Investigating a connection failure 001-10070050

In Process Direct:

• Key 'BIPCW' in the Super Key, select Enter
• The Participation Compliance Hub screen will display
• Under the Outstanding Compliance Actions select the Compliance Investigation
• This will launch the Compliance investigation workflow (CIW)
• Other related information will be displayed, select Next
• The Key Information screen will display relevant information to the compliance action

PST-skilled staff will be prompted to:

• record if an interpreter was used (if appropriate)
• check and update the Community Development Program (CDP) participant's phone and email details
• select Next to go to the Compliance Investigation page

The Compliance Investigation screen will be pre-populated with details of the failure date and the reason for the failure.

The PST-skilled staff will be prompted to outline the failure under investigation and read the privacy statement to the CDP participant.

• Access and review the Participation Report
• Record a response to: 'Has the provider discussed the failure with the job seeker?'
• If the answer is 'Yes', you can record the excuse the CDP participant gave to the provider in the Free Text field provided.
• Discuss with the CDP participant their explanation and record any additional information provided in the appropriate Free Text field
• Consider the reasons given being sure to document any differences between the explanation they have provided and what the CDP participant initially told the provider
• Answer the question 'Does the job seeker's statement suggest ongoing circumstances had a direct and significant impact on the failure?'
• If the answer is 'Yes' or 'Unsure', a link to the Circumstances Impacting Compliance screen will allow the screen to be viewed and circumstances updated if required. See Circumstances impacting job seeker compliance

Note: PST-skilled staff must consult with a PST-skilled social worker where the CDP participant presents with family and domestic violence or has a current Family relationships/Domestic violence circumstance recorded. See Accessing a PST-skilled social worker.

Record the CDP participant's main excuse for the failure on the Compliance Investigation page, or the reason determined as the main excuse following further discussion with the CDP participant.

The displayed options will be appropriate to the failure type.

• Select a category
• Select a reason that best describes the reasons the CDP participant has given

Additional information may display depending on the responses. Additional information may include:

• Details of reported income
• Medical certificates and exemptions
• Address details

Consider the reasons the CDP participant has provided for the failure. To help determine if reasonable excuse can be established, see:

• Non-attendance or inappropriate conduct in a compulsory provider managed appointment
• Refusing to enter into a Job Plan
• Not meeting job search requirements
• Assessing reasonable excuse for non-compliance with mutual obligation requirements

Record the most appropriate response to questions as they present.

Is this an acceptable reason that warrants further investigation?

Note: when certain excuses are selected, the answer to this question will be set to 'No'.

• Yes or Unsure, further investigation is required. Go to Step 5
• No, further investigation is not required. See Table 2

Does the excuse indicate the main reason for non-compliance has had a direct and significant impact on the failure?

• Yes or Unsure, further investigation is required. Go to Step 6
• No, further investigation is not required. See Table 2

Does the excuse indicate the non-compliance was within the CDP participant's control and they could have avoided the failure?

• Yes, further investigation is not required. See Table 2
• No or Unsure, further investigation is required. Go to Step 7

Has the failure been submitted for failing to attend an appointment the CDP provider booked with a third party?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 11

If a CDP participant is unable to attend a compulsory appointment, (including appointments booked with a third party) they are expected to contact the organisation who the appointment was with, or their provider, prior to the scheduled appointment time to explain why they are unable to attend.

An assessment of prior contact is required when the failure:

• relates to an appointment booked by a provider, and
• certain job seeker reasons have not been selected

Review the Provider Report using the link provided, then record the most appropriate response to questions as they present.

Does the report indicate the CDP participant contacted their provider before they were due to attend?

• Yes, record the reason the provider did not accept the excuse and discuss this with the CDP participant. Go to Step 10
• No, go to Step 9

Discuss the CDP participant's reasons for not contacting and record their explanation in the Why didn't you contact the provider before you were due to attend?: field.

Select a category and reason which best describes the CDP participant's reason for not making prior contact:

• Select a category
• Select a reason from the drop down list for the category selected

Consider the prior contact guidelines, see Assessing reasonable excuse for non-compliance with mutual obligation requirements.

Record the most appropriate response to questions as they present.

Would it have been possible, and reasonable, to contact the provider before the failure occurred?

Note: when certain excuses are selected, the answer to this question will be set to 'Yes'.

• Yes, further investigation is not required. See Table 2
• No or Unsure, further investigation is required. Go to Step 11

Do you believe the CDP participant provided a reasonable excuse when they contacted their provider?

