Jobactive data shows 48,500 people who lost payments had a job plan with errors or that was ‘inappropriate’

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

About 50,000 people were handed faulty or “inappropriate” job search plans by their employment service provider but had their payments suspended for breaching the rules contained in them, new figures show.

Under the rules for welfare-to-work programs, outsourced providers must conduct an internal review of a person’s case when they have racked up three “demerit” points for flouting job search rules.

New figures provided to the Senate estimates process show across the Jobactive program, about 48,500 jobseekers had their three “demerits” wiped because the employment service provider conceded during the review that the person’s job plan had “errors” or was “inappropriate”.

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“It tells us that Jobactive providers are not doing their job,” the Greens senator Rachel Siewert told Guardian Australia. “The assessment process they’re using is flawed and providers are not adequately identifying people’s barriers and are not properly developing their job plan.”

Almost of all of these participants would have had their payments temporarily suspended at least three times before the provider conducted a “capability interview” and noticed the mistake. Demerit points can lead to people having their welfare payments cut in half or stopped completely with no back pay.

The data tabled in Senate estimates on Wednesday covers July 2018-August 2019. It is separate from figures analysed by Guardian Australia that show more than 120,000 welfare recipients who had their payments suspended last financial year were later found by their job agency to have had a valid reason for not meeting their obligations.

In those cases, the suspensions were mostly as a result of automated systems, with the provider later choosing not to penalise the welfare recipient with a “demerit point”.

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The employment department defended the system, although the secretary, Kerri Hartland, conceded there were training issues for consultants dealing with complex cases.

Another department official, Ty Emerson, said: “We are working closely with providers on improving the way job plans are developed. This is actually a key focus.”

Officials said that the system included these reviews of a person’s capability to meet their job plan as a safeguard.

But Siewert told estimates: “People get to the third demerit point. They’ve already had payment suspensions. There’s big problems here, is there not, in the fact that people are getting inappropriate job plans to begin with.

“They’re going through the stress of getting their payments suspended … when we’re realising there’s an error in the job plan. Why aren’t we doing the job plans better in the first place.

A department interim review of the Coalition government’s Jobactive program released on Wednesday found that it was “more effective in helping … achieve labour market outcomes than was its predecessor Job Services Australia”.