Assessing reasonable notice 001-10040060

Under Social Security Law, all job seekers must receive appropriate and reasonable notice of a compulsory requirement, for example, attending an appointment or activity. Notice of a requirement can be given verbally or in writing by:

• Employment Services Providers
• Disability Employment Services Providers (DES)
• Community Development Program Providers (CDP), and
• Services Australia

Proper notice must include the date, time, location of the compulsory requirement and the consequences for failing to attend or failing to advise of an inability to attend.

When a non-compliance event is reported, information about the notice that was issued by the provider to the job seeker is linked to the provider report.

A compliance action cannot be applied if the job seeker did not receive appropriate and reasonable notification. PST-skilled staff only need to consider if appropriate and reasonable notice was given if the job seeker disputes receiving notification of the requirement.

Reasonable notice requires that a job seeker is given sufficient time to:

• receive notice of a requirement, appropriate to the delivery method, and
• make the necessary arrangements needed to comply with the requirement

Note: the policy relating to timeframes that are considered 'reasonable' varies depending on how the notice is issued.

Job seekers may receive secondary or reminder notifications. For example, when an appointment or activity is booked in the Calendar or Online Diary. Eligible job seekers may also receive automatic reminder SMS's on the day before an appointment. These act as a reminder only and supports previous notification/s issued.

If a letter was correctly addressed and posted, it is deemed to have been received by the job seeker:

• after the appropriate amount of delivery time has elapsed, and
• where it would normally be delivered by post

Note: deemed delivery does not necessarily mean the job seeker physically received the letter. If the job seeker's only method of communication is by mail and they advise that they have not received the letter, reasonable excuse must be assessed. It is the job seeker's personal responsibility to ensure they are aware of any upcoming requirements, including those where notification may be issued verbally or electronically.