Note: answering No to this question will mean this failure will be applied. Please ensure the intention is to apply the failure before selecting No. If further investigation should occur, select Yes or Unsure.

• No, further investigation is not required. See Table 2
• Yes or Unsure, further investigation is required. Go to Step 11

PST-skilled staff are required to make evidence-based decisions. This means a decision must be based on the relevant facts.

Does sufficient evidence already exist to confirm the excuse for the failure or for not making prior contact (when this is a requirement)?

• Yes, further evidence is not required. See Table 2
• No, go to Step 12

When the PST-skilled staff are requesting/awaiting further details or evidence to confirm the excuse for the failure, or the excuse for not making prior contact, the Evidence Due date: field must be completed.

When the Service Officer selects the option No - Phone call required to confirm the excuse for failure, the following must be completed:

• Evidence due date
• Who do you need to contact about the CDP participant's excuse and/or the reason for not contacting
• Summary of evidence provided (this field is for recording a summary of evidence provided by the CDP participant)

The summary of evidence section may be used to document the evidence to be returned when a future date will be set for the return.

When evidence is required and a future date is set for its return, Save and Exit the screen flow using the 'Pending evidence from customer' option. This will remove the contact trigger for the current fortnight. However, it will prevent the CDP participant from reporting past the Evidence due date + 1.

Is evidence required and a future date is recorded for the return?

• Yes, procedure ends here
• No, see Table 2

On the Decision and Penalty page record a response to questions as they present.

Note: the response to these questions may be automatically set in certain circumstances.

Have you confirmed the requirement is not suitable, it is explicitly precluded by policy or social security law, or they can't be compelled to meet the requirement for another reason?

• Yes, see Step 2 in Table 4
• No, go to Step 2

Have you identified any significant errors or omissions in the report submitted by the provider?

• Yes, see Step 2 in Table 4
• No, go to Step 3

Are you satisfied there is a reasonable excuse for the failure?

• Yes, see Step 2 in Table 4
• No, and this is:
• a failure to attend an appointment, go to Step 4
• a failure to enter a Job Plan with the Employment Services Provider, see Table 3
• a job search failure, see Table 4

Are you satisfied prior notice was given or it was not reasonable to do so?

• Yes, see Step 2 in Table 4
• No, see Step 1 in Table 4

Has the CDP participant had a failure to enter into or vary a Job Plan with their provider applied before?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 2

When reasonable excuse has not been established, the provider will submit a Participation Report, which triggers the generation of a connection failure.

When investigating the failure, PST-skilled staff are required to inform the CDP participant that they will need to attend a re-engagement appointment where they will then be asked to enter or vary a Job Plan again.

Has the CDP participant indicated they will attend the re-engagement appointment and sign into or vary the Job Plan?

• Yes, see Table 4
• No, go to Step 3

If the CDP participant has indicated they will not attend their re-engagement appointment or they will attend but will not sign/vary their Job Plan, PST-skilled staff should discuss the following with the CDP participant:

• retaining eligibility to your payment requires you to have and maintain a current, valid Job Plan
• ongoing refusal to enter into or vary your Job Plan with your provider may result in additional delays to your payment
• where continued refusal to enter into or vary your Job Plan as required is established, you may have your payment cancelled entirely and you would need to reclaim
• you would need to agree to a current Job Plan when you reclaim for payment, otherwise your application for payment will be rejected

Does the CDP participant agree to attend the re-engagement appointment or sign/vary their Job Plan?

• Yes, see Table 4
• No, go to Step 5

When a failure to enter or vary a Job Plan with a provider has been applied previously, or the CDP participant attends the re-engagement appointment but refuses to enter or vary a Job Plan again, a reconnection failure does not occur.

In these cases, the provider will submit a Participation Report, which triggers the generation of another connection failure.

When investigating the failure, if Services Australia determines the CDP participant does not satisfy qualification for payment due to an ongoing failure to enter a Job Plan, the CDP participant's payments should be cancelled.

Before cancellation can be considered, PST-skilled staff must be able to establish continual refusal to agree to a Job Plan.

