Participation in Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) 001-02170030

Job seekers participating in AMEP are required to take personal responsibility for:

• recording and/or reporting their attendance at requirements
• looking for work and reporting their Job Search efforts on time each month
• agreeing to undertake activities to build their capacity
• discussing/disclosing personal circumstances that may impact their ability to meet requirements, and
• recording Personal Events in their Calendar

Full-time participation

Full-time participation in AMEP is 20 hours (15 hours face-to-face and 5 hours non-contact) per week.

Participants can fully meet their participation requirements during their Work for the Dole Phase by undertaking AMEP. The job seeker does not have to complete any additional hours in another activity but is still required to meet all other mutual obligation requirements.

The following participants will not have a Centrelink managed job plan:

• refugee job seekers no longer in the Better Targeting of Support for Refugees (BTSR) measure due to their arrival date being more than 12 months in the past, and
• non-refugee migrant job seekers, including Early School Leavers (ESL) who are participating full time in AMEP,

These job seekers are required to be referred to a Workforce Australia Employment Service or Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) based on the outcome of their Job Seeker Snapshot.

Part-time participation

Any number of hours less than 20 hours per week (less than 15 hours face-to-face and 5 hours non-contact) participation in AMEP is considered as part-time. There is no minimum number of hours of study required.

Job seekers participating under BTSR are Centrelink managed and:

• will have Refugee Activities (RAC) and AMEP on the Activity and Exemption Summary (AEX) screen as voluntary or compulsory activities, once they have:
• commenced in AMEP
• the placement has been recorded, and
• are Centrelink managed

Job seekers who are not under in the BTSR measure:

• AMEP will be included on the Activity and Exemption Summary (AEX) screen as a voluntary or compulsory activity, once they have:
• commenced in AMEP, and
• the placement has been recorded

Encourage these job seekers to share their Job Plan with their AMEP service provider to inform them of their mutual obligation requirements. Job seekers are only required to accept employment opportunities that fit around their AMEP class times.

Most newly arrived refugees remain Centrelink managed until 6 or 12 months after their arrival in Australia. There are a number of factors that determine this eligibility and how long they will remain Centrelink managed. See Refugee entrant service offer for more information.

If they meet the eligibility requirements to remain Centrelink managed, during the Centrelink managed period they can fully meet their mutual obligation requirements by participating in AMEP. In this case, Service Officers will need to negotiate their Job Plan. See Negotiating Job Plans for refugee appointments at 12 weeks, and conducting circumstance reviews at 12 months.

Job seekers under 22 years of age identified as potentially eligible for AMEP as part of the Participation Interview, are exempt from RapidConnect.

Job seekers 22 years and older identified as potentially eligible for AMEP as part of the Participation Interview, are subject to RapidConnect.

If a customer wants to claim a student payment for participation in AMEP, Services Australia may consider this if it benefits the customer and where all other eligibility criteria for a student payment are met.

However, if a person is disadvantaged by transferring to a student payment (for example, if it would result in the customer receiving a lower rate of payment than they would receive on JobSeeker Payment (JSP)), this is not appropriate and the customer should be advised to remain on their existing income support payment.

A customer who has been on income support for 12 months or more when they commence AMEP may be eligible for the Education Entry Payment (EdEP).

In most instances, the system will assess and determine payability of EdEP, and deliver payment where appropriate. In some cases, EdEP will need to be paid manually, where eligibility has been determined but not automatically paid.

AMEP participation will be automatically updated via external system transactions when the customer is no longer participating in the program and finalisation will be displayed in the customer's record. The customer's level of achievement in written or spoken English is also displayed on their record.

SEE and AMEP are similar but separate programs that cannot be undertaken concurrently. AMEP participants will generally transfer to SEE after completing their AMEP participation. A customer can be referred to SEE while participating in AMEP, but if they are accepted into SEE, they will be exited from AMEP automatically.

AMEP participants have access to the program for 5 years or more, and can cease and recommence participation repeatedly during that period. Under the following circumstances, a customer can recommence in AMEP, where they have ongoing entitlement:

• Previously withdrawn from AMEP and wants to recommence, or
• The SEE placement is finalised (with any finalisation reason)

The Referrals Summary screen is automatically updated via external system transactions to 'placed' unless the customer is currently participating in a non-concurrent program. See Table 2 > Step 4.