Re-engaging to a Community Development Program (CDP) provider 001-10090020

The CDP job seeker's circumstances should be considered when determining if they are required to re-engage with their provider.

When a CDP job seeker has a provider appointment scheduled in the Online Diary within the next 2 working days, the re-engagement code 'RNX No re-engagement - has appointment in the next 2 days' is automatically recorded by the system.

Re-engagement is required when all other circumstances allow re-engagement and the CDP job seeker is able to attend an appointment within the next 28 calendar days.

Re-engagement is not required if:

• the failure is rejected as invalid prior to contacting the CDP job seeker
• an Online Diary HTTP socket error occurs when the appointment is booked
• an appointment cannot be arranged within 28 calendar days due to circumstances outside the CDP job seeker's control or
• the CDP job seeker:
• has transferred to another payment that does not have mutual obligation requirements
• is deemed to have self re-engaged
• does not have a current provider as they have recently moved address
• has transferred to another type of provider (that is, Workforce Australia or Disability Employment Services (DES))
• is yet to attend their first (initial) appointment with their CDP provider. These CDP job seekers will be issued with a new appointment notice by the provider
• cannot be re-engaged for the failure as there is another outstanding compliance action on their record, including an outstanding NAR
• has just been re-engaged to the same organisation for another failure. When multiple failures are investigated the CDP job seeker should only be re-engaged for the first failure investigated. For all other failures investigated on the same day, record 'No re-engagement already reconnected same provider'

Note: providers are responsible for re-engaging the CDP job seeker when a Non-Attendance Report (NAR) has been submitted.

Are Services Australia required to re-engage the CDP job seeker?

• Yes, and the CDP job seeker:
• is not present and cannot be contacted, go to Step 3
• is on the phone, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 2

When a Non-Attendance Report (NAR) has been submitted the CDP provider is responsible for re-engagement. Services Australia will not schedule a re-engagement appointment with the provider when investigating a non-attendance failure or reconnection failure that has been generated by a Provider Appointment Report (PAR). Service Officers are required to support re-engagement by reinforcing the importance of attending the appointment the CDP job seeker's provider has scheduled.

For all other failures, when Services Australia has made the decision that re-engagement is not required, this must be recorded in the Participation Compliance Hub.

On the Re-engagement screen in the Participation Compliance Hub:

• Answer 'No' to the question 'Does the CDP job seeker need to be re-engaged?'
• Record the reason why re-engagement is not required in the Re-engagement outcome: field
  See the Resources page for an attachment that lists all re-engagement codes.

Note: if the failure is rejected, the workflow may automatically update the above fields on the Re-engagement screen.

When a 'no re-engagement' reason is recorded for a failure, the system will automatically update the re-engagement requirements for all previous failures in the same failure sequence.

If the compliance action cannot be completed in the hub, the 'no re-engagement' reason should be recorded.

The Resources page contains more information.

If the CDP job seeker's payment is suspended 'DNA participation appt or activity' it should be restored on the Benefit Action (BA) screen after completing the compliance action.

The provider has the responsibility to contact the CDP job seeker to arrange another appointment after the compliance action is finalised.

Procedure ends here.

For suspension failures (i.e. connection failures), re-engagement is discussed during the investigation. If the CDP job seeker disconnects at this time, the save and exit function should be used and the participation payment should remain suspended.

When a CDP job seeker terminates the call or is disconnected before re-engagement is discussed for a connection failure resulting from a failure to enter a Job Plan, the failure should not be completed until the CDP job seeker contacts again and re-engagement is discussed. Use the save and exit function to exit the activity. The incomplete activity will block self-service reporting and direct the CDP job seeker to contact the Participation Solutions Team (PST).

When the CDP job seeker contacts Services Australia:

• notify them of the re-engagement requirement
• record the requirement on the Re-engagement screen in the Participation Compliance Hub

Once contact with the CDP job seeker is established, go to Step 4.

