School Leaver Employment Supports

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Delivering school leaver employment supports

School leaver employment supports help participants move from school to work and are available in the final years of school and directly after leaving school.

Providers who deliver school leaver employment supports help young people prepare, look for and gain employment. They provide meaningful, individualised capacity building activities so young people can achieve their employment goals.

As part of managing a participant’s employment barriers, providers can:

  • support a participant’s unique pathway to employment
  • help foster partnerships and goodwill in the local community
  • use their professional networks to engage and connect with employers.

How school leaver employment supports work

School leaver employment supports funding builds a participant’s ability and confidence to enter the workforce.

The NDIS can fund school leaver employment supports for up to two years, depending on the participant’s circumstances.

Each school leaver’s employment supports will be different. The following skills may be part of an individual program of supports to help participants get ready for employment:

  • money handling skills
  • time management skills
  • communication skills
  • discovery activities
  • work experience
  • job ready skills
  • travel skills
  • personal development skills

Provider expectations

Providers work with participants to help them get ready for work. They plan employment pathways and develop tailored activities to meet each participant’s needs. Supports can be delivered individually, in a group, or a combination of both.

These supports typically include:

  • work experience in an inclusive employment environment
  • employability and/or vocational specific skills
  • other foundation skills that enable engagement in work (for example travel training or money handling).

It is important to consider the needs of the participant and family when transitioning from a structured school environment. Participants may initially be seeking regular activity and structure while others will be ready for a highly individualised service.

We expect the provider and the participant to develop an activities schedule, reflected in a service agreement. This helps the participant reach their employment goals.

The nature and delivery of school leaver employment supports depends on what the participant and their provider agree on in their service agreement.

School leaver participant survey report

We conducted a survey of participants who had received school leaver employment supports in 2018 and/ or 2019 to understand participants’ experience of these supports.

View the School leaver participant survey report to find out more.

Provider quarterly report - school leaver employment  

The Provider quarterly report - School leaver employment represents data submitted to the NDIA by school leaver employment support providers. 

Providers use the school leaver reporting tool to capture and submit data to the NDIA about the participants they are supporting, the time they spend working on various milestones toward employment and the outcomes they achieve. 

Read about the key highlights and insights in the summary and full reports below:

Archived reports

View archived provider quarterly reports.

Provider reporting tool  

Providers who deliver school leaver employment supports are required to submit a report to [email protected] on a quarterly basis. 

Download the Provider reporting tool and instructions (XLSX 577KB).

Provider resources

Providers interested in delivering school leaver employment supports should review the following resources:

This page current as of
30 March 2023
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