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

Item

Description

1

Service Officer responsibilities at all customer contacts regarding AMEP

When a customer is identified as eligible for AMEP:

• at the First Contact Service Offer, or
• the Participation Interview, or
• from any other contact through, or via, a Manual Follow-up (MFU) with the keyword of 'AMEP'

The Referral Summary (RRSUM) screen should be checked to view any Codes for AMEP.

Referred (REF) status

• Check the RRSUM screen for details. If the RRSUM screen shows a status of 'referred' it means that the customer is not currently participating in AMEP
• Advise the customer to contact an AMEP provider to start the program. A Job Seeker Identification (JSID) number is not required
• If the customer is not eligible to undertake AMEP or is no longer interested in undertaking the program, the referral will need to be finalised. See Item 3
• Advise the customer of their obligations to start in AMEP and for them to advise Services Australia of any change to their participation in AMEP

Placed (PLC) status

• If the RRSUM screen shows a status of 'placed' it means that the customer is currently participating in AMEP
• The Activity and Exemption Summary (AEX) screen will be updated with AMEP as an approved activity for job seekers
• If the customer has mutual obligation requirements, their Employment Services Provider will update their Job Plan with AMEP
• Advise the customer that they must notify their Employment Services Provider and Services Australia if they stop attending AMEP

2

Confirming a customer's AMEP entitlement with the Department of Home Affairs

Most customers enrolling in AMEP will sign a declaration allowing their AMEP details to be shared with other agencies. This allows AMEP information to be sent to the agency. If there are no AMEP details on the customer's record, contact the Department of Home Affairs AMEP Recording Management System (ARMS) helpdesk. The customer's first name, last name and visa information (e.g. grant number) needs to be included to assist ARMS with identifying the customer.

When a Service Officer calls the ARMS helpdesk seeking information on the client's participation, a helpdesk officer will check the client's details to see if Department of Home Affairs already holds signed permission. If this is in place, the information will be released immediately to the agency.

If Department of Home Affairs does not have the signed permission, the agency will be required to obtain written consent from the customer and fax it to Department of Home Affairs, or advise the customer they need to go back to their provider to have the permission entered into the system. Only after receipt of the signed consent, can Department of Home Affairs release the information to the agency. Service Officers will need to provide return contact details to enable the ARMS helpdesk to fax back their response.

Note: under no circumstances should the ARMS helpdesk email address be given out to customers.

The ARMS helpdesk is available from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm EST.

3

Manual recording of AMEP on the Referral Summary/Referral Details screen.

Manual coding of the Referral Details screen can only be done if a customer has not given consent to the sharing of information from the Department of Home Affairs to the agency, or if a manual adjustment of the customer's enrolment dates is required.

Security Access:

Only users with the Process Direct Job Referral Updates (PROCESS DIRECT JOB REFFERAL UPDATES) access approved in ESSentials are able to update the following events on the Referral Details screen:

• Referred (REF)
• Placed (PLC), or
• Finalised (FIN)

Access to Process Direct Job Referral Updates is limited to Service Centre and Senior Support staff at APS5 and above, and to Multicultural Services Officers (MSOs) at APS4 and above. Service Officers should contact these people to arrange for the record to be updated. If Service Officers are unsure who to contact, email the Participation Programmes and Compliance Team.

Access the Referral Summary (RRSUM) screen:

• Go to the Referral Summary (RRSUM) screen, or
• Select Participation Summary > Activity type/Non-applied exemptions > Referral summary
• Select Create SEE/AMEP Referral
• For coding a customer as Referred:
• Provider ID: M00001
• Status: Referred (REF)
• Reason: Awaiting Contact (ACO)
• Date of Effect: the date the referral was made
• For coding a customer as Placed:
• Status: Placed (PLC)
• Reason: Started (STC)
• Date of effect: Start date of course
• For coding a customer as Finalised:
• Status: Finalised (FIN)
• Reason:

- Achieved CSWE Level 1 (CEA)

- Achieved CSWE Level 2 (CEB)

- Achieved CSWE Level 3 (CEC)

- Didn't achieve CSWE at any level (CEF)

- Withdrawn (WDN)

• Date of effect: Date the customer finished training

4

AMEP and Student payments

Where a customer is doing AMEP, they may be eligible for a job seeker payment (AMEP as an approved activity) or a student payment (AMEP as an approved course).

Service Officers should suggest that eligible customers undertake AMEP as an approved activity in the first instance. If a customer requests to claim a student payment for participation in AMEP, the agency may consider this if it benefits the customer and where all other eligibility criteria are met.

There are risks involved in allowing a customer to be placed on a student payment while participating in AMEP as the customer can actually change the hours of study of their own accord and there is no restricted time frame as to when they have to complete the hours.

Customers who are eligible for and want to claim a student payment while participating in AMEP need to be clearly advised that if their study load drops below the study load requirements for the course, their entitlement to the student payment will cease. If they do not notify the agency of the change in their study load within the required timeframe they may incur a debt. They may also lose entitlement if they do not transfer to another payment (e.g. JobSeeker Payment (JSP)) within 14 days.

In determining whether a student payment can be paid, Service Officers need to determine the following:

• whether the particular course is approved under the Course Determination Instrument
• whether the course is full-time or part-time
• the duration of the course
• the age of the customer, and
• the customer's individual circumstances

In the situations outlined where a person is disadvantaged by transferring to a student payment (e.g. if it would result in the customer receiving a lower rate on Austudy than they would receive on JSP) this is not appropriate.