Roles and responsibilities for managing compliance with compulsory requirements 001-10010000

The primary aim of both providers and Services Australia in managing job seeker compliance with compulsory requirements is to keep job seekers actively engaged with employment services and their compulsory requirements.

In this topic, 'providers' refers to:

• Workforce Australia providers
• Workforce Australia Online
• Community Development Program (CDP) providers
• Disability Employment Services

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has primary responsibility for the legislation and policy that supports the job seeker compliance system.

National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) is responsible for the Community Development Program (CDP), which provides employment services to job seekers in remote Australia.

The Department of Social Services is responsible for Disability Employment Services (DES).

Most job seekers receiving a participation payment are managed under the Targeted Compliance Framework, including job seekers who receive employment services from:

• Workforce Australia providers
• Workforce Australia Online
• Disability Employment Services (DES)

Providers have responsibility for:

• ensuring that the job seeker's compulsory requirements are reasonable based on their individual circumstances and assessed capacity
• ensuring job seekers are aware of the tools available to manage and record attendance at requirements and completion of tasks
• monitoring compliance with compulsory requirements, recording mutual obligation failures and recording potential work refusal or unemployment failures
• notifying reengagement requirements and recording when the job seeker complies, or is no longer required to comply with reengagement requirements
• conducting Capability Interviews where a job seeker accrues either 3 demerit points in 6 months or is fast tracked to the equivalent point

Job seekers in remote areas of Australia receive employment services from Community Development Program (CDP) providers and are managed under the Job Seeker Compliance Framework.

CDP providers have responsibility for:

• negotiating individually tailored Job Plans/Participation Plans and ensuring job seekers receive proper notification of compulsory requirements
• ensuring job seekers are aware of their obligations and the consequences of non-compliance, including advising payments may stop if they fail to comply with their requirements
• considering whether or not compliance action is required
• pursuing compliance action by submitting a Non-Attendance Report, Provider Appointment Report or a Participation Report to Services Australia
• arranging waiver re-engagement appointments for the purpose of waiving all or part of a serious failure penalty

The Services Australia system automatically suspends participation payments when various suspension reports are received from providers. This includes Non-Compliance Reports, Non-Attendance Reports and Participation Reports. All of these reports are accepted through the automatic validation processes.

For job seekers managed under the Targeted Compliance Framework, Services Australia has responsibility for:

• conducting Capability Assessments where a job seeker accrues either 5 demerit points in 6 months or is fast tracked to the equivalent point
• determining whether a work refusal failure or unemployment failure has been committed
• investigating non-compliance when a job seeker in the financial penalty zone commits a mutual obligation failure
• calculating and applying financial penalties where appropriate
• determining payment start dates following an unemployment preclusion period

For job seekers managed under the Job Seeker Compliance Framework, Services Australia has responsibility for:

• investigating and decision making relating to:
• connection failures
• No-Show, No Pay failures
• non-attendance failures
• reconnection failures
• serious failures, and
• Unemployment Non-Payment Periods (UNPP)
• conducting Comprehensive Compliance Assessments (CCA)
• calculating and recovering payment penalties, and
• determining the eligibility for waiver and hardship provisions for serious failure periods or UNPPs

Services Australia is also responsible for the review and appeals process for decisions made under Social Security Legislation for both compliance systems.