03 Jul2015

Senate passes BSWAT Payments Scheme Bill

The Senate passed the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool (BSWAT) Payments Scheme Bill on 15 June 2015.

The passing of the Payments Scheme Bill is the result of concerted efforts by supporters of Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs) to inform Senators who voted against the original passage of the Bill about the merits of the legislation and the critical issues facing ADEs. Consequently, several senators who previously opposed the Bill, supported it in the second vote.

Supported employees will soon have the option of accepting an offer under the BSWAT Payment Scheme as an alternative to engaging in a long and uncertain court action. The Payments Scheme will commence from 1 July 2015

What is an ADE?

An Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE) is a not-for-profit organisation, with charitable status, which provides meaningful employment for people with significant disability who would otherwise not be able to work. It is a business that makes products, or provides services. It is usually run by a not-for-profit organisation, but it is still expected to make a surplus after paying all its costs, including staff salaries.

Who works there?

So, an ADE operates in the same way as other businesses, but there is one major difference. An ADE employs people with disability, and its employees are supported in their work.

'Supported' means that there are support workers available to give the employees any assistance they need with their tasks. For example, an employee with learning difficulties may need regular reminders from their support worker about how to do a task. Support workers are also paid employees of the ADE.