Voluntary work and mutual obligation requirements for unemployment payment recipients

Mutual obligation requirements are tasks and activities you agree to do while getting certain payments from the Government. Penalties apply if you don’t meet them.

Find out more from the factsheet provided by the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

What the upcoming changes to employment services are

Workforce Australia replaces jobactive from 1 July 2022 and feature:

• Workforce Australia Online for job-ready job seekers to manage their own job search and reporting requirements as well as access to programs to increase their skills
• Workforce Australia Employment Service Providers for job seekers needing tailored support to become job ready and look for work.

These changes apply to compulsory and voluntary participants in jobactive. This includes those in the current online employment service.

It doesn’t apply to job seekers engaged in any of the following:

• Community Development Program
• Disability Employment Services
• ParentsNext.

If you’re connected with jobactive, there will also be changes to how you’ll meet your mutual obligations requirements. You’ll need to meet a monthly points target to meet your requirements. The target will be set by your employment services provider and will be tailored to your individual circumstances.

Read more about your points target on the Workforce Australia website.

If you’re connected with jobactive, the Department of Education, Skills and Employment will contact you soon. They’ll let you know about the changes and how they affect you.

If you have questions, you can contact either:

• your provider, if you have one
• the Department of Education, Skills and Employment by email or calling the transition line on 1300 854 414.

Read more about Workforce Australia on the Department of Education, Skills and Employment website.

Mutual obligation requirement and volunteering

Below you can find a factsheet from the Department of Education, Skills and Training on mutual obligation requirements and volunteering. The factsheet confirms that as at June 2022:

• Participants can earn up to 20 points per week for 15-25 hours of ‘provider sourced voluntary work’.
• Participants can earn up to 10 points per month for every 5 hours of ‘participant sourced voluntary work’.
• People aged 55-59 years can meet their obligations through 30 hours per fortnight of a combination of paid and voluntary work, of which 15 of the 30 hours must be paid work for the first 12 months.
• People aged 60 and over can meet their obligations through 30 hours per fortnight of any combination of paid and voluntary work.

Read more about mutual obligation requirements in this factsheet.

Please note: This factsheet was provided by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment and reflects changes to mutual obligation requirements commencing July 2022. For any questions regarding the contents of this factsheet please call 1800 805 260 or visit the Workforce Australia website.