The Law Handbook 2024

Chapter 5.1: Dealing with social security 325 Framework, which applies to most recipients of participation payments. Different consequences will be imposed on recipients who are participating in Community Development Programs (‘declared program participants’). The Social Security Guide (the Guide) provides further detail on mutual obligations: https://guides. dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/3/11. Mutual obligations include things such as: • agreeing to a Job Plan or Participation Plan; • meeting the requirements of the plan; • completing and reporting on job searches; • attending appointments with employment service providers if recipients have one; • attending job interviews as arranged; • accepting any offer of suitable paid work; • not leaving a job, training course or program without a valid reason. Targeted Compliance Framework The consequences for failing to comply with mutual obligations requirements are set out in division 3AA of the SSA Act (s 42AA). These provisions apply to all recipients of participation payments who are required to enter Employment Pathway Plans and are not declared program recipients. The consequences depend on the type of failure. There are three types: • ‘mutual obligation’ failures (s 42AC SSA Act); • ‘work refusal’ failures (s 42AD SSA Act); • ‘unemployment’ failures (s 42AE SSA Act). Mutual obligation failures A person commits a mutual obligation failure if they, without a reasonable excuse: • fail to do something that they were notified about in writing by Centrelink (e.g. attending an appointment with Centrelink, providing informa- tion, responding to a questionnaire, or attending a medical examination); • fail to enter an Employment Pathway Plan; • fail to attend an appointment or be punctual for an appointment; • fail to comply with the terms of the Employment PathwayPlan, including attending andparticipating in activities specified, and undertaking adequate job search efforts; • behave in an inappropriate manner during an appointment or while participating in an activity required by Centrelink or specified in the Employment Pathway Plan; • intentionally behave in a manner that is likely to result in an offer of paid work not being made; • fail to attend a job interview or to act on a job opportunity. A mutual obligation failure may result in the suspension of the participation payment for a period, or the payment made at a reduced rate. A reconnection requirement may be imposed; this allows the person to fix the failure. Payments may be cancelled if there are persistent mutual obligation failures or if the person does not comply with the reconnection requirement within four weeks of being notified of it. Work refusal failure A person commits a work refusal failure if they refuse or fail to accept suitable paid work without a reasonable excuse. A principal carer of at least one child, or a person with partial capacity to work, who refuses work that is more than 15 hours per week does not commit a work refusal failure. A person has partial capacity to work if they are unable to work 30 hours per week independently of a program of support (s 16B SS Act). A work refusal failure may result in the suspension of the participation payment and a reconnection requirement may be imposed. The payment may be cancelled if the person does not comply with the reconnection requirement within four weeks of being notified of the requirement. Unemployment failure A person commits an unemployment failure if they become unemployed as a result of their voluntary act or misconduct during employment. A participation payment may be cancelled because of the unemployment failure. A person who is not receiving a participation payment and is in the process of making a claim can commit an unemployment failure and may be precluded from receiving the payment for four or six weeks if, in the previous six months, relocation assistance was paid to the person. If a person’s participation payment is cancelled for any of the failures described above, a post-cancellation