Reconnection failure penalties 001-10120010

A reconnection failure penalty period will be imposed where a reconnection failure has been applied with a penalty (that is, the reconnection failure has a status of 'Applied' or 'APP'). The penalty period will commence from the date that the CDP job seeker failed to reconnect.

If the reconnection failure has a status of 'Applied without penalty', this is the equivalent of a connection failure which carries no penalty.

If the reconnection failure or another failure in the sequence has been revoked, go to Step 7.

Has the reconnection failure been applied without penalty?

• Yes, CDP job seeker will not be subject to a reconnection failure penalty. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 2

A reconnection failure period commences from the reconnection failure event date and continues until the day before:

• the CDP job seeker complies with the further reconnection requirement including situations where the CDP job seeker is deemed to have self re-engaged
• the Services Australia or the Employment Services Provider determines the CDP job seeker is no longer required to comply with the further reconnection requirement
• the CDP job seeker is formally notified of a requirement to attend a Comprehensive Compliance Assessment (CCA)
• the event date of a reconnection failure rejected in the same sequence for reasons not related to the existence of an outstanding CCA or due to payment cancellation
• it is determined the CDP job seeker cannot be re-engaged in within the next 2 working days excluding public holidays (providing the CDP job seeker has agreed to re-engage)
• the CDP job seeker's re-engagement appointment is rescheduled or cancelled via the Reschedule Participation Appointment workflow
• the CDP job seeker's re-engagement appointment is rescheduled or cancelled by their provider
• the CDP job seeker's participation payment is cancelled to grant a non-participation payment
• the CDP job seeker's participation payment is cancelled for at least 10 weeks or re-granted with a break in payment
• the CDP job seeker commences a serious failure period or Unemployment Non-Payment Period (UNPP), or
• the CDP job seeker's provider advise that they wish to cease compliance action for a reconnection failure generated by a Provider Appointment Report (PAR)

Ending a reconnection failure period following notification of a requirement to attend a CCA

If the CDP job seeker is serving a reconnection failure period and a CCA is generated or triggered, the reconnection penalty period and further reconnection requirement ceases once the CDP job seeker has been formally notified of the requirement to attend a CCA.

Once the Participation Solutions Team (PST)-skilled Service Officer has notified the CDP job seeker of the CCA requirement, the PST-skilled Service Officer is responsible for cancelling any outstanding reconnection appointment and ending the reconnection failure period.

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

Backdating determination in exceptional circumstances

Where it is determined that the CDP job seeker is no longer required to re-engage the determination may only be backdated to an earlier date in exceptional circumstances.

For backdating to occur due to exceptional circumstances the PST-skilled Service Officer must be satisfied that:

• a significant change in the CDP job seeker's circumstances occurred after the most recent reconnection failure event, and
• the CDP job seeker was clearly unable to contact Services Australia or their provider any earlier than they did to discuss their change in circumstances

As the decision date cannot be backdated in the system, the reconnection failure period end date should be manually changed in the Review Decision workflow.

For further information on re-engagement requirements, see Re-engaging to a Community Development Program (CDP) provider.

Has the CDP job seeker failed to comply with a further reconnection requirement?

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

Where the CDP job seeker is currently in a reconnection failure period, but has not yet complied with a further reconnection requirement, the reconnection failure period end date is not yet known.

• Initially, the reconnection failure penalty will be calculated from the reconnection failure event date and will be projected to the Entitlement Period End Date (EPED) of the period in which the reconnection failure occurred
• At the end of the EPED, if the CDP job seeker has not yet reconnected, the reconnection failure period will be projected to the end of the next instalment period

In some cases, a reconnection failure period may have ceased but the CDP job seeker is still required to comply with a further reconnection requirement. This may occur where a reasonable excuse exists for not meeting a reconnection requirement, a suitable re-engagement appointment was not available within 2 working days or a re-engagement appointment has been rescheduled:

• where the CDP job seeker fails to comply, another reconnection failure may be generated, for example by the provider submitting a further NAR and PAR for a re-engagement appointment that was a further reconnection requirement, and
• where this reconnection failure is applied, a new reconnection failure period commences during which a reconnection failure penalty will be calculated

The penalty amount for a reconnection failure period cannot be confirmed until the end of the affected instalment period. This is because the penalty calculation occurs after the application of the income and assets test for the period.

