On Thursday 30 June 2022 we turned off the existing jobactive online service and started replacing it with the new Workforce Australia Online service. This will take a few days. Individuals can access their new Workforce Australia Online account at WorkforceAustralia.gov.au from 4 July 2022. Income support payments won’t be impacted by the planned system upgrade.
Who does the system upgrade impact?
The system upgrade will impact participants that access the jobactive site and jobactive Job Seeker app, which are being replaced by WorkforceAustralia.gov.au and the Workforce Australia app from 4 July 2022. This includes not only current jobactive participants, but also participants of other employment services that use this platform, such as Transition to Work, ParentsNext, Disability Employment Services Program or the Community Development Program.
From 4 July 2022 participants in these programs will have access to the new Workforce Australia app and website so they can benefit from the tools and information available to all individuals. The Workforce Australia app will automatically download if users have that setting enabled, otherwise they will download it when it becomes available. Participants will use their same logon in the new platform.
Income support payments won’t be impacted by the planned system upgrade.
What does the new online platform mean for mutual obligation requirements?
jobactive participants will transition to either Workforce Australia Online or Workforce Australia Services, which will introduce a new flexible Points Based Activation System (PBAS) for participants in these services on income support who have mutual obligation requirements.
To support these participants during transition and give people time to adjust to the new settings:
- if a participant does not meet their points target in their first reporting period in Workforce Australia, compliance action will not be raised
- people transitioning to Workforce Australia will have their Targeted Compliance Framework demerits reset to zero.
For participants in other employment services programs, such as Transition to Work, ParentsNext, Disability Employment Services Program or the Community Development Program, the use of the new Workforce Australia platform will not change their mutual obligation settings. The PBAS does not apply to participants in Transition to Work, ParentsNext, Disability Employment Services or the Community Development Program.
Mutual obligation requirement exemptions
Existing arrangements continue to apply for exemptions from mutual obligations. Where a person is temporarily unable to meet requirements, they may be granted an exemption. Those who have already been granted an exemption will have those exemptions continue.
Reasons include, but are not limited to:
- temporary medical conditions
- major personal crisis (such as family and domestic violence, or the death of a family member)
- temporary caring responsibilities
- homelessness, and
- special family circumstances (such as caring for a child with a disability).
Exemptions are generally granted by Centrelink. In addition, principal carer parents, those aged 55 and over, or those with an assessed partial capacity to work may be able to ‘fully meet’ their mutual obligation requirements through 30 hours per fortnight paid work, voluntary work, approved study, or approved combinations of these activities. Participants fully meeting their requirements in this way are not required to undertake any further activities.
More information on mutual obligation requirement exemptions is available on the Services Australia website.
Flexible Points Based Activation System
Starting on 4 July 2022, the Points Based Activation System — or PBAS — will be used by individuals in Workforce Australia Services and Workforce Australia Online to meet their mutual obligation requirements. PBAS does not apply to participants in Transition to Work, ParentsNext, the Disability Employment Services Program or Community Development Program.
All participants in Workforce Australia will have their own individually tailored points target that reflects their personal circumstances and their local labour market. The maximum points target to meet each month is 100 points. Participants can have their points target adjusted if their circumstances change at any time by speaking with their provider or the department’s contact centre.
To recognise individual circumstances, such as where someone has a partial work capacity, is aged 55 or older, or is a principal carer parent, the points target will be decreased by at least 40 points each reporting period to recognise these circumstances. The points target can also be adjusted for other personal circumstances, such as barriers to employment, other caring responsibilities, illness or disability.
The points target is also reduced by 20 points to recognise difficult labour market conditions in certain employment regions. This recognises that there may be fewer opportunities for the participant to apply for suitable, secure employment.
Participants in Workforce Australia will be supported to understand and meet their mutual obligation requirements, either by dedicated staff from the department’s contact centre, or through a Workforce Australia Employment Services Provider.
More information regarding the PBAS is available on our transition page.