Youth Bonus Wage Subsidy (YBWS) 26 Week Suspension Period 001-17030800

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) will be responsible for determining a job seeker's eligibility for the YBWS initiative. They will send through an electronic notification to Services Australia when a job seeker is placed into employment under the YBWS initiative and if the current YBWS placement was 'Created in Error'.

A job seeker will be eligible to participate in the YBWS initiative if they satisfy all the following:

• they are under 25 years of age at the time of entering the YBWS initiative, and
• in receipt of Jobseeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance (YA), and
• is provider managed by a Workforce Australia, or
• a Workforce Australia - Transition to Work (TTW) provider

Job seekers participating in the Community Development Program (CDP) or with Disability Employment Services (DES) are excluded from this initiative. Customers undertaking an apprenticeship are ineligible for YBWS as they are not considered to be job seekers.

The YBWS suspension period will apply where a job seeker:

• is employed under the YBWS initiative, and
• has completed the 12-fortnight employment income zero rate period or if they cease to qualify for Jobseeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance (YA) for an employment related reason. For example:
• commence full-time, part-time, or casual employment
• have used all their working credit

Note: in some cases, job seekers may not be paid enough employment income to reduce their income support payment to zero, and therefore may not enter the 26-week suspension period and will continue to receive income support payments. The Resources page has additional information.

The job seeker's income support payment will auto-suspend (YBS) for a period of 26 weeks and a notification letter will be issued advising the job seeker that they have commenced the suspension period. This suspension period is in place so that if at any time during the 26-week period, the job seeker ceases their employment through no fault of their own, or the current YBWS placement was 'Created in Error', their income support payment can be restored.

If advice is received from DEWR that the current YBWS placement was 'Created in Error' and the customer's payment has a 'YBS/SUS' status, a Manual Follow Up (MFU) activity will be present on the record. The MFU activity will have:

• the keyword 'YBWSUPD' to prompt staff to take further action
• the text 'DEWR advised current YBWS placement was created in error. Manual follow-up required. See OpB 001-17030800 for details'

If a job seeker ceases employment through fault of their own, their income support payment cannot be restored. The income support payment is to be cancelled and the job seeker is to be told they must lodge a new claim. This may be subject to an unemployment preclusion period if an unemployment failure has been committed.

At the end of the 26 weeks suspension period, the job seeker's income support payment will cancel. Where a job seeker wants to return to income support payments outside of the 26-week suspension period, they will need to lodge a new claim.

Customers on leave without pay for a period can have their payment restored if they are able to satisfy mutual obligation requirements including looking for work for the period they are on leave. If a customer indicates they are not willing to look for work during the leave period, the payment should be cancelled as they are no longer considered to be unemployed and have lost qualification as a job seeker.

Job seekers employed under the YBWS initiative will be able to access the Employment income nil rate period as per existing process. Job seekers will need to continue to report until the YBWS suspension period starts, to make sure they are able to access 12 fortnights at nil rate and use their Working Credits. Failure to report may result in the YBWS suspension commencing from the date they were last paid an Income Support Payment (ISP) and the Employment income nil rate period will not be entered.

Once the job seeker enters the YBWS Suspension period they will no longer be required to report employment income during the YBWS 26-week suspension period.

If a customer contacts to advise they have commenced an Australian Apprenticeship, see Existing customer starts an Australian Apprenticeship.

During the YBWS 26-week suspension period, the job seeker will not have mutual obligation requirements and will be suspended from all servicing (for example, will not need to attend provider appointments).

Job seekers placed in the YBWS initiative will be exited from their Workforce Australia or Transition to Work (TTW) provider when they commence the 26-week suspension period. They will not become Centrelink managed.

Any leave or redundancy payments received on termination of employment are to be assessed under the existing Income Maintenance Period rules.

Jobseeker Payment (JSP) and Youth Allowance (YA) job seekers will retain their Health Care Card (HCC) or Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) during an employment income nil rate period.

JSP and YA job seekers may continue to be qualified for their concession card even after their payment has been suspended. For more information, see Extended entitlement to Concession Cards.

JSP and YA job seekers serving the YBWS 26-week suspension period who have their payments restored, will have their concession card entitlement auto-restored.

Income managed job seekers will be treated as being on income support payments during the YBWS 26-week suspension period and continue to be income managed.

Job seekers can continue to receive Mobility Allowance (MOB) during the YBWS 26 week suspension period. A job seeker's MOB entitlement will be automatically reassessed when they enter the suspension period to determine if they continue to meet the MOB eligibility.

Where the job seeker is in the YBWS 26 week suspension period, they will be treated as if they are 'cancelled and off income support' for all other supplements, allowances and other payments including families payments Rent Assistance (RA), and rate of payment for partners.

Where the job seeker is partnered and their partner is in receipt of rent assistance, calculation of partner RA will be determined as though the job seeker is no longer in receipt of an income support payment.

Where the job seeker is partnered and their partner is in receipt of an income support payment, then the partner income test is to be determined as though the job seeker who is in the YBWS 26-week suspension period is no longer in receipt of an income support payment.

During the YBWS 26 week suspension period, job seekers will lose eligibility to ACCS (transition to work).