Employment services system ‘not operating with the rigour that I expect’, says minister

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) has paused social security payment reductions and cancellations while the system undergoes a review.

The employment services system is currently undergoing a review into the IT system that operates the Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF). The TCF is a compliance framework that can suspend or reduce the social security payment or, ultimately, cancel the social security payment of a job seeker if they fail to meet the “mutual obligation” requirements.

For jobseekers, these obligations can include engaging with certain tasks such as applying for jobs, filling out applications, attending face-to-face appointments with employment services providers, and accepting suitable work when it arises. Neglecting these duties can, of course, have consequences for one’s social security income.

According to the DEWR, the review has led to a pause in penalties (reductions or cancellations of payments) for failing to meet these obligations.

“The work underway by my department has identified examples where the system is not operating in alignment with the law and policies, or is not operating with the rigour that I expect,” said Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt.

Greens spokesperson on social services, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, argued that “mutual obligations” were part of the “broken system” that the TCF is – calling out Watt for apparent inactivity.

“The minister must stop running scared from this disaster unfolding under his watch. Labor is in government, it’s their obligation to make sure they’re not punishing vulnerable people,” said Allman-Payne.

“We’re talking about people experiencing extraordinary vulnerability, being punished unlawfully due to the machinery of a department that doesn’t care whether people’s meagre payments are taken from them or not.”

Allman-Payne claims the TCF framework in itself is not only an “expensive” system but also one that the current Labor government cannot even guarantee is running lawfully.

“It is clear that the TCF is an expensive hangover from a conservative government which has been heartlessly prolonged by this Labor government for far too long.

“During estimates, neither the minister [nor] secretary was able to provide any assurance that the mutual obligations regime is operating lawfully, which is a remarkable thing to admit given they continue to impose it on hundreds of thousands of people on income support,” said Allman-Payne.