Job seeker contacts to discuss non-compliance or circumstances impacting compliance 001-10040050

Job seekers managed under the Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF) may contact Services Australia when:

• they need to complete a Capability Assessment, or
• a work refusal failure, unemployment failure or mutual obligation failure has been reported, to determine if a financial penalty or payment cancellation will be applied

Job seekers managed under the Job Seeker Compliance Framework (Community Development Program (CDP) participants), may contact the agency in response to a:

• Non-Attendance Report (NAR)
• compliance action, or
• Comprehensive Compliance Assessment (CCA)

Contact from a CDP participant is prompted by:

• a letter and/or SMS being issued requesting they contact as soon as possible, or
• their provider telling the CDP participant they are required to contact us

Under the Targeted Compliance Framework, providers notify job seekers when they are required to contact Services Australia for a Capability Assessment. The Capability Assessment is a reconnection requirement. A suspension will remain in place until the job seeker has met this requirement.

Job seekers who contact about a Capability Assessment must be referred to the Participation Solutions Team (PST).

When an Employment Services Provider identifies a job seeker has failed to meet their mutual obligation requirements, they issue the job seeker with a notice advising:

• it appears they have missed a requirement, and
• they must contact their provider within 2 business days to avoid having their payment suspended

If their payment is suspended, it will remain suspended until the job seeker:

• contacts their provider, and
• meets any reconnection requirements issued

Job seekers may contact Services Australia due to a Targeted Compliance Framework payment suspension should be referred to their provider. For further information, see Re-engaging job seekers - Targeted Compliance Framework.

Note: work refusal failures submitted by a provider will immediately suspend a job seeker’s payment.

Any outstanding unemployment or work refusal failures will prevent a job seeker from finalising their fortnightly reporting until contact with the Participation Solution Team (PST) occurs.

Outstanding mutual obligation failures, for job seekers in the penalty zone, will prevent them from finalising their fortnightly reporting.

As part of reporting, job seekers can choose to accept the financial penalty for some types of mutual obligation failures without a compliance investigation being conducted by the PST. These failures include:

• a first or second mutual obligation failure in the penalty zone for non-attendance at provider appointments, third party appointments, job interviews, mandatory activities, or
• failing to comply with another compulsory requirement (for example, not meeting their monthly points target)

Contact with the PST must occur when a job seeker has an outstanding mutual obligation failure and:

• the job seeker has a Language Literacy Numeracy (LLN) circumstance recorded
• the job seeker chooses to discuss the failure with the PST, or
• the failure cannot be accepted by the job seeker until they talk to PST, or
• the penalty for the failure may result in payment cancellation

When a CDP participant contacts Services Australia and the only outstanding compliance action is a NAR, Service Officers should advise the CDP participant to contact their provider so payment can be restored.

When other compliance action is outstanding, the CDP participant should be referred to the PST who will advise the CDP participant to contact their provider after the other compliance action has been resolved.

Community Development Program (CDP) providers can submit a PAR to initiate a compliance investigation following a CDP job seeker’s non-attendance at a provider appointment.

The PAR is a type of non-compliance report used when the CDP provider believes the CDP participant did not have a reasonable excuse for their non-attendance. A PAR may only be submitted by a CDP provider:

• after a NAR has already been submitted for the same non-attendance event, and
• once they have spoken to the CDP participant about their reasons for non-attendance at a compulsory appointment

The PAR will include all relevant information from the CDP provider for a Participation Solutions Team (PST)-skilled staff (with PFDEC or WNPPD security resource) to investigate. A submitted PAR will also place a contact trigger onto the record.

When a Participation Report is received from a Community Development Program (CDP) provider, the CDP participant’s payment may be suspended, or a contact trigger may be added to the CDP participant’s record.

As part of the failure investigation, the Service Officer is required to establish contact with the CDP participant. The purpose of this contact is to:

• advise the CDP participant a failure is under investigation, and
• provide the CDP participant with an opportunity to explain the circumstances that led to the failure, and
• re-engage the CDP participant with their requirements if appropriate

Until contact with the CDP participant is established, a decision regarding the failure cannot be made.

If a payment suspension (participation) has been imposed, the CDP participant’s payment will be restored when they agree to re-engage or the Service Officer determines re-engagement is not required.

When a job seeker has a language barrier and/or vulnerability impacting their ability to discuss their non-compliance with PST-skilled staff, consider what servicing approaches are appropriate for their circumstances. This may include using an interpreter, or consulting with a specialist, such as a social worker, who may assist PST-skilled staff to determine appropriate servicing.

Job seekers with barriers may also have a third party such as a correspondence nominee or an authorised person (such as a partner, social worker, or friend) to help them. Unless there is a barrier preventing the job seeker discussing the non-compliance with PST-skilled staff, they are expected to be involved along with their third party acting as a support person.

When a job seeker contacts following an unsuccessful attempt to complete their reporting, PST-skilled staff stimulate the report once the outstanding compliance action is finalised.