Media Background Briefs

9 May 2017

MEDIA BACKGROUND BRIEFS

SIMPLER AND FAIRER COMPLIANCE

From 1 July 2018 the Government will introduce a new approach to compliance for people on income support that provides both more support to vulnerable job seekers and ensures that the small group of persistently non-compliant jobseekers will face appropriate penalties.

Currently, 93 per cent of job seekers who decline work or persistently miss requirements face no real consequences because the legislation allows the penalty to be easily waived.The new framework will use a more streamlined approach for the majority of people on income support who are genuinely looking for work, while applying real penalties to the small group of persistently non-compliant people.

How it works

Failures without reasonable excuse will result in payment suspension until re-engagement, and accrual of demerit points, but no actual penalty.This initial Personal Responsibility Phase will ensure individuals have a greater level of accountability over their own mutual obligations.

If a person accrues four demerits in six months they will enter a three-strike Intensive Compliance Phase, in which they will face escalating penalties. They will;

• lose 50 per cent of their fortnightly payment for their first strike without reasonable excuse;
• lose100 per cent of their fortnightly payment for their second strike; and
• payment cancellation for four weeks for their third strike.

In either phase, any job seeker who refuses work without a valid reason will have their payment cancelled for four weeks, in recognition of the seriousness of this failure.

To ensure that genuine job seekers who are simply having difficulty meeting their requirements do not enter the Intensive Compliance Phase, their provider will assess their capability and requirements after their third demerit, and the Department of Human Services will also do so after their fourth.

At either point, if individuals are found to be unable to meet their requirements because of some underlying capability issue, those requirements will be adjusted and they will remain in the Personal Responsibility Phase.

Ajob seeker in the Intensive Compliance Phase will not incur any penalties if they meet all their mutual obligation requirements. Those who remain fully compliant for three months will return to the Personal Responsibility Phase. This will provide a strong incentive for individuals to change their behaviour.

Support for genuine jobseekers

Some people need a little more help to be able to meet their requirements. The new framework provides for more personalised assessments to protect vulnerable job seekers by ensuring their requirements are suitable and achievable.

Genuine job seekers will be given greater flexibility and visibility of their requirements, as well as more involvement in recording their attendance. This will reduce the chance of job seekers being unfairly penalised by administrative errors.

Eligibility

All individualswith mutual obligations will be covered by the new compliance system, with the exception of Community Development Programme participants, who will continue to operate under the existing compliance framework while stakeholder consultations are undertaken on a new model.

The framework is expected to apply to around 1.22 millionjob seekers per year. For approximately 1.14 million of these job seekers, the new framework will result in no financial penalties.

Budgetary impact

The simpler and fairer compliance framework is expected to produce a saving of $204.7 million.

Compliance Framework diagram

MEDIA BACKGROUND BRIEF

ACCELERATING INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT

A $55.7 million Indigenous Employment package (over five years from 2016-17) will create better opportunities for Indigenous Australians to find work, accelerating progress toward Closing the Gap between employment outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The package includes a number of ongoing measures to increase the number of Indigenous Australians engaged in the labour market.

Commencing from 1 January 2018, the Closing the Gap – Employment Servicespackage will include:

Place Based Approaches

• Community-delivered jobactive employment services will be trialled by the Yarrabah community in Queensland, where there are approximately 700 Indigenous job seekers.
• The community-delivered services will have more Indigenous staff, a better understanding of the challenges facing Indigenous job seekers and will build the capacity of the Yarrabah community to assist those looking for work.
• The pilot will begin on 1 January 2018 and cost $5 millionover five years.

Mentoring for all Indigenous job seekers

• Pre and post-employment mentoring support will be made available to all Indigenous participants in jobactive (approximately 76,000) to help them find and retain a job.
• Indigenous participants in the extended and refocused ParentsNext program will be able to access mentoring through a new participation fund.
• An additional 4,600 Indigenous Australians aged 15-21 will have access to the Transition to Work service each year, which provides more intensive support and coaching.
• These measures will begin on 1 January 2018 and cost $33.2 million over five years.

Prison to Work

• The Prison to Work program will provide Indigenous prisoners with access to in-prison employment services.
• This will be a targeted service delivered by specialist organisations with experience in working with Indigenous Australians and the criminal justice system.
• Participants will receive a comprehensive assessment of their employment barriers, develop a transition plan, and receive a facilitated transfer to their post-prison employment services provider.
• Subject to negotiation with states and territories, the Prison to Work program will be implemented progressively from 1 January 2018, and cost $17.6 million over five years.

