Employment Services

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• Employment Services
• Record Performance and a Challenging Year Ahead
• Malisa Golightly

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Performance in ESC3

• Congratulations on a job well done
• The record performances are outstanding
  achievements

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Disadvantaged client groups

• Employment outcomes have increased significantly
  for even the most highly disadvantaged job
  seekers
• Record job placement levels for
• long term unemployed
• indigenous Australians
• job seekers in receipt of Disability Support
  Pension
• job seekers in receipt of parenting payments
• Note At this stage DSP and PP recipients are
  volunteers in Job Network services

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Human perspective of performance

• Facts and figures dont reveal the individual
  perspective
• Improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of
  fellow Australians
• sustainable jobs
• off the welfare treadmill

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Job Network Actuals Budget 2002-03 to 2004-05
Forward Estimates to 2008-09
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
(m)
800
600
400
200
0
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
Actuals Budget without Employment
Purchasing or WtW
Final Budget with Employment Purchasing and
WtW
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Projections of Active Caseload
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The Labour Market in June 2005

• Labour market conditions strongest in decades
• Employment up by 366,800 over the year
• Participation rate at record high of 64.7 per
  cent
• 5.0 per cent unemployment rate - a 28-year low

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Key Messages for JNMs

• Engage with
• parenting payment recipients
• people on Disability Support Pension
• employers
• Work closely with Centrelink
• Linkages with providers of complementary
  programmes

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Key Government Decisions

• Welfare to Work reforms
• builds on this record performance
• opportunity for many more Australians to be
  assisted
• Reforms will be incorporated into employment
  service changes from 1 July 2006
• Most employment services now administered under
  one portfolio
• All contract start periods aligned to start on 1
  July 2006

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Welfare to Work Progress

• Graham Carters
• Working Age Policy Group

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Welfare to Work

• Challenge An ageing workforce and high level of
  welfare dependency
• Response A comprehensive reform of the welfare
  system to increase the workforce participation of
  working age Australians
• Reform Principle Best form of income comes from
  a job - not welfare.

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Key Reform Elements

• Income support payments and work incentives
• Participation requirements
• Employment services
• Employer demand and workplace flexibility

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Payments and Work Incentives

• More generous income test for all working age
  allowances
• including Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance,
  Parenting Payment Partnered
• better rewards for part-time work
• Maintenance of concession arrangements

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Participation Requirements

• Participation requirements for a wider range of
  working age Australians with capacity to work
• Parents with school age children
• People with disabilities with capacity for
  part-time work
• Mature age people

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Services

• Expansion of existing services (places over 4
  years)
• Job Network 224,000
• Disability Open Employment Services
  20,000
• Vocational Rehabilitation 40,000
• Personal Support Programme 20,000
• Work for the Dole 55,000
• Community Development Employment Projects
  6,000
• NEIS 1,000
• Job Placement, Employment and Training
  200
• FaCS Additional child care places 87,800
• FaCS JET Child Care 52,000
• DEST Education and Training LLN 2,900
• DEST Career Counselling 6,600
• DEST VET 12,300

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New Employment Services

• Employment Preparation for MA Parents
• In conjunction with ISjst
• Full-time Work for the Dole
• Wage Assist
• Comprehensive work capacity assessments (for
  people with disabilities)
• Pre-vocational Participation Account

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CWCA Prevocational Acct

• Owned by DHS.
• DHS working closely with DEWR to ensure
  consistent purchasing, business design and
  systems.
• Direct referral from CWCA to employment services
• Aim Job seeker to experience seamless link to
  DEWR services after quality CWCA process

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Employer Demand

• Overarching engagement and communication strategy
• Labour market information portal
• Better Connections Workshops
• Demonstration Projects
• Job Accommodation Network
• Mental Health Employer Forums
• Age Management
• Workplace Flexibility

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Employability Skills Profiler (ESP)

• Identify job seekers employability skills and
  job options
• Better match the skills of job seekers to the
  skills employers are seeking

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Stakeholder Consultations

• Consultations to listen, identify issues and
  consider how to address these issues
• Post- Budget information sessions public
  invitation
• Consultations with
• NESA, Jobs Australia, Community Work
  Co-ordinators
• Church groups
• Peak welfare groups (eg ACOSS and National
  Welfare Rights Network)
• Employer Roundtable
• Representatives for Parents (eg NCSMC and Sole
  Parents Union)
• Representatives for People with a Disability (eg
  Alliance, ACE and ACROD)
• Representatives for Mature Age (eg COTA)

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Better Compliance Framework

• New suspension arrangements with a focus on rapid
  engagement and re-engagement to replace breaching
• Case management of job seekers
• Recovery fee for earnings-related debt
• Income support decision making remains with
  Centrelink
• Identifying the best way to implement the
  Government model. For example using the SU19
  lodgement as a failsafe.

