Deferred referral to Employment Services Providers 001-02330030

If a referral is:

• identified by an Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) report, go to Step 2
• identified at Participation Interview stage, (for example, Parenting Payment (PP) customer with mutual obligation requirements is assessed to have a temporary reduced work capacity of 0-14 hours per week at the interview stage or not as the result of an ESAt report), go to Step 8
• required because the job seeker is serving a Liquid Asset Waiting Period (LAWP) or Income Maintenance Period (IMP) and does not want to volunteer for employment services, go to Step 9
• for a customer 22 years of age and under and identified during the Participation Interview as benefiting from Youth Activities to satisfy mutual obligation requirements (including Youth Transition Support Initiative or a combination of approved requirements), go to Step 3

Make sure the ESAt report has been accepted.

In Process Direct:

• Key 'RRSUM' in the Super Key field, select Enter or
• Select > Participation Summary > Activity type/Non-applied exemptions > Referral summary

This procedure only applies if the ESAt report recommends referral to Disability Employment Services (DES) or another Employment Services Provider.

Does the report recommend referral to DES or another Employment Services Provider?

• Yes, and
• the customer has an exemption from their mutual obligation requirements which expires at least 5 working days in the future, defer the referral. Go to Step 7
• DES is the recommended service, and the customer has a temporary reduced work capacity of 0-7 hours per week, defer the referral. Go to Step 7
• the customer has been working at or above their Employment Benchmark hours for 6 consecutive fortnights and is likely to continue working above the relevant benchmark, defer the referral. Go to Step 7
• if none of the above apply, go to Step 4
• No, procedure ends here

The system automatically defers the referral for the job seeker to the Workforce Australia provider for 6 weeks from the date the Participation Interview is completed.

The customer must

• start the activity within 6 weeks of the deferment period, or
• be connected to Workforce Australia. See Participation with Workforce Australia

If the customer has started in a combination of approved Youth Activities (YAC approved activity coded on the Exemption Summary (AEX) screen) within the period, they do not have to be connected to a provider, unless they volunteer. In Process Direct:

• Key 'AEX' in the Super Key field, select Enter
• The Activity and Exemption Summary (AEX) screen will display

Go to Step 8

Customers with a temporary reduced work capacity (TRWC) of 0-14 hours per week:

• are not required to participate in employment services until the TRWC period ends
• can volunteer to be connected to an Employment Service Provider during this period
• must meet all other eligibility criteria before referral

Note: job seekers who have been assessed with a:

• TRWC of 0-7 hours per week, are not eligible to be referred to DES
• Partial Capacity to Work (PCW) or TRWC of 8-14hrs per week can:
• participate in DES programs on a voluntary basis, and
• exit without penalty

If the TRWC will last less than 5 days, the Assessor is expected to action the referral immediately.

Does the ESAt state that the customer has a TRWC of 0-14 hours per week for at least 5 working days?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, procedure ends here

A deferred referral is not needed if the customer does not have mutual obligation requirements, for example if the customer receives Disability Support Pension (DSP).

A customer with a TRWC who does not have mutual obligation requirements may not be able to access providers straight away. When the customer becomes eligible to be referred, they can:

• 'directly register' with the DES provider, or
• ask Services Australia for a referral to a provider

Does the customer have mutual obligation requirements?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, procedure ends here

When an ESAt report is submitted by the Assessor, Service Officers:

• are generally not responsible for checking the validity of any referral recommendation
• only action the recommended referral when the ESAt report is finalised

When the report status is finalised, usually 28 days after acceptance, the Assessor cannot change details in the report. If there is anything in the report that may prevent the referral from being successful, discuss this with the Assessor as soon as possible after the ESAt submission. If necessary, ask the Assessor to reopen the report, to:

• update information about the customer's work capacity or support requirements, or
• change the referral recommendation

Deferred referrals for employment services are generally recorded automatically by the system. Applying a deferred referral manually:

• is usually not needed
• may duplicate the automatic review by the system

Deferred referrals can be manually created for:

• ESAt - if the job seeker has certain special circumstances, for example, personal crisis or refugee
• ESP/CDP TtW - if the job seeker has a Temporary Work Capacity once the ESAt/JCA has a finalised status

When the Service Officer is allocated a Job Seeker Management Activity and the job seeker meets one of the deferred referral reasons above:

• the relevant UPD activity will automatically finalise once the manual deferred referral coding is completed, and
• the review activity will appear on the future Activity List (FAL) screen

To view, manually add or update a review in Process Direct:

• Key 'JMDQR' in the Super Key field, select Enter or
• Select > Participation Summary > Key information > Deferred referral button

Advise the customer of their obligations

Tell the customer:

• the reason for the deferred referral, and
• they must attend the appointment after the deferment ends

Advise the customer about alternatives

Some customers may want to access employment services. Offer a referral to a Workforce Australia organisation to customers who:

• are ineligible for DES because of a temporary reduced work capacity of 0-7 hours per week
• are working at their employment benchmark for 6 consecutive fortnights and are likely to continue working at or above the relevant benchmark
• may want to meet Programme of Support requirements for any future Disability Support Pension claim

When the deferred referral/review period ends, go to Step 8.

When the deferred referral period ends, the system creates an automatic activity. The Service Officer can book the appropriate referral for the customer, if the referral has not yet been actioned.

For referral to:

• a Workforce Australia organisation, a JSR/UPD activity is created. This activity appears on Participation Summary > Key information > Action Item
• Disability Employment Services (DES), the system:
• creates an item which appears in Participation Summary > Key information >Action item > Action referral to DES. This reminds the Service Officer to check the ESAt report and refer to the appropriate provider, as recommended on the report. See Referring a job seeker to Disability Employment Services (DES) if required

The Service Officer will:

• check the job seeker's current circumstances to make sure they now meet the requirements to be connected with a provider
• if the deferred referral was the result of an ESAt recommendation:
• check the most recent report for assistance recommendations which have not yet been actioned
• notify the existing provider about the new referral being made, if the customer is connected to a provider and has not yet been exited from the service. This situation should not normally arise in 'deferred referral' cases, as the customer will generally be exited from any previous referral
• arrange and action the recommendation referral - for DES, Workforce Australia or another Employment Services Provider. Contact the customer and book an appointment with the provider via the Online Diary. See Job Seeker Management Activities for outbound contact procedures
• if the customer being referred has mutual obligation requirements, tell them about:
• the requirements to attend any interview with the recommended service provider, and
• the possible consequences if they do not attend
• finalise the activity, if a referral is no longer required because the customer:
• is no longer an active job seeker, or
• has already been referred to the provider. Procedure ends here

Refer job seekers serving a waiting period to a provider. They will be serviced as a volunteer job seeker until they become current on payment.