Social security participation payment cancellations for not meeting a ‘reconnection requirement’ within 4 weeks.
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If a person receiving a social security participation payment doesn’t meet mutual obligation requirements or refuses or fails to accept an offer of paid work, they will be notified what they need to do to avoid their payment being suspended. This may include contacting their provider or the Digital Services Contact Centre to discuss if they have a valid reason or meeting the requirement that they missed.
As of 28 October 2024, people now have 5 business days of ‘resolution time’, during which they need to either:
- supply a valid reason for not meeting their mutual obligation requirements or refusing work, or
- re-engage with their requirements
or their payment is put on hold (suspended).
If a person’s payment is suspended, they will be notified of what they need to do to reconnect with their requirements.
If the person meets their reconnection requirement or supplies a valid reason for not meeting their mutual obligation requirements or refusing work within 4 weeks after being notified of their reconnection requirement, the suspension of their payment will end, and they will receive their payment in full.
However, if they don’t meet their reconnection requirement, or supply a valid reason within 4 weeks after being notified of their reconnection requirement, their payment may be cancelled.
Decisions to cancel a person’s social security participation payment for not meeting a reconnection requirement are set out in law and supported by policies.
Decisions occur under the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999. The relevant provision in the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 is s 42AM.
Guidelines for these decisions are in the Social Security Guide (3.11.13).
Decisions have been paused
On 24 September 2024, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (the department) paused all decisions to cancel people’s social security participation payments due to not meeting a ‘reconnection requirement’ within 4 weeks.
The reason for taking this decision
This pause was enacted when the department identified that IT systems were not operating in alignment with the law and policies. This was discovered in September 2024 when the department was making changes to the system. The IT issue related to the original introduction of resolution time in December 2020.
The department immediately implemented processes to stop these cancellations from occurring.
These decisions remain paused while we take steps to review, improve and better assure that our processes are operating as they should.
People impacted
From 24 September 2024, people who are on a social security participation payment will not have their payments cancelled for not meeting a ‘reconnection requirement’ within 4 weeks.
More information is available at ‘information for job seekers’
Actions regarding past decisions
The Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (the Secretary) is currently considering appropriate next steps regarding past decisions.
Next steps
Our systems have been updated to ensure that people’s social security participation payments are not cancelled due to not meeting a ‘reconnection requirement’ within 4 weeks.
We will continue to work to ensure decisions are made in a lawful and robust manner.
There is an independent assurance review examining the IT system operating the Targeted Compliance Framework against policy and business rules to ensure the system is operating as intended. There is also a legal review examining whether decisions are being properly made and whether decision making processes are aligned with the law.
If the Secretary has reasonable concerns that the system is not operating in accordance with the law, she will take action to stop those decisions immediately.
Further information is also available under Frequently Asked Questions.