Waiving a serious failure period 001-10120060

A serious failure period imposed under the Job Seeker Compliance Framework can be partially or fully waived if the RAES job seeker agrees to re-engage with their provider. The serious failure decision maker must discuss this option with the RAES job seeker at the time a serious failure is applied.

When a RAES job seeker contacts Services Australia to advise they would like to pursue this option, they should be referred to the Participation Solutions Team (PST) to assess and record the waiver in the Participation Compliance Hub. If appropriate, the PST will also arrange a waiver re-engagement appointment with the job seeker's RAES provider.

The Participation Solutions Team (PST) is responsible for assessing serious failure waivers. This includes confirming:

• the RAES job seeker is prepared to attend a waiver re-engagement appointment with their provider
• the RAES job seeker has capacity to attend the re-engagement appointment. If the RAES job seeker is exempt at the time of the re-engagement appointment, consider if the RAES job seeker would be eligible for a serious failure hardship waiver instead
• the date the waiver should take effect. The waiver will generally take effect from the date the RAES job seeker requests the waiver. An earlier date would generally only be appropriate if the RAES job seeker was previously unable to attend a waiver re-engagement appointment for the same serious failure period due to an extreme event

Before assessing the waiver, it is important to consider any other action the RAES job seeker is taking in relation to the serious failure decision. If the RAES job seeker is seeking an Authorised Review Officer (ARO) Review or an Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) first review of the serious failure decision, a waiver must not be recorded until the outcome of the review is known. This will allow the RAES job seeker to receive Payment Pending Review (PPR).

After confirming the serious failure period can be waived, the Participation Solutions Team (PST) is responsible for:

• determining if the serious failure period should be conditionally or permanently waived
• recording the waiver in the Participation Compliance Hub
• booking a waiver re-engagement appointment (for conditionally waived serious failure periods only)

When a waiver is recorded in the Participation Compliance Hub, the serious failure period will cease and the RAES job seeker's payment will recommence from the date the PST determined the waiver should take effect.

A serious failure waiver is granted on the condition the RAES job seeker attends the re-engagement appointment with their provider. A waiver recorded under these circumstances is a conditional waiver. If the RAES job seeker does not attend the appointment, the serious failure period will be reinstated.

If the RAES job seeker attends the re-engagement appointment, the serious failure period is permanently waived. It is also possible to manually record a permanent waiver if a suitable re-engagement appointment cannot be arranged, the job seeker is no longer a RAES job seeker due to a change in address or the RAES job seeker negotiated a re-engagement appointment before they requested the waiver. After a serious failure period is permanently waived, no further action can be taken to reinstate the serious failure period and under no circumstances should staff manually book a re-engagement appointment.

However, if a waiver is conditionally waived, and the RAES job seeker does not attend their waiver re-engagement appointment, the provider will record an appointment result, which will result in Services Australia's system automatically reinstating the serious failure period.

All staff are responsible for referring RAES job seekers who contact to have payment reinstated during a serious failure period to the Participation Solutions Team (PST) so serious failure waiver provisions can be assessed.

PST Service Officers with WNPPD security resource are responsible for:

• assessing the waiver and recording it in the Participation Compliance Hub, and
• where the waiver is conditionally waived, booking a waiver re-engagement appointment with the RAES job seeker's provider