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Below is the grossly inadequate Government response to the open letter we sent to the Minister of Social Services Scott Morrison demanding the Government address its punitive and socially disastrous approach toward unemployed Australians.

The Government response failed to address any of our concerns regarding:

1. Any amount of waiting period imposed on Newstart applicants
2. The new punitive system of fines for Newstart recipients
3. The insufficient rate of Newstart which is $280 per fortnight below the poverty line
4. The socially disastrous expansion of the discredited and punitive Work for the Dole program
5. The failure of the Coalition Government to address the worsening unemployment crisis in which there are 12 job seekers competing for each job vacancy going by official ABS figures.

The Australian Unemployment Union will be escalating our demands to the Federal Government. We will begin this campaign by clogging the phones of the Minister of Employment Eric Abetz (telephone: 03 9954 2845) and the Minister of Social Services Scott Morrison (telephone: 02 6277 7560) until our demands are met.

All organisations who signed the initial open letter will be encouraged to join our campaign. We will not rest until the Government addresses its punitive and socially disastrous approach toward unemployed Australians.

Any organisations or individuals interested in helping with this campaign please contact the AUU at contact@unemploymentunion.com.au to discuss the best way to continue this campaign.

In this article, we will analyse the obligations of the Newstart recipients under the Government’s new  jobactive system.

A brief summary of the Government’s Mutual Obligations requirements for Newstart recipients is available in the chart below.For a quick explanation of the deliberately confusing acronyms used by the Government, click here.

The entire Mutual Obligation guidelines can be downloaded here, and the Job Seeker Compliance Framework can be downloaded here. The analysis below is drawing mainly from these two documents.

Work for the dole

Let’s start with the centrepiece of the jobactive system: Work for the Dole.

Don’t be fooled into thinking work for dole is the only option open to you if you are currently unemployed. Wading through the endless and repetitive guidelines, a few things stand out.

With the introduction of the new jobactive system on 1 July, all Newstart and Youth Allowance (other) recipients between the ages of 18-30 will be required to Work for the Dole for 25 hours a week, up from 15 hours a week.
Annual activity requirements are lower for those over the age of 30 at 15 hrs per week (fully capable of full time work).

If you are a principle carer or have a temporary illness that reduces your work availability or obligation hours, the mutual obligation hours are lower again.

For example, a principle carer with children 8 or over, aged under 30 has a higher number of participation hours at 15hr per week, than the same situation but aged over 30 at 7.5 hrs per week.

Neither can be forced to agree to work for dole as a compulsory measure, but if you do agree to do it and sign a job plan stating this, it will then be compulsory. This is why knowing your rights is more important than ever before.

It is very easy for a job seeker to be fooled under this new system. If the staff member you are allocated to has misunderstood training, or your Employment Service Provider has simply misinterpreting the information then the obligations you are agreeing to might not be a true reflection of the guidelines or in fact social security law.

Training and Study

Study seems to be the main area where information may not be fully correct. Anyone any age can choose a line of study to follow, but the funding of these courses is what is no longer available through the Employment Service Providers themselves especially when the Work For the Dole phase begins.

It can be used only if a job is guaranteed, making it harder to achieve but there are still options for those with no prior level certificates or diplomas (note: the Government will not fund you to complete a course below your current requirements). The course will be funded, and this activity should be sufficient to meet your obligations. There are some exclusions to this as there often is, checking through the Centrelink website, there are links to courses of study that are approved.

The option to study at Tafe is open and it can be paid for via the VetFeeHelp or FeeHelp programs, and University through HECS-HELP, these will give you a debt to be repaid when you reach income over $50,000. Testing if you meet the AUSTUDY rules can give you the time without requirements to complete your studies.

Alternatively, for those on Newstart and Youth Allowance (other) who are studying a course that is not accredited by Centrelink, your study can count to your Annual Activity Requirement but will not provide any additional money to cover expenses.

