Department of Education, Skills and Employment – Regulation Impact Statement
On 23 February 2021, the Government announced proposed changes to mutual obligations for jobseekers unemployed for at least six months.
The new activity requirement introduces an additional requirement for job seekers once they have participated in jobactive for six months. These job seekers will be required to participate for up to eight weeks in a compellable activity (such as a short training course, online learning modules, voluntary work or Work for the Dole). This requirement is in addition to job search. It is also in addition to the intensive activity that already is required to be conducted at 12 months’ unemployment.
The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) prepared and certified a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS), which the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) assessed as adequate and therefore sufficient to inform a decision. However, the OBPR’s assessment was that the RIS should have included greater depth of analysis on the likely effects of the options on jobseekers, providers and host organisations, including the distributional impacts on different cohorts within these groups.