Negotiating Job Plans for refugee appointments at 12 weeks, and conducting circumstance reviews at 12 months 005-18101149

Newly arrived permanent refugees who are receiving JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Youth Allowance (job seeker) or Parenting Payment Single (PPS) (with mutual obligation requirements)) receive the 'Refugee in first 13 Weeks' (REF) mutual obligation requirement exemption for the first 13 weeks from their arrival in Australia. The exemption is an automatic exemption recorded on the Activity and Exemptions Summary (AEX) screen for eligible refugee customers.

The exemption period is manually adjusted to 11 weeks and 6 days at the new claim. See Refugee Service Offer for more information on changing the exemption date.

During the exemption period, the refugee customers are not required to look for work, but must attend the following scheduled appointments:

• Multicultural Service Officer (MSO) seminar, and
• Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) if required, and
• 12-week post exemption review

See Resources page > Refugee Service Offer in Refugee Service Offer for more information.

After the REF exemption and 12 weekly reporting has expired, newly arrived permanent refugee customers are subject to:

• mutual obligation requirements
• fortnightly reporting

Job seekers with mutual obligation requirements are required to agree to a Job Plan and satisfy the requirements of their Job Plan. Failure to enter into a Job Plan within 28 days may result in suspension of payment.

Refugee customers who are eligible for the BTSR measure will remain Centrelink managed until they have been in Australia for 12 months. Depending on their circumstances they may not be eligible for the BTSR measure as a more suitable employment service is deemed more appropriate.

Refugee customers who are eligible for the BTSR measure require a Centrelink Managed Job Plan.

Note: as per normal processing, a Job Plan cannot be negotiated for a customer that has a current exemption from their mutual obligation requirements.

The Participation Summary will advise if the refugee is eligible for the BTSR measure. This is located under Key information tab > Key information.

Refugee customers will not be eligible for the BTSR measure or to be Centrelink managed, if they are eligible for referral to:

• Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA)
• Transition to Work (TtW)
• Remote Australia Employment Service (RAES)

Newly arrived permanent refugee customers must attend an appointment with Services Australia 12 weeks after they arrived in Australia. The 12-week Refugee Appointment is booked at 11 weeks and 6 days from arrival to align with their REF exemption and 12 weekly reporting end/due date.

At the appointment the service officer will check if the customer is:

• eligible for the BTSR measure. They will remain Centrelink managed and require a Centrelink managed Job Plan with the approved Refugee Activities (RAC) item(s)
• not eligible for the BTSR measure. They will be referred to the employment service that they are eligible for:
  • Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA)
  • Transition to Work (TtW)
  • Remote Australia Employment Service (RAES)

Note: BTSR job seekers are not exempt from mutual obligations requirements once their 'Refugee in first 13 Weeks' (REF) exemption expires, unless they qualify for a mutual obligation exemption under a different criteria.

See Table 1 on the Process page.

Refugee Activities

Most refugees who are eligible for the BTSR measure will have the Refugee Activities (RAC) activity recorded on the Activity and Exemptions Summary (AEX) screen.

To be eligible for this activity, the refugee customer must be participating in one or more of the following:

• the Humanitarian Settlement Program (HSP) or Refugee Student Settlement Pathway (RSSP). See Resources page for link
• the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP)
• Workforce Australia as a volunteer

Note: when the Job Plan is being negotiated, the refugee customer does not need to provide evidence they are participating in these activities.

If the refugee is not participating in HSP, RSSP, AMEP or Workforce Australia, discuss a possible referral to one of these. If the refugee customer requests a referral to a Workforce Australia Provider as a volunteer, they must only be referred if they have:

• chosen to be referred, and
• had an Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) completed (only if medical conditions and medical evidence exist), and
• negotiated a Job Plan with Services Australia

If the refugee customer declines a referral to HSP, AMEP or Workforce Australia, another appropriate compulsory requirement will need to be recorded on the AEX screen.

For further information, see Refugee Activities (RAC) as an approved activity.

Other Activities

Refugee customers also have the option to participate in any other approved activity to fully meet their requirements. Service Officers will need to consider the work capacity of the job seeker when negotiating a Job Plan. See Approved mutual obligation requirements for Centrelink managed Job Plans.

For example:

• participation in Skills for Education and Employment (SEE), where eligible, or
• if they are meeting suitable part-time work/voluntary work requirements, and:
  • are a principal carer
  • have been assessed as having a Partial Capacity to Work (PCW), or
  • are 55 or over

Refugee customers eligible for the BTSR measure must have an activity recorded on the Activity and Exemptions Summary (AEX) screen before their Job Plan is negotiated. The system will determine the most appropriate Job Plan Item to be added to the Job Plan. This is based on the coding on the AEX screen.

Most refugee customers will have the Refugee Activities (RAC) activity record on the AEX screen.

Once RAC is coded on the AEX screen, a message advising 'this customer is eligible for the BTSR measure' will present on the Job Plan cover page.

To complete the Job Plan, See Negotiating Centrelink Managed Job Plans.

Refugee customers who are eligible for QTIs are not eligible for the BTSR measure. Service Officers must review the customer's Activities and Exemptions details in line with QTI arrangements. See Quarterly Participation Interviews for Partial Capacity to Work and Temporary Reduced Work Capacity (0-7 or 8-14 hours per week) job seekers for more information.

Refugee customers who require a referral to Workforce Australia - Transition to Work (TtW), Remote Australia Employment Service (RAES) or Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA) are not eligible for the BTSR measure.

The Participation Summary screen will display an Action Item if the customer requires a referral to TtW, RAE or IEA.

Service Officers must refer refugee customers to TtW/RAES/IEA at their 12-week Refugee Appointment. Service Officers do not need to create a Job Plan for refugees who are referred to TtW, RAES or IEA.

Refugee customers who choose to be referred to Workforce Australia within the first 12 months remain eligible for the BTSR measure and continue to be Centrelink managed. If the refugee customer no longer wishes to participate with a Workforce Australia provider, they need to contact their provider to request to be exited. The Centrelink Job Plan must remain in place, and the refugee customer must continue with the approved activity/ies as outlined in their Job Plan.

At the end of the 12 month period, refugee customers who were eligible for the BTSR measure must attend the 12-month Refugee Appointment with Services Australia. At this appointment, if the refugee customer is eligible, a compulsory referral is made to a Workforce Australia provider.

A 12-month Refugee Appointment is automatically booked for the refugee customer if they are not already referred to a Workforce Australia provider. This appointment will be booked at the refugee customer's local service centre. A Manual Follow Up (MFU) activity will be created for Service Officers to manually book the appointment if there is no appointment available. See help text in Customer First for the ZRFG appointment is required to be booked for the customer MFU activity.

See Table 3 on the Process page.