The ability to be connected to the internet, get to study if in a classroom, and purchase any books will be the biggest problem for those taking this avenue. But this can be achievable in some cases. Fares assistance will be available to those on Youth Allowance completing studies.
For those who were involved in study before the jobactive system took over, you must be allowed to finish this line of study that you have started. If it was in your employment plan, it can be used as your activity until you finish it, regardless of any new rules.

We are awaiting verification if those under 30 are able to use study towards the activity requirement as there seems to be contradictory statements between guidelines, and information that job seekers are being told they must do work for dole and study hours do not count. One jobseeker has told us that he was able to get his study on his Job Plan, which may require him to Work For the Dole less. We will update once verification is received, but for now, be sure to request that your study be put on your Job Plan.

Negotiate with your Provider – All Barriers to Work must be Considered

There is also a range of factors that must be considered when working out your activities and requirements. If you have increased care for family or children, this has to be taken into consideration; transport problems also have to be considered. It is written in the guidelines.

If you have factors you feel are not being considered, seek clarification from the department of employment. Providers are obliged to consider barriers that you identify, such as lack of childcare options, separated parent with the lesser care but still a percentage of care, transport restrictions, alcohol or drug problems, housing problems.

It may be uncomfortable to reveal these things but to truly be of assistance there might be a need to be open about these problems. Remember they are bound by the privacy act and any breaches can be reported immediately, if you are concerned private information is not being treated in a professional manner.

Being assessed as Stream C with a high amount of barriers to employment means other assistance can be provided in areas such as financial counselling, parenting or family courses, withdrawal programs, with referral to programs and using them to meet activity requirements an option for those in the high stream C. This is determined by a Job Capacity Assessment and Employment Service Providers may trigger the department to assess or reclassify your stream if additional factors occur or become identified. If you feel you might be in the category, be sure to ask what stream you are being assessed at.

Remember this contract you are signing is what you are capable of complying with – if you cannot comply there has to be negotiations around the reasons why and not a simple case of do it or no payments.

Speaking up now can shape the future of employment programs, and allowing them to become a mere compliance tool making demands to suit them, will be at our own peril. Make them work in the nice fluffy way government have put this on paper, question any requirement that does not provide you with skills required to gain employment as this is the basis for most requirements. Seek out your ideal training or work experience options and take them to your provider they might just be able to really help you. A hopeful thought indeed!

If they refuse to help you, seek legal support or request a transfer on the grounds that your provider are refusing to uphold social security law. Download a transfer form here.

Keep an open mind – believe it or not there are good providers out there who will help you. But most importantly, don’t allow yourself to be pushed into an avenue you are not happy to take. Tell them you would like them to reference the mutual obligation requirements, and ask to see a copy. Then go through all the options with the staff member that are in that guideline, getting them to point out the areas they are using to reach the obligations they are telling you about.

As painful as it is, reading the mutual obligations guideline fully can give you a much better idea of what options you really have. One of the reasons Work For the Dole has the headlines and main focus is the income of providers will rely on either the limited real job outcomes or work for dole outcomes – education outcomes will provide them with nothing so they will not at all be interested in telling you any of these options.

In the guidelines, there is a lot of requirements that jobseekers  should follow and others that job seekers must follow. This is where interpreting the different areas can take on a more deceptive nature and you may be pressured by your provider. If this happens contact the department(contact details below), and explain as calmly as you can what factors they have not considered and what program you agreed to that you don’t think is fair or in line with your employment prospects.

There will be cases where Work For the Dole becomes the only option, but again a choice should be provided and it should contain some training element suitable to you.

The poor state of the labour market is also a factor that must be considered according to the guidelines, and this can be said for the majority of unemployed people today. This is a consideration that we will need to bring up particularly in remote areas.

Get informed and take control.

Don’t be baffled with the Government’s bullshit!

Employment Service Providers must meet standards, and to keep those standards we have to become willing to complain and complain loudly.

