Non-compliance with compulsory requirements - review and appeals 001-10130000

To make sure the job seeker can be referred to the appropriate Service Officer/Team or Organisation, Service Officers must identify who made the decision.

Decisions made by the provider

Job seekers who contact about a decision made by a provider or triggered by the Employment Services System (ESS), should be referred to their provider in the first instance. This includes decisions relating to a demerit accrual or the job seeker's Targeted Compliance Framework zone.

If the job seeker is not satisfied after discussing the decision with their provider, the job seeker should be referred to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) National Customer Service Line.

Decisions made by Services Australia

Job seekers who contact about a Targeted Compliance Framework or Job Seeker Compliance Framework decision made by Services Australia should be referred to the Participation Solutions Team (PST) to discuss the decision.

To identify compliance action decisions made by Services Australia, review the Participation Compliance Hub within Process Direct.

To view:

• select Customer Summary from the Process Direct landing page
• enter the customer's CRN, select Go
• in the customer's record key BIPCW in the Super Key field, select Enter
• the Participation Compliance Hub screen will display
• decisions made by Services Australia will have a twisty in the Action column to indicate a penalty decision has been made

PST-skilled staff are responsible for discussing:

• Targeted Compliance Framework decisions relating to a mutual obligation failure, work refusal failure or an unemployment failure
• all Job Seeker Compliance Framework decisions

For further information on job seeker compliance system decisions, see:

• Targeted Compliance Framework
• Job Seeker Compliance Framework

Refer the job seeker to the PST using the appropriate method:

• PST phone if job seeker is in a service centre, or
• Transfer to PST if job seeker is calling from an external source

Note: all internal transfers to the PST should be conducted via unannounced (cold) transfer.

All PST-skilled staff:

Discuss the decision with the job seeker and answer any questions using the information recorded in the workflow:

In Process Direct:

• select Customer Summary from the Process Direct landing page
• enter the customer's CRN, select Go
• in the customer's record key BIPCW in the Super Key field, select Enter
• the Participation Compliance Hub screen will display
• review the Completed/provider compliance actions for the applied compliance action
• select the relevant Compliance workflow button
• the Completed Compliance Actions screen will display
• select the Participation Compliance Summary button
• the Participation Compliance Workflows Summary screen will display
• using the options from the drop down, select the relevant option from the Screen Name
• the relevant information will display for that screen

Further action required is based on the security resource of the PST-skilled Service Officer.

PST-skilled staff (PFDEC):

• document the discussion
• refer the job seeker to the PST Virtual Support Queue (VSQ) via a warm hand-off to further discuss the decision if:
• an error is identified, or
• further information has been provided by the job seeker, or
• the job seeker is not satisfied after discussing the decision
• if the job seeker is unable to be transferred to the PST VSQ immediately, give the job seeker their internal review options

PST-skilled staff (WNPPD):

• revoke the failure where:
• an error is identified for example, an event date error
• further information has been provided by the job seeker which changes the decision
• document the discussion and reassessment where applicable
• give the job seeker their internal review options
• if the job seeker applies for a formal review, consider Payment Pending Review (PPR) for Job Seeker Compliance Framework decisions only

Important:

• if a job seeker contacts about a compliance decision made by Services Australia, all PST-skilled staff (WNPPD) can change the decision, where applicable
• when using the Internal Review/Explanation script to record a request for an explanation or an application for a formal review, the site code must be recorded as PST
• discuss each failure with the job seeker. If multiple failures are discussed, make sure the DOC includes details of each failure discussion
• run the Internal Review/Explanation script for each failure the job seeker is requesting an explanation or applying for a formal review of. Note: due to system limitations, for each subsequent failure that occurs on the same date, record:
• 'Other' in the Original Decision field
• in the Comments field, record 'this decision is a separate failure than recorded in APL A123456 (record the actual APL number)'

If the PST-skilled Service Officer is speaking with the job seeker as the Decision Maker (DM), and the job seeker is not satisfied with the decision, transfer them to the PST Virtual Support Queue (VSQ) via a warm hand-off to discuss with a PST-skilled Service Officer (WNPPD).

