Helping people with
mental illness find and
keep a job
Around 30 per cent of Disability Support Pension recipients have a mental illness.
Around 17 per cent of participants in employment services who have been registered for employment assistance for two or more years have a mental illness.
Helping people find and keep a job
Having a job is good for mental health, social participation and wellbeing, and can aid recovery, even for people with the most severe mental health conditions. However, people with mental illness often require a more intensive level of support to find and keep a job.
As part of the Government's expansion of the PHaMs program, $50 million will be allocated for personal helpers and mentors to assist people with mental illness who are on, or claiming, income support or the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and are also working with employment services. This intensive support will help around 1,200 jobseekers with mental illness to look for work, or participate in education or training.
As part of the mental health package, the Government will also invest an additional $2 million over five years on a number of specific measures to improve the capacity of employment services and to support employers to successfully recruit and retain employees with a mental illness.
Assisting people with a disability, many of whom have a mental illness
The 2011‑12 Budget provides a range of new initiatives in its Building Australia's Future Workforce package to assist disadvantaged job seekers with disability, many of whom have mental illness, to participate in the workforce.
Key initiatives are:
- higher wage subsidies to reward employers who hire people with disability for at least 15 hours per week, at a total cost of $11 million;
- a new wage subsidy of around $250 per week for six months to support entry into employment for certain very long‑term unemployed;
- new rules to allow all people on the DSP to work up to 30 hours a week for two years without affecting DSP eligibility;
- new participation requirements and support for people on the DSP under 35 with some work capacity to encourage them to engage in work, training, rehabilitation and other community activities; and
- increased requirements for the very long‑term unemployed to undertake work experience activities.