Lessons for Inclusive Employment Australia: What the NDIS taught us about getting reform right
In November 2025, Australia’s disability employment services will shift again, as Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA) replaces the Disability Employment Services (DES) model.
The Government describes this as a more inclusive, participant-centred approach - widening eligibility, removing the two-year cap on support, and making performance and accountability more central to how providers operate.
It’s a step forward, but also a complex one as the success of IEA will depend greatly on how well providers, leaders, and communities navigate both design and delivery.
Our experience leading significant parts of the Local Area Coordination (LAC) rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) taught us and showed us up close what happens when reforms move faster than systems. Those experiences continue to shape the way we approach reform today.
If IEA is to succeed, the lessons from LAC must be front and centre. Intentions alone won’t be enough. Here are five that matter most.
1. Know the contract, know the deliverables
In the early rollout of LAC, roles and deliverables shifted as the program bedded in, and implementation timelines were compressed. With limited partners nationally, extra work was often picked up on the fly, and the pace of delivery quickly outstripped the resources available. That lack of stability created confusion and duplication, and left staff and organisations trying to deliver while the rules were still being written.
For IEA, the lesson is clear: clarity now will prevent costly mistakes later. Providers need to know their contracts inside out - not only what they must deliver, but how performance will be measured, what reporting will be required, and where the financial obligations and opportunities sit. This is more than a compliance exercise as it is about ensuring resources are directed where they can have the most impact. When roles and deliverables are well understood from the outset, organisations can spend less time untangling expectations and more time creating genuine pathways into inclusive employment.
2. Begin with the end in mind
In the early LAC rollout, performance frameworks and evaluation weren’t fully in place. That meant providers were delivering at pace, but without shared clarity on how success would be measured. By the time evaluation caught up, opportunities for early improvement had already been lost.
What we learned is that outcomes need to be built into the design, from the very beginning. For IEA, the question is not only how do we deliver services now, but what evidence will show that we’ve made a real difference in three years’ time? Building evaluation frameworks and data systems early means organisations can demonstrate impact, adapt quickly, and stay accountable to the people they serve. Reform will never be perfect, but if performance and evaluation are front-loaded, it can be responsive and resilient.
3. Culture isn’t an afterthought
One of the clearest challenges we saw in LAC was around workforce. Because implementation was rushed, recruitment often prioritised availability over alignment. Teams were built quickly, but sometimes without the values or cultural fit that inclusive practice requires. That put strain on staff and leaders, and at times disconnected service delivery from the intent of the reform.
What made a real difference was culture. In places where values were treated as core business, not an afterthought, turnover dropped sharply. Staff stayed because they felt supported, aligned, and part of something meaningful, and that stability mattered just as much to participants, who relied on continuity of relationships, as it did to organisations trying to deliver at pace. Where culture was overlooked, churn rose, and reform fatigue followed.
For IEA, culture has to be deliberate. Hire for values and train for skill, but also recognise the depth that experience brings. A team made up only of enthusiastic newcomers without technical expertise will struggle, just as a team built only on technical skills without inclusive values will fail to connect. The strongest workforces are those that balance both. And when culture is nurtured from the start, organisations don’t just build capacity - they keep it.
4. The value of lived experience - and the supports that make it work
In LAC, many people with disability and lived experience were employed, but the supports they needed to thrive were often missing. Without adjustments, mentoring, or systemic backing, the promise of lived experience sometimes fell short. Staff carried the weight of representation without the scaffolding to succeed in new and complex roles.
For IEA, there is an opportunity to do this differently. Providers can show what it truly takes to create inclusive and meaningful workplaces. They can achieve this not only by employing people with disability, but by embedding the supports that enable them to contribute fully. That might mean having a clear and timely workplace adjustment process, providing peer mentoring or coaching, and equipping managers with the skills to lead inclusively.
When organisations demonstrate inclusion in their own teams, they not only strengthen their workforce, they also set the standard for the wider sector and model to employers what authentic inclusion looks like in practice.
5. Invest in systems and processes now
Another challenge during the LAC rollout was that many systems were built on the fly. Reporting frameworks, governance processes, and IT systems often lagged behind the work, forcing staff to spend hours patching and fixing instead of focusing on people. This was no one’s fault. It was simply the reality of delivering while building. But it created inefficiency, frustration, and, in some cases, risk.
For IEA, the lesson is to invest in systems early. Build robust processes for data, reporting, quality assurance, and safeguarding from the outset. Far from being a bureaucratic burden, strong systems are what free staff to focus on people rather than paperwork. They create confidence, consistency, and accountability. Getting this right from the start will save significant time and resources down the track.
Moving forward, together
Reform is never smooth, and no model is perfect at the start. The rollout of IEA will be no different. But the lessons from LAC are not abstract; they are lived. We saw what happens when contracts lack clarity, when evaluation arrives too late, when culture is an afterthought, when lived experience is unsupported, and when systems lag behind.
We also saw how quickly things could improve when those lessons were taken seriously. Teams became stronger, trust deepened, turnover fell, and services began to reflect the intent of the reform rather than just the mechanics.
The choice now is whether IEA learns from that history. If it does, this reform can deliver not just new structures, but better experiences for people with disability, their families, and the employers who will benefit from truly inclusive workplaces.
At Social Sector Consulting, we’ve walked through the complexity of reform before. We know how challenging it can be. But we also know that when lessons are applied early, the path forward is clearer, and the outcomes for people are stronger. That’s the opportunity IEA has today.
Learn more about Inclusive Employment Australia and our approach.
