The Supported Wage System aims to increase employment opportunities for people with disability by providing an industrial relations framework that enables the legal payment of a productivity-based, or pro-rata wage.

Supported Wage System is a process that allows employers to pay a productivity-based wage that matches an independently assessed productivity rate.

Most Australians with disability participate in the open workforce at full rates of pay. However, some people are unable to find or keep a job at full wage rates due to the effect of disability on their workplace productivity.

To support these workers, the Australian Government contracts a panel of independent Supported Wage System assessors to conduct workplace productivity assessments for employers who wish to employ people with disability under the Supported Wage System provisions.

Eligibility

A person is eligible to participate in the Supported Wage System if:

• the job under consideration is covered by an industrial instrument or legislative provision which permits employment for productivity wages under the Supported Wage System, and
  
• the person is an Australian citizen or is a person resident in Australia whose continued presence is not subject to a time limit imposed by Commonwealth law (e.g. a temporary visa), and
  
• the person is at least 15 years of age, and
  
• the person has no outstanding workers’ compensation claim against the current employer, and
  
• the person meets the impairment criteria for receipt of the Disability Support Pension.
  More information
  

Visit the JobAccess website or phone the Supported Wage Management Unit in your State on 1800 065 123.