The federal government is preparing a significant overhaul of the troubled JobSeeker employment services system, with welfare recipients who receive help finding work to be placed into three separate streams under a new model designed to make the system fairer.
More than one million Australians, including many receiving JobSeeker, currently have to engage with privately run employment services providers through a scheme worth $2 billion a year, intended to help more people move into paid work. But the system has long been dogged by complaints, including claims that some people have had their support payments unfairly suspended.
Workplace Minister Amanda Rishworth is set to outline the new three-tier structure for people using Workforce Australia while looking for work. She says it marks a major departure from the current model, where all job seekers are assessed in much the same way.
“A one-size-fits-all approach, across all elements of Workforce Australia, is letting too many participants fall through the cracks and creating inefficiencies in the system,” Rishworth will tell the National Press Club in a speech on Wednesday.
Under the proposed changes, Service Stream One will involve the least intervention, offering a digital service for people considered ready to work. Service Stream Two will provide support from private providers to help participants build skills and confidence as they work towards re-entering the labour market. Service Stream Three will be set aside for those facing complex barriers to employment and needing more intensive assistance.
Rishworth is also expected to signal changes to mutual obligations, the rules requiring job seekers to accept work offered to them and attend interviews or training.
“The second change is the introduction of effective, fair and proportionate mutual obligations, that are reflective of an individual’s distance from the labour market and are designed to actually help people get a suitable job,” she will say.
Mutual obligations have attracted strong criticism, including in two reports by the Commonwealth ombudsman, which found that suspending welfare payments for many people who failed to meet jobseeking requirements may have been unlawful.
While the scheme is meant to ensure welfare recipients are actively looking for work, advocates argue it can penalise people with complex circumstances who may already face major obstacles to finding employment.
Rishworth is also expected to point to further consultation with job seekers, employers, service providers and communities as the government continues developing the reforms.