The deparment of employement can be contacted via email on NationalCustomerServiceLine@employment.gov.au or phone 1300 488 064

The 2014-15 federal budget included proposals for major changes in the social services portfolio, including payments to the unemployed, aged, people with disability and families with children. With most of these measures being introduced through two large and complex pieces of social services legislation, there is likely to be some confusion about the changes being made and which changes are being introduced where. This FlagPost provides a brief outline of what is in each of the social services bills.

Most of the significant (and contentious) changes are introduced in the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 2) Bill 2014.

This Bill includes proposals to:

• change the indexation of pensions to Consumer Price Index (CPI) only, along with a number of other changes to income support indexation arrangements
• gradually increase the qualifying age for Age Pension from 67 to 70 from 1 July 2025
• introduce six-month waiting periods for new applicants for Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (Other) who are aged under 30, and only allow these payments to be paid for periods of six months for recipients in this age group
• introduce new, more stringent participation requirements focused around Work for the Dole for those aged under 30 in receipt of Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (Other)
• change eligibility rules for Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (Other) so that those aged under 25 years can only receive the latter (which has lower payment rates and tighter eligibility rules)
• remove eligibility for relocation scholarships from students who need to relocate within or between major cities to take up their studies
• limit Family Tax Benefit Part B (FTB-B) eligibility to families where the primary income earner makes $100,000 or less (down from $150,000), and where the youngest child is aged under six years
• pause indexation, reduce supplementary payments and tighten eligibility for other family payments
• include tax-free superannuation in the income test for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC)
• lower the income thresholds used in the income test for all social security payments to assess deemed income from financial assets
• limit the period for which Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipients can travel overseas and remain eligible to 28 days in a 12 month period (with some exceptions for special circumstances)
• remove the three month backdating from the date of claim for Veterans’ Disability Pension and
• abolish the Pensioner Education Supplement and Education Entry Payment .

Explanation and analysis of each of the measures introduced in this Bill can be found in the relevant Parliamentary Library Bills Digest.

Changes proposed by the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 1) Bill 2014 include:

• applying participation requirements to certain DSP recipients aged under 35 years who have had their eligibility reviewed against the current Impairment Tables
• ceasing payment of the Seniors Supplement for holders of the CSHC or the Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card
• renaming the Clean Energy Supplement as the Energy Supplement and permanently ceasing its indexation
• indexing Parenting Payment (Single) to the CPI only by removing benchmarking to Male Total Average Weekly Earnings)
• applying the Ordinary Waiting Period of seven days, currently applying to Newstart Allowance and Sickness Allowance, to recipients of Widow Allowance, Parenting Payment and Youth Allowance (Other)
• limiting the six-week overseas portability period for student payments and
• maintaining Family Tax Benefit (FTB) standard payment rates for two years from 1 July 2014.

For further details and analysis, see the Parliamentary Library Bills Digest.

Many of these measures are opposed by the Opposition, minor parties and independents. Of these, the Opposition has declared that it opposes:

• changing the indexation method for pensions
• lowering the deemed income thresholds
• abolishing the Pensioner Education Supplement and Education Entry Payment
• changing the age eligibility age requirements for Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (Other)
• introducing six-month waiting periods for new applicants for Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (Other) aged under 30
• reducing FTB end-of-year supplements
• restricting eligibility for FTB-B to those whose youngest child is aged under six
• raising the Age Pension eligibility age to 70
• removing the three-month backdating provisions for the veterans’ Disability Pension
• abolishing Seniors Supplement for holders of the CSHC or Gold Card and
• freezing FTB payment rates.

The Opposition has said that it will support a number of measures, including reducing the FTB-B primary earner income limit from $150,000 to $100,000; limiting DSP portability; removing eligibility for the relocation scholarship for students relocating within and between major cities; and ceasing indexation of the Clean Energy Supplement.

Both Bills have passed the House but are yet to be debated in the Senate. They have been jointly referred to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 4 September 2014.

For source article, click here