For each instalment period in the reconnection failure period determine the basic benefit amount.

The basic benefit amount is the maximum rate of benefit the CDP job seeker is entitled to receive after the application of the income and assets test (including Working Credits), but before any penalty amounts for previous failures or withholdings for debts of advance payments are deducted.

In addition to the basic benefit, determine the supplementary payments and add-ons for each instalment period.

The following Add-On and supplementary payments are included in the calculation of a reconnection failure penalty:

• Approved Programme of Work Supplement (APWS) - paid to participants in Work for the Dole (WFD)
• Language, Literacy and Numeracy Supplement (LLNS)
• Energy Supplement paid on a fortnightly basis. Note: the Energy Supplement is not included if it is paid on a quarterly basis

Note: the following Add-On and supplementary payments are not included in the calculation of a reconnection failure penalty:

• Carer Allowance (CA)
• Energy Supplement paid on a quarterly basis
• Mobility Allowance (MOB)
• Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• Pension Supplement
• Pharmaceutical Allowance (PhA)
• Remote Area Allowance (RAA)
• Rent Assistance (RA)
• Telephone and Utilities Allowances
• Youth Disability Supplement (YDS)
• Remote Engagement Program Payment

Calculate the net basic benefit and applicable supplementary payments and add-ons for each instalment period.

Family assistance payments are not affected by a reconnection failure penalty.

CDP job seekers will generally accrue a daily penalty amount equivalent to one tenth of their fortnightly payment for each business day the penalty applies. The daily penalty amount will be calculated using 2 different formulas. The lesser of the 2 amounts will be used.

Where a reconnection failure period spans more than one instalment period, the formula used to calculate the penalty may differ for each period.

• For further information on the formulas used to calculate the penalty, see Steps 7 and 8 on the Process page of No Show, No Pay failure penalties
• For further information about the impacts of multiple failure events within the one instalment period, see Determining failure hierarchy when there are multiple failures
• For further information about recovery of penalty amounts, see Calculating the effect of Job Seeker Compliance Framework failure penalties on fortnightly instalments

Viewing Reconnection failure penalty details

The Penalty Amount Summary and Penalty Amount Details screens will display the penalty amounts for a reconnection failure period and indicate which formula/s has been used. Where multiple formulas have been used to calculate a penalty spanning multiple instalment periods, the formula will display as 'X' on the Penalty Amount Summary screen. Further detail about the penalty for each instalment period can be found on the Penalty Amount Details screen.

If a reconnection failure penalty period has been recorded and one or more of the failures in the failure sequence are revoked the system will determine if the penalty no longer applies or should be maintained on the basis of other failures in the sequence.

The penalty will no longer apply if:

• an 'applied with penalty' reconnection failure has been revoked and no other applied reconnection failures exist in the same failure sequence
• a reconnection failure has been applied with penalty and an earlier suspension failure or Non-Attendance Report (NAR) is revoked as it is invalid and no other valid suspension failures or applied connection failure exists in the same failure sequence
• a reconnection failure has been applied with penalty, but subsequent review indicates that the requirement can no longer be considered a reconnection or further reconnection requirement. For example, a failure in the sequence is revoked or a NAR is deemed to be invalid

Where a penalty no longer applies the system will automatically update the record for all failures other than revoked CDP job seeker diary connection failures. When a CDP job seeker diary connection failure is revoked a Manual Follow Up (MFU) activity will be produced. The MFU will indicate the reconnection failure should be revoked.

The penalty will continue to apply after a failure is revoked in the sequence if:

• one or more reconnection failures in the failure sequence still have a status of 'applied with penalty', and
• a valid suspension failure, finalised Non-Attendance Report (NAR) or applied connection failure still exists in the sequence