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Parents stakeholder identified issues

• Home schooling
• Parent of a child with a disability
• Foster carers
• Distance education
• Large families
• Interaction with child support proposals
• Family separation

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People with disabilities stakeholder identified
issues

• Support if employment fails
• Determination of capacity - particularly for
  people with episodic conditions
• Balancing obligations with support
• Costs of disability e.g. transport medical
• Inaccessible infrastructure impediments
• Employer attitudes
• Lack of incentives to employ PWD

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Implementation Issues

• Legislation amendments
• Major changes to IT systems
• New purchasing arrangements
• Servicing new groups

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Implementation Governance
In consultation with the Ministers for Family
and Community Services and Human Services
Ministers for Employment and Workplace
Relations and Workforce Participation
Reporting through Cabinet Implementation Unit to
Government
Welfare to Work Steering Committee DEWR Secretary
Chair DHS, DEST, FaCS, Centrelink, PMC, Treasury,
Finance
Each agency reports to own Minister
Welfare to Work Project Management Committee DEWR
Deputy Secretary Chair DHS, DEST, FaCS,
Centrelink, PMC, Treasury, Finance
Implementation Management Arrangements For each
relevant Agency DEWR, DHS, DEST, FaCS, Centrelink
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Legislation

• Introduce in Spring Sittings (Sept/Oct 05)
• Drafting now
• Consulted on broad policy
• Policy Guide will support legislation
• Will consult further on detailed policy guide as
  it is developed

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Purchasing Processes

• Purchasing processes in 2005-06 to put in place
  arrangements from 1 July 2006
• Release of Exposure Draft documents
• Proposed for mid-August
• Service requirements and purchasing arrangements
• Will be released on DEWR website at
  www.workplace.gov/ESPurchasing
• Consultation sessions around Australia in late
  August
• Opportunity to comment on future arrangements
• Draft contracts will be released onto website in
  early September

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Exposure Draft Consultations

• Staggered release of RFTs in Oct/Nov 2005
• Early October - CWC, DOES growth capacity, Green
  Corps and HLS
• Early November - PSP and JPET
• Mid November - Job Network and NEIS business not
  extended
• Tender outcomes to be announced for all services
  in March 2006
• (subject to programme review)

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Job Network Contract Extensions

• Recognises the record performance levels
• Maintains stability in the market
• for job seekers
• for providers
• Offers are subject to satisfactory performance
• Anticipated that the overwhelming majority of
  business will be extended

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Performance review

• Decisions about extensions governed by Value for
  Money
• Made on a case by case basis guided by the
  following principles
• Diversity
• Competition/Choice
• Best interests of special needs groups
• Best interests of all job seekers
• Market coverage
• Performance
• Star Ratings as the primary source
• other information held by DEWR, including
• information on compliance with the contract
• performance in delivering services to priority
  groups

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Four tests

• Assessment for rollovers determination of
  business levels will be based on four tests
• performance at or below 2½ Stars (at site and ESA
  level) will be examined
• providers with a two Star gap from the highest in
  an ESA will be examined
• performance in relation to compliance with the
  requirements of the contract, including KPI3
• performance for priority groups
• Michael Manthorpe will address this in detail in
  his purchasing workshop.

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Extension Offers

• Contract extension offers will be made in October
  2005
• all or nothing extension offer
• Opportunity to make representations about changes
  to their contracted business shares as part of
  the review process
• Contracting at the ESA level will continue with
  possible flexibility to adjust at site level in
  exceptional cases

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Reallocation of Business

• Reallocation will be undertaken at the same time
  as deliberations on contract rollover
• This will be the final reallocation for ESC3
• In most instances, new allocated business will be
  the business in the extension offers

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Rolling Local Area Level Tenders

• Introduced from 1 July 2006
• Will drive performance throughout the contract
  period
• Opportunity for
• New entrants
• High-performers to expand
• Will be conducted in conjunction with the
  Milestone Review every six months

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Conclusion

• Questions?