Discuss the re-engagement requirement with the CDP job seeker and establish if they are willing to re-engage.

Has the CDP job seeker refused to re-engage?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

If the CDP job seeker refuses to re-engage, an attempt to schedule a reconnection requirement must be made and the CDP job seeker given reasonable notice and proper notification of the requirement.

If the failure is a suspension failure (i.e. a connection failure) payment cannot be restored until the CDP job seeker accepts the re-engagement requirement or Services Australia determine they are no longer required to re-engage.

If the CDP job seeker's payment status is 'CUR' it should be manually suspended on the Benefit Action (BA) screen using the 'APA' suspension code. The date of effect should be the date the CDP job seeker has refused to re-engage.

Check appointment availability by going to the Re-engagement screen in the Participation Compliance Hub and recording the following:

• Does the CDP job seeker need to be re-engaged? Yes
• Select the Online Diary button

When the Online Diary is accessed the following will be presented:

• Available appointments in the next 2 business days (with no option to search for or book appointments more than 2 days in the future), or
• If no appointments are available in the next 2 days, available appointments in the next 28 days will display (if these are available), or
• A message indicating there are no available appointments

When appointments are available and the CDP job seeker's circumstances allow, re-engagement should occur within the next 2 working days.

In circumstances when it would be appropriate to book an appointment outside of 2 days but the CDP job seeker does not have the capacity to attend any appointment available in the Online Diary, they are exempt from the reconnection requirement. A 'no re-engagement' outcome must be recorded on the Re-engagement screen. This may occur, for example, when a CDP job seeker is working and cannot attend the appointments available in the next 2 days, and no further appointments are displayed in the Online Diary. If suitable appointments are available outside of 2 working days, the next available suitable appointment should be booked.

If this is not possible, the next available suitable appointment should be booked.

Is there a suitable provider re-engagement appointment available in the next 2 working days?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 2
• No, see Step 2 in Table 2

Book the re-engagement appointment. On the Re-engagement screen:

• Can the CDP job seeker be re-engaged within 2 working days? This will be automatically set to Yes by the workflow
• Select the re-engagement outcome 'Re-engaged via Online Diary'

Go to Step 4.

For information about scheduling a serious failure re-engagement appointment, see Waiving a serious failure period.

For all other re-engagement appointments, Service Officers are not required to contact the provider to open up a provider re-engagement appointment within the next 2 working days.

When a CDP job seeker has indicated a refusal to re-engage, on the Re-engagement screen, Answer 'Yes' to the question: 'Can the CDP job seeker be re-engaged within 2 working days'.

Is there a suitable appointment in the next 28 days?

• Yes, book the re-engagement appointment. On the Re-engagement screen:
• Can the CDP job seeker be re-engaged within 2 working days?
  Yes, if the CDP job seeker has refused to re-engage
  No for all other cases
• Select the re-engagement outcome 'Re-engaged via Online Diary'
• Why can't the customer be re-engaged within 2 working days? No appointments available within 2 working days
• Has the CDP job seeker refused to re-engage? Answer Yes or No
• No, go to Step 3

Advise the CDP job seeker their provider will contact them to arrange any further appointments.

Advise the CDP job seeker of their obligation to attend and fully participate in any appointments, including the need to contact if unable to attend.

Record the following on the Re-engagement screen:

• Does the CDP job seeker need to be re-engaged? No
• In the re-engagement outcome filed, select 'No re-engagement - no phone/diary apt available'

Go to Step 5.

Verbally notify the CDP job seeker of the re-engagement requirement, including:

• date and time of the appointment
• requirement to enter into a Job Plan if requested to do so at an appointment (if the CDP job seeker is re-engaging following a Job Plan failure they must enter into a Job Plan at the appointment, further refusal to do so may result in cancellation of payment)
• location of and relevant contact person for the appointment
• if they cannot attend at the specified time they must contact the organisation the appointment is with before the appointment to explain why
• compliance warnings notifying the CDP job seeker that non-compliance with a requirement, including not contacting to advise of the reason they cannot attend may result in a penalty being applied to their payment
• their payment stopping (or remaining suspended if they have refused to re-engage)
• their payment being cancelled if they do not re-engage within 4 weeks of first being asked to do so and if this happens, they will need to reclaim payment and will not receive back pay

Note: if possible, the CDP job seeker should be advised of the purpose or reason for the appointment. Failing to do so does not invalidate the requirement.

