Inactivating job seekers registration for volunteer Employment Services job seekers 001-02060040

A volunteer job seeker is a job seeker who is not subject to mutual obligation requirements. All volunteer job seekers are referred to Workforce Australia Online employment services.

Volunteer job seekers can access Workforce Australia Online services indefinitely.

A volunteer registration will inactivate automatically if a job seeker does not use their online account for 12 months. However, at any time, volunteers may tell the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) or Services Australia they no longer wish to participate.

If a volunteer job seeker advises that they no longer wish to be registered as looking for work, they can have their job seeker registration inactivated manually. This may be due to a number of circumstances such as commencing work or study, or no longer actively pursuing employment.

Job seekers with mutual obligation requirements cannot have their registration manually inactivated by Services Australia.

A change in circumstances may result in a job seeker losing eligibility to access Workforce Australia services as a Fully Eligible Participant (FEP) job seeker. However, this will not result in automatic inactivation of the job seeker registration. Where a job seeker loses FEP eligibility the job seeker registration remains active and the job seeker is automatically referred to Workforce Australia Services as a volunteer.

Example: a Job Seeker Payment (JSP) recipient would lose eligibility to access services as a FEP job seeker when they transfer to Age Pension, but would remain job seeker active and can access Workforce Australia Online for volunteer services.

A different process applies to Disability Employment Services (DES) participants. Provided their change in circumstances does not result in a loss of eligibility, DES participants will remain connected to their provider and can continue participating in a voluntary capacity.

Example: a JSP recipient participating in DES to meet their mutual obligation requirements who transfers to Disability Support Pension (DSP) can continue to voluntarily participate in DES.

Services Australia can manually inactivate a volunteer job seeker registration.

Tell job seekers volunteering in Workforce Australia Online employment services, who request inactivation, to contact Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). DEWR may approve a short suspension from employment services, if they decide this is more suitable than an inactivation based on the job seeker's circumstances.

Job seekers receiving Parenting Payment and are not subject to mutual obligation requirements should be advised that as a volunteer they can access Workforce Australia Online as a volunteer indefinitely. The Service Officer can however, inactivate the job seeker.

Job seekers with mutual obligation requirements who are 55 years of age and over, are no longer required to remain connected with an employment service provider. If they are fully meeting their mutual obligation requirements, their employment services will either suspend or exit them and they will become Centrelink Managed.

Services Australia cannot inactivate job seeker registration for customers volunteering in DES. DES volunteers who no longer wish to participate in employment services should be advised to contact their DES provider, who will record an Exit.

CDP Centrelink managed job seekers can voluntarily participate in the Community Development Programme (CDP). As each remote area has only one provider, the job seeker should be advised to contact their CDP provider to discuss cancelling their registration.

If a customer's job seeker registration has been inactivated and the job seeker wishes to be re-registered, Service Officers should advise the job seeker to access their Workforce Australia Online account via myGov or the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). If assistance is required, Service Officers should register the job seeker via the Job Seeker Registration workflow.