequency of support you need at work shapes the funding.
Since 1 July 2020 providers claim for the hours and ratio of workplace support they actually deliver, typically matched to your hours of work, rather than a fixed weekly amount. The NDIA does not set the ratio; it depends on the supervision and support you really receive. Price limits are in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits.
Protected from the 2026 funding reset
From 1 October 2026, social, economic and community participation budgets are reduced by 50% when a plan is created, reassessed or renewed. Supports in employment are one of the protected subgroups, so they are not reduced.
In the government's example, a participant with $73,000 for community participation has $46,000 for employment supports. That part is not touched, and only the remaining $27,000 is halved. If your plan has supports in employment and payments have been made for them, the NDIA leaves them out of the reduction automatically.
Supports in employment, Finding and Keeping a Job, and Inclusive Employment Australia
- Supports in employment: ongoing help in the workplace to keep a job, usually from Core
- Finding and Keeping a Job: Capacity Building funding to build work skills, explore work and move into a job, including school leaver employment supports
- Inclusive Employment Australia: the government program outside the NDIS that helps people with disability find and keep work. It replaced Disability Employment Services on 1 November 2025
Choosing a provider
- Ask what kind of work and settings they support, and whether they can support you with an open employer
- Ask how they decide the ratio of support and how it is reflected in what they claim
- Check your service agreement covers hours, ratios, pay arrangements and what happens if your job changes
- Ask how they will help you build skills over time, not only supervise