Redesign of Disability Employment Support Products

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The Ministry of Social Development funds a range of specialist services called Disability Employment Support products. These are services that help address the barriers disabled people can face when looking for work or keeping their jobs. Over the next 18 months from February 2026, we will take a fresh look at these services and improve how they work together. This will give disabled people a more joined‑up and supportive experience into work and while they're working.

What are Disability Employment Support Products

Disability Employment Support Products (DESP) are services specifically designed for disabled people. These people may find our general employment support isn't sufficient to address their disability barriers.

DESP can support people who need support to find employment due to disability or long-term health conditions, for example:

  • physical
  • sensory
  • learning
  • neurological
  • mental health related issues.

Services being redesigned

The services being reviewed are:

The redesign will also consider how these employment services interact with Disability Enterprises (DEs - formally Business Enterprises). We will consider how to help DE participants transition to employment service, and into open employment, where appropriate.

The redesign focuses on improving disabled people's experience of these services, with a focus on how the services work together to support disabled people at all stages of finding and keeping a job.

We want our future disability employment services to be:

  • fit for purpose
  • sustainable
  • able to adjust to shifts in the labour market.

What isn’t changing

We do not expect the overall funding amount for these services to change. We will continue to deliver our services to support disabled people to participate in employment during this review.

The review does not include community participation services, Work and Income Services, or Disability Support Services (DSS).

Redesign engagement

We have contracted ThinkPlace Ltd, in collaboration with Dovetail Consulting, and other partners to lead the service redesign process.

The process will be informed by targeted engagement with disabled people, along with others with expertise in employment of disabled people. This engagement will help us understand how our services work now, get idea on how we can improve, and to test concepts for better services.

The engagement will include disabled people who use the services, their whānau, employers, and providers, as well as Disabled People's Organisations.

What we will deliver

We aim to have new disability employment support contracts in place to deliver our redesigned services in the second half of 2027.

We are committed to:

  • continuing to deliver services that best support disabled people to enter and maintain employment
  • aligning with the Enabling Good Lives Principles
  • ensuring the services we design and purchase meet the needs of all disabled people who want to get a job, and to support them to stay in that job
  • ensuring the services we design meet the needs of tangata whaikaha Māori
  • engaging with community representatives to strengthen the cultural fit of future services.

If you have questions or input into the redesign process, please email Participation_Inclusion_Services@workandincome.govt.nz, with 'DESP' in the subject line.

This page will be updated as the project progresses.