NDIS School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES) in Victoria: What It Is and How to Access It

For most families focused on fighting for support within the school system, post-school planning feels distant — something to worry about in Year 12. But the NDIS School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES) program has a planning window that starts well before graduation, and missing it means your young person transitions out of school without the funded employment pathway that should already be in place.

SLES is one of the most under-utilised supports in the NDIS suite. Many Victorian families either don't know it exists, don't know how to have it included in an NDIS plan, or don't realise that school-based transition planning is a prerequisite for accessing it effectively. Here is what you need to know.

What SLES Actually Funds

School Leaver Employment Supports is an NDIS-funded capacity-building program designed to bridge the gap between school and employment — or further education — for young people with disability. It operates for up to two years after a student leaves school.

SLES funding is used to build employment-related skills and prepare young people for work. Specifically, it can fund:

• Work experience placements (unpaid, structured, supported)
• Job readiness training — resume writing, interview skills, workplace communication
• Industry exploration — visiting workplaces, meeting employers, identifying interests and capabilities
• Travel training — learning to use public transport independently to get to work
• Development of vocational skills specific to a target employment area
• Coordination with Disability Employment Services (DES) and Australian Apprenticeships

SLES is not a wage subsidy. It is a support funding category that pays for the scaffolding and skill-building that gets a young person to the point of being ready for employment, TAFE, or an apprenticeship. Once employed or enrolled, ongoing workplace support is funded differently through the NDIS and DES systems.

Who Is Eligible

SLES is available to NDIS participants who are school leavers — meaning young people who are finishing school or who have recently left. Practically, "school leaver" is interpreted broadly: it includes students completing Year 12 or a VCE Vocational Major, students who have reached the end of their school career through other pathways, and young people who left school up to two years ago if they have not previously accessed SLES.

There is no single diagnostic category that automatically qualifies or disqualifies someone from SLES — eligibility is based on whether employment support needs are identified in the NDIS plan and whether SLES is included as a funded support. The NDIS planner or Local Area Coordinator (LAC) makes this determination during the planning meeting.

Not every NDIS participant with disability will be eligible for SLES. The NDIA looks at whether employment is a realistic goal within the planning period and whether SLES is a reasonable and necessary support to achieve that goal. Young people with intellectual disability, autism, or significant physical disability who are transitioning from school are the most common SLES recipients.

How Victorian Schools Should Be Involved

This is where the connection to school-based advocacy matters. The NDIS does not fund employment transition planning in isolation — the expectation is that schools and NDIS plans coordinate to build toward post-school goals.

Under the Victorian Department of Education's transition policy, schools are responsible for facilitating Career Action Plans for students in the senior years. For students with disability who have an NDIS plan, this means the SSG meetings in Years 11 and 12 should be explicitly addressing post-school pathways. The SSG should include the student's NDIS Local Area Coordinator (or Support Coordinator if they have one) in at least one planning meeting, so that the school's transition work and the NDIS plan are aligned.

In practice, many Victorian schools do not initiate this coordination without prompting from the family. Families who do not ask for it often find that their young person finishes Year 12, the school chapter closes, and the NDIS plan still doesn't include SLES because no one raised it at a planning meeting.

The advocacy action here is straightforward: request a Year 11 SSG meeting that includes post-school transition planning as a formal agenda item, and explicitly request that the school invite the student's NDIS LAC or Support Coordinator.

When to Request SLES in an NDIS Plan

The NDIS plan review process is the mechanism for adding SLES. Because NDIS plans are typically reviewed annually, timing matters:

• Year 11: Raise post-school employment goals with the NDIS LAC during the annual plan review. Ask for SLES to be discussed and included in the plan for the following year.
• Year 12: Confirm SLES is active in the current plan before the student finishes school. If SLES is not in the plan, request an unscheduled plan review specifically to add it.
• After school finishes: SLES can still be added in the first two years post-school, but adding it requires a plan review — and getting a review approved promptly can take time. Starting the conversation in Year 11 is strongly preferable.

At the plan review meeting, families should come prepared with:

• A clear statement of the young person's employment goals (even if vague — "explore hospitality work" is a starting point)
• Evidence of the school's Career Action Plan or transition planning documentation
• Any allied health reports (OT, vocational psychology) that speak to work capacity and goals

The NDIS planner is more likely to include SLES when the family can show that planning has already started and employment is a genuine, identified goal — not just a checkbox.

Choosing an SLES Provider

SLES is delivered by registered NDIS providers. In Victoria, providers range from large disability service organisations to small specialist employment support agencies. Providers should be registered under the NDIS registration group for SLES (which includes School Leaver Employment Supports as a specific registration group).

When selecting a provider, ask:

• What industries and employment types do they have relationships with?
• How do they manage work experience placements — who coordinates with employers?
• What does a typical SLES week look like, in terms of hours and structure?
• What happens if the young person's goals change during the two-year program?
• Have they supported participants with a similar profile to your young person?

SLES providers are paid from the NDIS plan's Capacity Building — Employment budget. Families with a Support Coordinator can ask their coordinator to shortlist providers. Families managing independently should request trial meetings with two or three providers before committing.

The Post-SLES Pathway

SLES runs for a maximum of two years. After SLES, employment-related support transitions to Disability Employment Services (DES), which are Australian Government-funded services separate from the NDIS. DES providers offer ongoing job matching, employer liaison, and workplace support for people with disability who are looking for or maintaining employment.

For young people moving into TAFE or university, disability support services at the relevant institution take over from SLES. TAFE facilities in Victoria are required to provide reasonable adjustments under the DSE 2005 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) — the same legal framework that applies to schools.

The key risk at the end of SLES is a funding gap. Ensure that DES registration, TAFE enrolment supports, or alternative arrangements are in place before the SLES funding period ends — not after.

If you are in the thick of secondary school advocacy and post-school planning feels like a future problem, it is worth scheduling the NDIS conversation before it becomes urgent. The Victoria Disability Advocacy Playbook covers the school-to-NDIS interface, including how to use SSG meetings to drive post-school planning and what to ask your LAC at the next plan review.

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