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Targeted Compliance Framework Data for Workforce Australia and ParentsNext (1 January 2023 - 31 March 2023)

Definition

A set of indicators used that are used to describe the Targeted Compliance Framework Data for Workforce Australia and ParentsNext 1 January 2023 - 31 March 2023 report. The report provides data on the number of participants who have met their compulsory Mutual Obligation Requirements, the number of participants who have had their payments suspended or penalised for non-compliance and the reasons for non-compliance across these programs. 

The Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF) was introduced on 1 July 2018. The TCF is designed to deter deliberate and persistent non-compliance while providing safeguards for vulnerable job seekers/participants. A brief outline is included below to explain the core data concepts and processes involved in a Participant's interactions with the TCF, beginning by outlining what the different TCF Zones mean and then walking through how a participant may journey through those zones:

Targeted compliance framework zones:

Green Zone:

  • 0 Active demerits

Participants commence in the Green Zone with no demerits and remain in this zone unless they commit a Mutual Obligation Requirement Failure without a valid reason and begin to accrue Demerits. Participant will not face financial penalties in this zone, unless they commit Work Refusal or Unemployment Failures.

Warning Zone:

1 to 5 Active demerits

Participants enter the warning zone upon accrual of their first demerit. Each mutual obligations failure that occurs without a valid reason in the warning zone will result in a payment suspension and accrual of a demerit. Participants will not incur financial penalties in this zone, unless they commit Work Refusal or Unemployment failures.

At three demerits, a participant will attend a Capability Interview; at five, they will attend a Capability Assessment. Participants may also be fast-tracked to the equivalent point for failure to attend or behave appropriately at a job interview or for failure to act on a job referral.

Participants will exit the warning zone and return to the green zone with zero demerits when:

  • All of their demerits expire (I.E. The participant meets all of their requirements for six active months) or
  • The participant is found, at a Capability Interview or Capability Assessment, to not be capable of meeting the requirements in their job plan.

Penalty Zone:

  • >5 Active demerits

Participants will enter the Penalty Zone if they accrue five Demerits over six active months, and the Capability Interview and Capability Assessment both determine that their Job Plan requirements are appropriate for their circumstances and capacity.

Subsequent mutual obligation failures committed in this zone will result in increasing financial penalties:

  • 1st penalty - loss of 50 per cent of their fortnightly payment for their first failure
  • 2nd penalty - loss of 100 per cent of their fortnightly payment for their second failure, and
  • 3rd penalty - participant will have their payment cancelled for their third failure and must reapply for income support and serve a four-week non-payment period.

Participants exit the Warning Zone and return to the Green Zone with zero Demerits when:

  • all of their Demerits expire (i.e. the participant meets all of their requirements for six active months)
  •  the participant is found at a Capability Interview or Capability Assessment to not be capable of meeting the requirements in their Job Plan.

 

Example participant journey:

  • A participant who is in service and has until this point met the mutual obligations requirements outlined in their job plan suddenly fails to meet one of the mutual obligations requirements agreed to in their jobs plan, causing a Non-Compliance Event. Non-compliance events are how the department record the data for and related to a specific mutual obligations failure.
  • The participant then enters Resolution Time, a period of 2 business days where they can contact their provider to provide a reason that they did not meet the requirement.
    • If they do provide a valid reason, their payment is not suspended and they will not receive a demerit.
    • If they do not provide a valid reason, they will have their payment suspended and receive a demerit or demerits depending upon the kind of mutual obligations failure that occurred. Their payment suspension remains until they have completed their re-engagement requirements. Once re-engagement has been completed, payment will be restored and/or back paid. If they do not re-engage within 28 days their income support payment will be cancelled.
    • One demerit is accrued for the majority of mutual obligation failures, however, failure to act on a job referral, and non-attendance or misconduct at a Job Interview incurs a fast-track demerit (3 demerit points). Demerits are active for 6 commenced months, after which they individually expire. If a participant’s Contract referral placement status is changed to paused or pending, their demerit's lifespan will also be paused until their status changes back to commenced.
  • If the participant's payment is suspended, their payment is paused until they meet a re-engagement requirement that is determined by their provider or the Digital Services Contact Centre (DSCC). For example, where a participant has had a points target of 80 points, but has only earned 65 points, the provider may set the requirement that the participant must complete 3 Job Searches (5 points per Job Search = 15 points) (15 points + 65 points = previous points target of 80 points) to meet their re-engagement requirement and have their payment suspension lifted.
    • If the participant does not meet their re-engagement requirement within 28 days of receiving notification of their payment suspension, their payment may be cancelled; if their payment is cancelled, they will need to reapply for income support and serve a 4-week preclusion period.
  • If the participant continues to fail to meet their mutual obligations requirements and accrues 3 demerits, they are required to attend a capability interview with their provider.
    • If the outcome of the capability interview is that the participant is capable of meeting the requirements agreed to in their job plan, the participant will remain in the warning zone.
    • If the provider finds that the participant is not reasonably capable of meeting their requirements, the participant will have their demerits reset to zero and they will be returned to the green zone.
  • If the participant continues to fail to meet their mutual obligations requirements and accrues 5 demerits, they are required to participate in a Capability assessment with Services Australia:
    • If Services Australia finds that the participant is capable of meeting their requirements, then the participant will progress to the penalty zone.
    • If Services Australia finds that the participant is not reasonably capable of meeting their requirements, the participant will have their demerits reset to zero and they will be returned to the green zone.
  • Once in the penalty zone, the participant must meet their mutual obligation requirements for three consecutive months before they return to the green zone. If they continue to fail to meet their mutual obligations, they will receive financial penalties as outlined in the Penalty Zone section above.

Indicators:

Label Indicator Outcome Areas
Table 1,2 & 3 Number of participants in targeted compliance framework zones by employment services program and cohort 1.0
Table 4 (Participants) Number of participants that entered resolution time by resolution time outcome and employment services program
Table 4 (Events) Number of non-compliance events by resolution time outcome and employment services program 1.0
Table 5 Number of non-compliance events by resolution time outcome, employment services program and event type 1.0
Table 6 (Participants) Number of participants with payment suspensions by non-compliance event type and employment services program 1.0
Table 6 (Events) Number of non-compliance events that led to payment suspensions by non-compliance event type and employment services program 1.0
Table 7 (Participants) Number of participants who received a payment suspension by employment service program and cohort 1.0
Table 7 (Events) Number of non-compliance events that led to payment suspensions by employment services program and cohort 1.0
Table 8 Number of participants that avoided payment cancellation by employment services program and cohort 1.0
Table 8 Number of participants whose payments were cancelled after failing to re-engage by employment services program and cohort 1.0
Table 9 (Participants) Number of participants with an applied demerit by non-compliance event type and employment services program 1.0
Table 9 (Events) Number of non-compliance events that have led to applied demerit by non-compliance event type and employment services program 1.0
Table 10 (Participants Number of participants with an applied demerit by employment services program and cohort 1.0
Table 10 (Events) Number of non-compliance events that have led to applied demerits by employment services program and cohort 1.0
Table 11 Number of capability interviews by capability outcome and employment services program 1.0
Table 12 Number of capability assessments by capability outcome and employment services program 1.0
Table 13 Number of financial penalties applied to participants by financial penalty reason type and employment services program

Comments

The full set of Data Elements used to populate the indicators for this report can be found here:

Origin

TCF Public Data - January 2023 to March 2023 - Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government (dewr.gov.au)

Related content

Relation Count
Outcome areas for Indicators in this Indicator Set 0