Welfare reform and people with disabilities

September 2005

Background notes re policy commentary Welfare reform and people with disabilities This policy commentary was complied by Stephen Ziguras Note re disability statistics: The figures quoted from ABS are of people 'reporting disability'. A somewhat smaller group is those who have 'specific limitations to core activities' (eg these are 3.4 m of the 3.9 m reporting disability. (data for education levels etc are reported separately for the two categories) Also for unemployment/education etc rates we have selected data relating to working age (15-64 years) people with a disability rather than rates for all-ages population. For further clarification read the intro to the ABS report, Disability, ageing and carers: Summary of findings.

Aiming to increase the number of people with disabilities who are employed, the Australian Government has announced changed eligibility criteria for Disability Support Pension to exclude those who can work more than 15 hours per week.