Work refusal failures 001-18030207

A job seeker commits a work refusal failure if they fail to accept a confirmed offer of suitable work without a reasonable excuse, including when a job seeker accepts suitable work but fails to start.

When a work refusal failure is applied this will:

• cancel the job seeker's payment, and
• impose a 4 week post cancellation non-payment period

Job seekers who reclaim payment:

• may be subject to RapidConnect provisions, and
• must serve the 4 week post-cancellation non-payment period before their payment re-starts, and
• will return to the Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF) penalty zone they were in prior to the non-compliance cancellation

Job seekers who are principal carers or have partial capacity to work (PCW), do not commit a work refusal failure if the work refused is for more than 15 hours per week.

Note: there are no waiver provisions for job seekers in financial hardship during the post-cancellation non-payment period; however, they will maintain eligibility for a concession card and the benefit rate Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

Providers who become aware that a job seeker has refused work, or accepted work but failed to start will:

• contact the job seeker to discuss their reasons for refusing or failing to start suitable work
• If contact is successful, the provider will assess the suitability of the work based on the job seeker's circumstances, and consider the reasons why they refused work or failed to start work
• If contact is unsuccessful, the provider will submit a Work Refusal Report. This triggers a notice to the job seeker to advise that they must contact their provider to discuss a possible work refusal failure. If the job seeker does not contact their provider within 5 business days, their payment suspends. Payment remains suspended until they contact their provider and discuss their reasons for refusing or failing to start suitable work
• finalise the Work Refusal Report if the job seeker has a valid reason or they determine the work was not suitable for the job seeker, or
• update the Work Refusal Report with the job seeker's reasons and advise them to contact the Participation Solutions Team (PST)

Job seekers will transition between job seeker compliance systems if they change residential address and either start or cease to participate in the Community Development Program (CDP).

Where job seeker transfers to a CDP provider:

• an outstanding work refusal failures may still be investigated and applied
• any non-compliance cancellation due to a work refusal failure or post-cancellation non-payment period will remain in place