Australian Foundation for Disability announces restructure

The Australian Foundation for Disability (Afford) has made the difficult decision to close its community centres and Australian Disability Enterprise supported employment factory in Minchinbury, New South Wales later this year.

During the past two years Afford’s board and leadership team has thoroughly investigated every possible avenue to keep the centres and the factory in action.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a solution which leads us to this announcement, said Afford CEO Jo Toohey.

“We have explored every possible path,” said Ms Toohey.

“But the reality is that the group-based centres and the ADE have been operating at a significant loss for some years and we have not been able to change that.

“We are an organisation that is truly about putting people first, so we have held off on making this move for as long as possible. However, we can no longer carry these kinds of losses without other critical services and customers being impacted.”

While confident the move was the right one, Ms Toohey said Afford is devastated by having to make it.

“Finding ourselves here is heartbreaking,” she said.

Support for all

“We will ensure every single person affected has options, comprehensive support and a personalised transition plan, but the sadness remains.

“We’re deeply concerned about how everyone will feel and how they’ll take the news. Accordingly our top priority will be to provide support and care for our people.

“But we’re also worried about the disability sector in general right now … it’s no secret we’re all under intense pressure,” she added.

Afford Board Chair Carol Bryant agreed with Ms Toohey, saying that while the move was deeply painful it was necessary.

“We have tried everything we could think of to avoid making this decision but after two years it’s clear there is no other choice,” said Ms Bryant, who joined the board in 2020.

“The most responsible thing we can do now is focus on providing the services we know have a long-term future and continue working for and with people with disability.”

Afford is not the only organisation within the sector forced to make significant changes and difficult decisions recently.

During the past 12 months we have seen several disability organisations drop certain services, or merge with other groups so they can continue providing services and support.

“We have also seen some smaller groups forced to close altogether and we fear we’ll see more of these announcements in the coming months,” said Ms Toohey.

However, both Ms Bryant and Ms Toohey are adamant that Afford itself has a bright future.

Afford will now have a renewed focus on providing top-level homes and accommodation, inclusive employment, one-to-one goal programs, support coordination, a new service model designed for people at every stage of life, and a clearer sense of who we are and how we can make the greatest impact.

Afford will continue to be deeply committed to and passionate about working with people with disability.

“We have been supporting the community for close to 75 years now and we will be doing so well into the future,” said Ms Toohey.

Key takeaways

Clients and employees have clear information, individual transition plans, emotional support and help to plan their next steps.

Community services closures:

• All community centres and group activities will close by 27 June 2025.
• One-on-one support will continue as part of our service offering.
• Clients will be offered support to move to another provider or to one-on-one support with Afford.

Supported employment closure:

• The Minchinbury ADE will close by 1 August 2025.
• Supported employees will have the option of transferring to Afford’s Ingleburn factory.
• We will work with other ADE providers to facilitate smooth transitions if required.

More information

To learn about some of the issues currently facing the disability sector read the latest Ability Roundtable research at www.abilityroundtable.org.