The Re-engagement screen in the Participation Compliance Hub will display the appropriate notification for the re-engagement requirement. It must be read to the CDP job seeker to explain the requirement and consequences of non-compliance.

Ensure the CDP job seeker understands attendance is compulsory, even if they do not receive any further reminders (for example, an SMS) and that they should record the appointment details immediately.

If the CDP job seeker's payment is currently suspended 'DNA participation appt or activity' and they have agreed to re-engage or they do not need to re-engage, payment will be automatically restored.

Will the application of the failure result in the generation of an automatic Comprehensive Compliance Assessment (CCA)?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, procedure ends here

When a CDP job seeker is notified of a requirement to attend a CCA, this removes any other reconnection requirement and ends any reconnection failure period.

If the CDP job seeker is present (either in the local Service Centre or on the phone) at the time the CCA is triggered the following action should be taken:

• Advise the CDP job seeker they are required to undertake a Comprehensive Compliance Assessment
• If necessary, transfer the CDP job seeker to the appropriate person to determine how the CCA will be conducted and record the CCA notification in the CCA workflow
• After the CCA notification is recorded in the workflow, the provider re-engagement appointment should be cancelled. Cancelling the re-engagement appointment will automatically finalise any other outstanding re-engagement requirements

See Generating and preparing for a Comprehensive Compliance Assessment (CCA).

It may be appropriate to check the CDP job seeker's record or other resources, such as transport timetables, to substantiate the reasons for rescheduling. The decision on whether to reschedule or not should be based on the discussion with the customer and other information already available. Generally, it is not required to request third party evidence before making the decision.

Has the CDP job seeker provided an acceptable reason?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 4

Consider the acceptable reason the CDP job seeker has provided for not being able to attend the existing or original appointment.

Given their circumstances, is the CDP job seeker unable to attend an appointment in the next 14 days or due to multiple rescheduling will more than 14 days have elapsed since the first requirement to attend?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 5

If the CDP job seeker is unable to attend an appointment for reasons not related to employment, non-essential temporary absence from their usual address or due to part time servicing by the provider then consider if it is appropriate to grant an exemption from mutual obligation requirements.

Record exemption if appropriate and record details in a DOC. See Exempting a job seeker from mutual obligation requirements due to special circumstances.

Go to Step 6.

Advise the CDP job seeker the appointment will not be rescheduled.

When the CDP job seeker's reasons are not accepted they should be advised:

• the appointment will not be rescheduled, and
• they will need to take the necessary action, including re-organising their other commitments, so they can attend this appointment and
• remind them their payment may stop and a penalty may be applied to their payment if they do not attend the appointment

The discussion with the CDP job seeker must be documented to support any subsequent requests to reschedule the appointment, and to assist any compliance action if the CDP job seeker fails to attend the appointment. The CDP job seeker's reasons and the decision must be recorded in a DOC.

For further information, see Finalising Community Development Program (CDP) re-engagement requirements.

Procedure ends here.

For provider appointments in the Online Diary:

• Go to Participation Summary > Online Diary
• Select the appointment and, if possible, reschedule the appointment within the next 2 working days
• In the appointment notes record the reason for scheduling when this is relevant to the servicing of the CDP job seeker
• Ensure the re-engagement message on the Re-engagement screen is read to the CDP job seeker

Note: the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations will automatically send out an appointment reminder (via SMS or email) 24 hours before the appointment. When the appointment has been rescheduled within this time, advise the CDP job seeker they should ignore any reminder they receive for the original appointment if they have not already received it.

