Compliance action initiated by Community Development Program (CDP) providers 001-10030000

Answer: When talking to customers they should always be referred to as a Non-Attendance Report.

Answer: No. There are no self service arrangements for compliance events.

Answer: If the only outstanding compliance event is a NAR (with 'Non-Attendance Report Received' (ANR) suspension reason), CDP participants will receive a message directing them to contact their provider.

If there are other compliance investigations outstanding prior to the NAR being submitted, CDP participants will be advised of the need to contact Centrelink first.

Answer: No

Answer: There should be no need for a provider to withdraw a NAR. Providers are able to finalise a NAR by recording an appropriate re-engagement reason, including where a reconnection appointment is no longer required.

Answer: They only indication that will be visible on the 'Front of house' iPAD will be a benefit status of 'SUS/ANR'.

Where a NAR is outstanding, but the record is suspended for another reason, a DOA DOC will be created to alert Service Officers.

Answer: Finalisation of a NAR is a provider's responsibility, that is, Services Australia staff are not required to discuss NARs with CDP participants as providers have responsibility for these.

Where a NAR is outstanding, but the record is suspended for another reason, a DOA DOC will be created to alert Service Officers.

Answer: This does not automatically follow.

The validity of the NAR is not relevant to a cancellation for not complying with a reconnection notice.

It is only if a subsequent review found the reconnection notice was not valid, the cancellation may be called into question.

Answer: The CDP participant will need to discuss the reconnection appointment with their provider.

Where possible, a re-engagement appointment should be conducted within two working days. The availability of re-engagement appointments is a provider responsibility, and they will also retain responsibility for booking these appointments.

Answer: CDP participants will not be asked to attend appointments with their provider on a National or State public holiday that applies to their locality.

Operational Messages provide guidance for how to manage CDP participants who have an outstanding NAR but are unable to contact their provider and attend a re-engagement appointment due to a public holiday.

Answer: Providers are responsible for re-engaging the CDP participant and finalising the NAR. If the CDP participant contacts Services Australia to advise they are unable to contact their provider, see Restoring payment where a payment suspension (participation) has been imposed for Community Development Program (CDP) participants.

Answer: The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) have contingencies in place for scenarios such as this. The contingency arrangement will be based on the circumstances that caused the provider to shut down.

Where a contingency arrangement is activated, an Operational Message will provide guidelines regarding the handling of participant queries and compliance actions for impacted regions.

Where a significant systems outage has occurred, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations liaises with Services Australia to advise of interim actions required pending resolution. This advice is communicated to staff via an NNU or Operational Message.

Answer: Services Australia's role has not changed. The CDP participant will need to contact the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to discuss their situation.

Answer: If a CDP participant contacts Services Australia to question why their payment is suspended due to a Non-Attendance Report (NAR), staff should explain how a NAR works and encourage the CDP participant to contact their provider to resolve any outstanding issues so that payment can be restored as quickly as possible.

If the CDP participant has requested an explanation or applied for a formal review of a decision to suspend or cancel payment as a result of a NAR, the PST-skilled staff must start the action immediately. The CDP participant should also be told to contact their provider to have their payment restored as quickly as possible.

Answer: In some limited circumstances, PST-skilled staff with WNPPD or PFDEC security resources are able to manually finalise the NAR. See Restoring payment where a payment suspension (participation) has been imposed for Community Development Program (CDP) participants for more information.