SLES Explained: What School Leaver Employment Supports Are and How to Access Them

Most NDIS families focus intensely on getting the right plan while their child is at school. Post-school transition planning — specifically SLES — is frequently left until the last year of secondary school, which is far too late to access it effectively.

SLES is one of the most valuable NDIS funding categories for young people with disability. Here is what it is, what it actually funds, when to start planning for it, and what the school's role is in making the transition work.

What SLES Is

School Leaver Employment Supports is a targeted NDIS funding category specifically for participants who are leaving school and have not yet established a sustainable pathway to employment or further education. It provides up to two years of funded support from a registered SLES provider.

The point of SLES is not to place someone directly into a job. It is to build the foundational skills that make employment possible — skills that secondary school may not have covered comprehensively or in a practical, applied way. This includes:

• Independent travel training (using public transport, navigating unfamiliar environments)
• Money handling and financial literacy in real-world contexts
• Workplace communication, including professional language, following instructions from supervisors, and understanding workplace culture
• Time management, task initiation, and maintaining routines without the structure of a school timetable
• On-the-job work experience placements and internships
• CV preparation and job application skills

SLES providers work one-on-one or in small groups, often across multiple environments — the participant's home, the provider's centre, and actual workplaces. This is what distinguishes it from standard employment services, which typically operate on a placement-first model.

Who Qualifies

SLES is available to NDIS participants who are leaving secondary school. Participants must:

• Be a current NDIS participant (or be in the process of applying)
• Be at or approaching the end of their secondary schooling
• Not have secured sustainable employment or an established vocational pathway

The funding sits within the NDIS plan under Capacity Building — Finding and Keeping a Job. Because SLES funding is time-limited (maximum two years), participants need to begin accessing it promptly after leaving school — not months later once a plan review has occurred.

When to Start Planning

The significant mistake families make is assuming SLES planning can happen at the end of Year 12. By that point, the NDIS plan may not have SLES funding included, the local SLES providers may have waiting lists, and the transition to post-school services can involve a gap of months.

The recommended timeline is to raise SLES in the NDIS planning meeting or plan review that occurs during the child's second-to-last year of school (Year 11 in most states). This gives enough time to:

• Ensure SLES funding is included in the NDIS plan that will be active when the participant leaves school
• Research and contact SLES providers before graduating
• Complete any provider interviews or assessments that SLES providers require before beginning
• Ensure the school's transition planning (post-school goals in the learning plan) aligns with what the SLES provider will build on

What the School Needs to Provide

SLES providers need a strong transition foundation from the school. This means the school's learning plan or IEP should include:

• Current post-school goals and vocational aspirations
• Skills the student has developed and areas still being built
• Any supported employment or work experience history
• Communication strategies and behavioural support information relevant to workplace settings

If the school has not included transition planning — post-school goals, vocational preparation, work experience — in the student's learning plan by Year 10 or 11, that is a gap worth raising formally. The Disability Standards for Education 2005 includes student support services as an obligation, and transition planning is explicitly part of that.

The handover between the school's planning and the SLES provider's work is one of the most critical (and most often poorly managed) points in the disability education journey. A school that has documented the student's functional strengths, communication style, and work experience outcomes is setting the SLES provider up to hit the ground running.

How SLES Differs from DES

SLES is often confused with Disability Employment Services (DES), which is a Department of Employment program, not an NDIS program. The key differences:

A SLES participant typically transitions to DES after their SLES period ends, with significantly stronger employment readiness than if they had gone to DES directly from school.

What Happens If SLES Isn't in the Plan

If a participant has left school and their NDIS plan does not include SLES, it is worth requesting a plan review to add it — but act quickly. SLES is specifically intended for school leavers, and NDIS planners become less likely to fund it the further removed the participant is from their school leaving date.

The request should include supporting evidence from the school (transition plan, learning plan goals), a statement from the participant and family about post-school goals, and ideally a letter of support from the SLES provider the family has chosen, confirming they can deliver the support and what outcomes they expect.

The NDIS-Education Boundary

One thing to be clear on: SLES does not replace what the school should be doing in the final years of secondary education. Transition planning — including work experience, vocational subjects, and post-school goal setting — is a school responsibility under the DSE 2005. SLES is the bridge between that foundation and the open employment market.

If the school has not done adequate transition planning, SLES providers often end up spending their two-year window building skills the school should have covered. This is not a reason to skip SLES — it is a reason to hold the school accountable for its transition planning obligations while the student is still enrolled.

The Australia Disability Assessment Decoder covers the NDIS-education boundary in detail, including what the school is legally required to fund versus what the NDIS covers, and how to document your child's transition needs so that post-school services can begin effectively.

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