One size fits few: APS to have more stewardship over employment services after flaws found in Workforce Australia model

The Australian Public Service will soon be taking more control over employment services after a parliamentary committee found the Workforce Australia network is failing to meet everyone’s needs.

The Federal Government has responded to the House Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services’ final report into rebuilding employment services, which was tabled late last year.

The government appears to strongly agree with the committee’s view that “Workforce Australia employment services do not meet the needs of all people and employers who use it, and that we need to do better”.

Workforce Australia is a network of private and community organisations, contracted and funded by the Federal Government through the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to deliver employment services to jobseekers on support payments.

The committee’s call for review is being taken seriously, with the government now considering a greater “stewardship” role for the APS in employment services.

“The government has considered the views of the select committee and agrees that reform is necessary,” its response states.

“The government will create a responsive employment services system so that it actively supports meaningful participation and secure and sustainable employment of people, and the workforce needs of employers and industry, based on the principles set out in the Employment White Paper.

“This includes building and embedding more active stewardship from the Australian Public Service in the employment services system, combined with a range of providers and delivery partners, including a greater role for community-based organisations such as social enterprise and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations.

“The government recognises people must be at the centre of policy development and service delivery and that our reforms are coordinated … We are committed to working closely with participants, stakeholders and the broader community to strengthen employment services and provide a service that meets the needs of Australians.”

The strategy is to establish “engagement mechanisms” to ensure there is a user voice in employment services and change the way participants – employers, providers, employment and peak body representatives, academics and policy experts, community organisations and advocates – shape the design and delivery of the necessary major reforms.

Employment Minister Tony Burke has agreed that major reforms are required.

“Employment services should play a key role creating opportunities for people to earn and get ahead,” Mr Burke said.

“As the House Select Committee found, the system works for some people but not others.

“It treats everyone the same – the professional between jobs, the single parent with caring responsibilities who can only work part-time, the young university graduate ready for full-time work without any experience, and the person with health conditions who has struggled to find the right job for too long.

“It’s like an emergency room that treats every patient the same way. This one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work.

“The employment services system needs to better understand people’s circumstances and connect them with the right support … We also need to do more with employers and social enterprise. There is a lot we can learn from the strength-based approaches used by social enterprise, including how to fit jobs to people’s circumstances.

“Better meeting the workforce needs of employers and industry benefits everyone.”

It will take time to design and implement large-scale reform, Mr Burke explained, but some immediate improvements are already in train.

These include improved safeguards and transparency (including a new complaints mechanism); better recognising individuals’ circumstances through changes to mutual obligation rules; and new pilots to help people who require additional support “obtain real jobs and earn real wages”.

The government will also introduce a new voluntary pre-employment service for parents from 1 November to replace the ParentsNext program.

The public service will be very much a part of providing this new service.

“An APS service delivery pilot will be part of the new service in one selected location,” the government response to the committee report states.

“This will provide a channel for direct feedback and the ability to trial new approaches. It will also build APS capacity, stewardship and leadership.”

This year’s Federal Budget allocated $3.7 million for the trial of APS services in Broome to inform the wider strategy.

The Community and Public Sector Union has welcomed the government’s commitment but says it is lacking in detail.

National secretary Melissa Donnelly said the union was now renewing its call to insource employment services.

“The CPSU is pleased to see the government’s commitment to an increased role for the APS in service delivery, including piloting of place-based approaches to employment services. However, a more comprehensive roadmap is required,” Ms Donnelly said.

“Seven months after the release of the Parliamentary report into Rebuilding Employment Services, further action must not be delayed.

“Jobseekers and businesses cannot afford lengthy delays in transitioning to an effective employment services system – this is urgent because not only is this system failing, but it is also causing harm.”