If the job seeker is unable to be transferred to PST VSQ immediately, give the job seeker their internal review options after the decision has been made.

To identify the investigation details for the decision the job seeker would like to discuss:

In Process Direct:

• select Customer Summary from the Process Direct landing page
• enter the customer's CRN, select Go
• in the customer's record key BIPCW in the Super Key field, select Enter
• the Participation Compliance Hub screen will display
• review the Completed/provider compliance actions for the applied compliance action
• select the relevant Compliance workflow button
• the Completed Compliance Actions screen will display
• select the Participation Compliance Summary button
• the Participation Compliance Workflows Summary screen will display
• using the options from the drop down, select the Compliance investigation option
• the relevant information will display

Discuss the decision with the job seeker and answer any questions.

If an error is identified that would change the penalty outcome if corrected:

• PST-skilled staff (WNPPD) must take the appropriate action to correct the error, this includes revoking the compliance action where appropriate, see Implementing the outcome of a failure review or appeal

If no error is identified, give the job seeker their internal review options.

A request for explanation work item ZIAM_EIR_PST_EXP, can only be completed by PST-skilled staff (WNPPD) as a PST Subject Matter Expert (SME).

To action this work item, see SME explanations, ARO referrals and implementing ARO decisions.

Note: PST SMEs can undertake a reassessment of the investigation decision, including revoking an applied failure as a result of further information or an error in the original decision.

Job seekers can accept a financial penalty for a mutual obligation failure when finalising their reporting.

This acceptance does not preclude the job seeker from providing information or having the decision reassessed.

Before internal review options can be provided, job seekers who accept a penalty when reporting must have an investigation completed by a PST-skilled staff (WNPPD).

If a job seeker contacts about an accepted mutual obligation failure penalty that has not been investigated, PST-skilled staff (WNPPD) should take the following action within Process Direct:

• Key BIPCW in the Super Key field, select Enter
• The Participation Compliance Hub screen will display
• Select Compliance Workflow with compliance status Applied - job seeker declined investigation
• The Completed Compliance Actions screen will display
• Select Review Decision
• When the Review Decision link is selected the workflow will automatically change the failure status from 'Applied - job seeker declined investigation (AAP)' to 'Investigation (INV)'
• The penalty period will continue to display on the record while the failure is under investigation
• The Review Decision workflow will display
• Record the date of contact in the Date Review Requested/Initiated field
• Select Review Auto Applied Failure in the Actions Required field
• Select Next
• Use the Compliance Investigation workflow to record information provided by the job seeker
• a message will display the first time the Key Information page is accessed advising 'Investigation workflow has been launched to review the decision of a failure applied without investigation'
• If there is sufficient evidence to change the decision under review, record the appropriate rejection reason and finalise the workflow to revoke the failure:
• the failure status will update to Revoke rather than Rejected. The decision text in the workflow will display 'Failure revoked following investigation'
• once revoked the original penalty applied will be automatically removed
• If there is not enough evidence to vary the decision, the failure must be applied:
• when finalised, the failure status will change to 'Applied (APP)'
• the existing penalty start and end date applied will not change

If the job seeker is not satisfied with the decision, transfer the job seeker to the PST Virtual Support Queue (VSQ) via a warm hand-off for a further discussion.

If the job seeker is unable to be transferred to PST VSQ immediately, give the job seeker their internal review options.

If the job seeker contacts more than 13 weeks after notification of the decision, the Compliance workflow must not be selected as this will start the failure investigation and change the failure status to Investigation (INV).

Discuss the decision with the job seeker and advise them of their internal review options.

When a decision to apply a penalty for a failure is varied, this may impact the penalty applied for other failures within the failure group.

The job seeker's financial penalties for any subsequent penalties in the group will be adjusted automatically by the system.