The Disability Skills Portfolio Scoping Project Final Report

This report presents the findings of the National Disability Services (NDS) commissioned study into the possibility of adopting a Skills Passport for its workers. 'Skills passport' approaches have been adopted in other industries across a range of countries with the aim of improving occupational mobility and career progression for workers and assisting employers in workforce recruitment efficiencies, skills recognition, workforce planning and skills gap analysis. Since there is no single agreed definition or model of what constitutes a 'skills passport', this study adopts the following all-encompassing definition to capture this diversity: Skills passports constitute a variety of mechanisms and instruments used by workers or learners and employers to profile, assess, build, document and track the development of worker skills in the workplace, formal educational settings and other places of learning, as well as those acquired through volunteer and extracurricular activities. This definition allows for the inclusion of a variety of skills passport devices, ranging from an employee's curriculum vitae to industry-wide mandated registration and accreditation schemes. This NDS-funded project considers if a 'skills passport' or 'skills portfolio' approach could benefit the disability sector and, if so, what particular approach would be most appropriate and desirable to meet the needs of all interested disability sector stakeholders. It considers in particular whether a Disability Skills Passport would address the specific challenges facing the industry following implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which has led to a rapid expansion of jobs in disability services. The industry is further characterized by an increasingly casualised and flexible workforce, resulting in a pressing need to improve training, skills recognition and recruitment outcomes for employers and employees.