Revitalising jobactive

• jobactive will be boosted to deliver up-front intensive employment services to Indigenous job seekers, including:
• An increase in the Indigenous wage subsidy from $6,500 to $10,000, to be funded from the existing wage subsidy pool;
• The establishment of Indigenous community-based work experience projects with meaningful career pathways.
• The jobactive Star Ratings system will be amended so that greater emphasis is placed on the delivery of Indigenous employment outcomes.
• Relevant Government departments will collaborate to align the delivery of services between Indigenous training and employment programs funded by the Indigenous Advancement Strategy and mainstream employment services.

RELATED MEASURES

ParentsNext to be expanded nationally

From 1 July 2018, ParentsNextwill expand from its existing 10 locationsto all jobactive regions across Australia, at a cost of $263 million over four years. This expansion will be delivered in two streams. One stream will include an enhanced service offering and be extended to 20 locations with high numbers of Parenting Payment recipients who are Indigenous Australians. The other stream will constitute a more targeted ParentsNext program that will be available in all jobactive regions across Australia.

The expansion is estimated to assist an additional 7,600 Indigenous parents annually.

MEDIA BACKGROUND BRIEF

PARENTSNEXT - NATIONAL EXPANSION

The Australian Government understands that raising children and ensuring theyget a good start in life is critical. However, combining this with preparing for employment can be challenging. This is why theGovernment is expanding the successful ParentsNext program.

ParentsNext

ParentsNext is a pre-employment program which connects eligible parents of young children to services in their local community to help them plan and prepare for employment by the time their children are at school.

• ParentsNext will be expanded at a total cost of $263.0 million over the next four years, which will assist around 68,000 parents each year.
• From 1 July 2018, at a cost of $113.0 million, ParentsNext will be expanded with an enhanced service offering to 20 additional locations with high numbers of Indigenous Parenting Payment recipients, mostly in regional Australia.
• From 1 July 2018, at a cost of $150.1 million, a more targeted ParentsNext will be rolled out to all remaining areas covered by jobactive, so that the most disadvantaged parents at risk of long-term welfare dependency will benefit from the program.
• Participation in the ParentsNext program will be compulsory for eligible parents on the Parenting Payment.

Greater support for parents to prepare for employment

• ParentsNext currently operates in 10 locations and is helping more than 12,600 parents to identify their goals, combine work preparation with care responsibilities, increase educational qualifications, address barriers to participation, develop skills needed to get a job and learn about available community services such as child care assistance.
• Extending an enhanced service offering under ParentsNext to areas with high numbers of Indigenous Parenting Payment recipients will provide intensive support to help address Indigenous parents’ greater level of disadvantage, boost participation in the labour market and help achieve the Closing the Gap employment targets.
• Further expanding the program to all jobactive areas will help to reduce welfare dependency and child poverty, whilst increasing female employment participation.
• While most employment services are not available for Parenting Payment recipients until their youngest child is six years old, ParentsNext intervenes earlier by supporting eligible families with young children to become job-ready and find work faster.

MEDIA BACKGROUND BRIEF

JOBS FOR MATURE AGE AUSTRALIANS

To help mature age unemployed people find and keep a job,the Government will increase support for training and reskilling, provide more work experience opportunities and build better links to employers.

Many older Australians on income support are willing to work but miss out on jobs because they lack the contemporary skills and work experience employers need. These measures will address this barrier, helping more mature age people find and keep a job.

Unemployed Australians, particularly those 50 years and over, will benefit from increased services and resources to help them find work and move off welfare. There will also be greater incentives for employers to offer work experience opportunities.

The measures to commence from 1 July 2018 include:

Career Transition Assistance

• Career Transition Assistance will provide more opportunities for mature age jobseekers to reskill.
• The program will deliver a short, intensive course which will assist participants to identify and apply for local employment opportunities. This will be followed by ICT training where necessary.
• This program will commence in five trial regions across Australia.

National Work Experience Programme

• The National Work Experience Programme (NWEP) will be expanded to provide the necessary practical experience required for mature age Australians to find work.
• Jobseekers will be eligible for NWEP if they are receiving income support and are registered with a jobactive, Transition to Work or Disability Employment Services provider.
• New incentives will be offered to jobactive and Transition to Work providers as well as host businesses who participate in the NWEP.

Pathway to Work pilots

• A series of industry-based pilots will be established in selected growth industries and/or large infrastructure projects.
• Up to ten pilots will be developed to create additional job opportunities for jobseekers on income support, including mature age and people with disability.