In all cases the CDP job seeker must be advised:

• they are required to attend this appointment and enter a Job Plan if required
• if they do not attend the appointment their payment may be stopped and a penalty may be applied
• if they cannot attend for any reason, they must contact before the time of the appointment to advise of their non-attendance and that if they do not contact a penalty may be applied to their payment, even if they have a reasonable excuse

When the requirement is also a reconnection requirement following a failure investigation the CDP job seeker must also be advised:

• if they still have not attended the appointment and more than 28 days have passed since they were first asked to re-engage their payment will be cancelled

The CDP job seeker's reasons and the decision must be recorded in a DOC. The discussion with the CDP job seeker must be documented to support any subsequent requests to reschedule the appointment and to assist any compliance action if the CDP job seeker fails to attend the rescheduled appointment.

After rescheduling the appointment check if the CDP job seeker is currently serving a reconnection failure period.

Using the Participation Compliance Hub or the Investigation Summary (BIIS) screen, check for a Reconnection 'RCN' failure with a penalty start date but not a penalty end date.

Is the CDP job seeker currently serving a Reconnection failure period?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, procedure ends here

For provider appointments:

• Access the Online Diary by selecting 'Online Diary' under the Participation menu item
• Select the appropriate appointment and select the 'No' result for the question 'Is this appointment still required'
• Select one of the following cancellation reasons:
• Alternate reconnection is required (CCA)
• CDP job seeker re-engagement not currently appropriate (outstanding assessment)
• CDP job seeker is on a long term exemption
• CDP job seeker is no longer on an participation payment
• Other reasons

When 'Other reasons' is selected the general reason why the appointment has been cancelled needs to be recorded in the comments field. This can be viewed by providers do not include information not relevant to the providers servicing of the CDP job seeker.

Note: the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations system will automatically send out an appointment reminder (via SMS or email) 24 hours before the appointment. When the appointment has been cancelled within this time advise the CDP job seeker they should ignore any reminder they receive for the original appointment if they have not already received it.

After cancelling the appointment check if the CDP job seeker is currently serving a reconnection failure period.

Using the Participation Compliance Hub or the Investigation Summary (BIIS) screen, check for a Reconnection 'RCN' failure with a penalty start date but not a penalty end date.

Any outstanding re-engagement requirements should be ended if the CDP job seeker's reason for not being able to attend is determined to be acceptable and:

• there are no other available appointments
• the appointment was booked more than 14 days (or 28 days for part time, remote and regional providers) in the future for reasons outside of the CDP job seeker's control

The CDP job seeker has an outstanding re-engagement requirement if the Participation Compliance Hub displays 'Awaiting Re-Eng' for a completed connection failure.

To end the outstanding re-engagement requirement:

• Select the latest failure that displays 'Awaiting Re-Eng'
• Select the 'Re-engagement' link
• On the Re-engagement screen answer 'No' to the question 'Does the customer need to be re-engaged?'
• Select one of the following re-engagement outcomes which best describes why the requirement needs to be ended:
• 'No re-engagement, no phone/diary appt available'
• 'No re-engagement, currently employed'
• 'No re-engagement, current exemption'

Note: if the CDP job seeker is serving a reconnection failure period it will automatically end when one of the above 'no re-engagement' reasons are recorded.

For further information, see Finalising re-engagement requirements. Procedure ends here.

If the CDP job seeker is serving a reconnection penalty period and they have an acceptable reason for their reconnection requirement to be rescheduled then the penalty period can be ended however the CDP job seeker will still be required to re-engage if their reasonable excuse does not prevent them from doing so.

If reconnection failure period needs to be ended immediately to allow payment to be issued to the CDP job seeker then it will be necessary to end the outstanding re-engagement requirement and reconnection failure period via the Participation Compliance Hub (if available). See the Resources page for manual action if the hub is not available.

For further information, see Finalising re-engagement requirements.