Has the CDP participant:

• confirmed they will not be attending a re-engagement appointment, or
• confirmed they will not be signing or varying a Job Plan at a re-engagement appointment, or
• had failures for refusing to enter into or vary a Job Plan previously applied?
• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, see Table 4

Cancellation of payment can be considered by staff with the appropriate delegation where the CDP participant:

• advises they will not attend their re-engagement appointment, or
• indicates they will attend their appointment but will not sign or vary their Job Plan as required, or
• has previously applied failures for refusing to enter or vary a Job Plan

Is there an ongoing refusal by the CDP participant to enter or vary a Job Plan, or attend a re-engagement appointment?

• Yes, payment is able to be cancelled using the code Failed to sign Job Plan (FSA) from the date of the second refusal to sign the Job Plan
• No, see Table 4

The failure decision will be automatically displayed in the 'Decision' section of the Decision and Penalty screen.

When the failure is applied, as the decision maker, Service Officers need to be satisfied the decision is correct under the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999. This may require Service Officers to reconsider and confirm the main reason for non-compliance has been correctly captured within the Compliance Investigation workflow.

Record a summary of the reason why the decision has been made, including any evidence or circumstances that have been considered.

Advise the CDP participant of the decision and their internal review options.

Note: any information recorded can be obtained by the CDP participant under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. The information which can be lawfully provided by Services Australia to Employment Services Providers is covered by Section 202 of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999.

Record a response to:

• Have you verbally notified the job seeker of the failure decision and appeal rights?
• Have they indicated they intend to immediately appeal the decision?

Does the CDP participant want an explanation of the decision or to apply for a formal review of the decision?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

PST-skilled staff need to be satisfied this is the correct decision before going any further. This may require Service Officers to reconsider and confirm the main reason for non-compliance has been correctly captured earlier in the workflow.

Select the appropriate rejection reason from the drop down list.

Clearly record an explanation for rejecting the compliance action in the Free Text field.

Record further information for the provider to explain the reason for rejection, if appropriate.

Note: any information recorded can be obtained by the CDP participant under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. The information which can be lawfully provided by Services Australia to Employment Services Providers is covered by Section 202 of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999.

Go to Step 4.

The following message will display:

'The job seeker has requested a review of the decision to apply the failure. Ensure appropriate action is taken to record the request for the review.'

For further information and next steps, see Non-compliance with compulsory requirements - review and appeals.

PST-skilled staff will be required to complete outstanding reviews or assessments of existing circumstances impacting compliance. See Circumstances impacting job seeker compliance.

A failure for non-attendance at an appointment booked by the provider with a third party, or failing to enter into a Job Plan with their CDP provider will require a re-engagement appointment to be booked.

Does the CDP participant need to be re-engaged?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

When re-engagement is required, CDP participants should be re-engaged as quickly as possible.

• If possible, a re-engagement appointment should be arranged within the next 2 working days
• If the appointment cannot be arranged within this timeframe, it should be booked within the next 28 days
• CDP participants who are unable to attend a re-engagement appointment within the next 28 days due to circumstances outside their control should not be given a re-engagement requirement

Note: the response to these questions may be automatically set in certain circumstances.

Record responses to the following then advise the CDP participant of their re-engagement requirements using the text displayed in the workflow:

• Has the job seeker refused to re-engage?
• Can re-engagement occur within 2 working days?
• What is the re-engagement outcome?

Go to Step 6.

Check if the CDP participant's payment needs to be restored.

The Compliance Investigation workflow will display a message and a Manual Follow-up (MFU) will be generated to prompt restoration of the CDP participant's payment when a payment suspension (participation) has been imposed and the CDP participant:

• agrees to re-engage, or
• has self re-engaged, and the re-engagement outcome 'Self re-engaged after failure event date' has been applied to the record, or
• does not need to re-engage (including when the failure is rejected as invalid and no contact has been made with the CDP participant)

If the CDP participant has refused to re-engage then the suspension will continue, however, the CDP participant will still be issued with a re-engagement requirement.

If a CDP participant terminates a call, or the call is disconnected, before Services Australia can discuss re-engagement, their payment should remain suspended.

See Restoring payment where a payment suspension (participation) has been imposed for Community Development Program (CDP) participants.

When the following message presents: 'The application of this failure will result in the generation of an automatic CCA. Based on the CCA guidelines in Operational Blueprint, does the CCA need to be generated immediately?', a response must be selected from either:

• Yes - generate CCA immediately
• No - system should generate CCA overnight

If a CCA is generated immediately, it will be displayed on the Participation Compliance Hub screen.

For further information, see Generating and preparing for a Comprehensive Compliance Assessment (CCA).