Investigating a non-attendance failure 001-10070130

A non-attendance failure is generated when the Services Australia system accepts a Provider Attendance Report (PAR) following non-attendance at a compulsory Community Development Program (CDP) provider appointment that was a connection requirement for a regular appointment booked by the provider.

Non-attendance failures ensure that CDP job seekers who intentionally fail to attend compulsory provider appointments have potential for a financial penalty. A Non-attendance failure penalty can be applied to a job seeker's participation payment if they do not attend without reasonable excuse, or do not make prior contact and it was reasonable to expect them to do so.

Providers have responsibility for re-engaging the CDP job seeker as part of the Non-Attendance Report process.

When investigating a non-attendance failure, a PST-skilled Service Officer's responsibilities include:

• confirming the validity of the failure
• considering any information from the provider in relation to the failure, this includes:
• a change to the failure validity, or
• further information that supports the assessment of reasonable excuse
• establishing contact with the CDP job seeker
• investigating the circumstances that led to the failure
• providing the CDP job seeker with the opportunity to explain what occurred and recording the reason that best summarises the CDP job seeker's explanation for non-attendance at their requirement
• assessing whether the CDP job seeker had a reasonable excuse for not attending the appointment
• assessing whether the CDP job seeker made prior contact to advise of an inability to attend or any circumstances that made prior contact unreasonable
• making the decision to apply, or recording a decision not to apply, the non-attendance failure
• where there is an outstanding NAR, advising the CDP job seeker to contact their provider after all required action has been taken by Services Australia

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

The investigation of the failure and the failure decision must be documented using the Participation Compliance Hub in Process Direct.