Job Trainer Initiative

The Victorian Government has recently announced that they have partnered with the Commonwealth Government to jointly invest up to $260 million under the JobTrainer Fund.  JobTrainer provides additional funding to increase access to training for Victorians who have been most impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis and is aiming to increase access to free or low fee training places for young people and job seekers.

The JobTrainer Funded Course Report includes a total of 144 Qualifications which are available under JobTrainer in Victoria. Non-apprentice/trainee individuals and trainees are eligible for JobTrainer while Apprentices and School Based Apprentices/Trainees are not.  JobTrainer courses can only be delivered by Skills First-contracted training providers. Information about the delivery of Skill Sets under JobTrainer will be made available via SVTS in the coming weeks and any allocations of JobTrainer skill set places will be separate to allocations for JobTrainer courses.

On 11th November, Skills First-contracted Training Providers that have a JobTrainer course on their Funded Scope were notified via an SVTS enquiry about their JobTrainer commencement allocation on 11th November. These places may be used for JobTrainer commencements between 25 November and 31 December 2020 and any JobTrainer commencements that will not be used in 2020 will be made available for delivery under the 2021 contract, subject to conditions. Training Providers with no qualifications from the JobTrainer course list on their current Funded Scope did not receive an allocation for JobTrainer commencements in 2020. However, if they have requested any JobTrainer courses to be added to their Funded Scope for 2021 and this request gets approved, the Department will offer them a capped allocation for JobTrainer commencements in 2021. JobTrainer commencements will not count towards the standard Skills First Commencement Allocation.

Individuals can enrol into a Skills First funded program under JobTrainer if they are:

• 17 to 24 years old when the program commences or
• A job seeker of any age

and

• They have not commenced a full qualification under JobTrainer before (unless they recommence in the same qualification while JobTrainer is still active).

Eligibility for JobTrainer

If an individual is eligible for the JobTrainer initiative due to their age, Training Providers are required to check their age using one of the accepted methods specified in the Contract and the Guidelines about Determining Student Eligibility and Supporting Evidence. If an individual is eligible for the JobTrainer due to being a job seeker, then Training Providers are required to sign one of the following:

• A current and valid Commonwealth Concession Card or
• A separation certificate from their employer or
• A letter from their employer or company receiver stating that they have been, or will be made, redundant or retrenched or
• If none of the above are not available, a signed declaration by the Job Seeker in the Evidence of Eligibility and Student Declaration Form stating they are unemployed.

Under the JobTrainer initiative, Training Providers can enrol individuals into Skills First funded programs even if:

• They do not meet the upskilling requirement and/or
• They do not meet the “two at a level in a lifetime” limit.

If an individual is enrolled in a full course under JobTrainer, Training Providers must charge the concession tuition fee (20% of the standard published tuition fee), even if the individual does not hold a concession card. This applies to enrolments at any AQF level. As a result of this, the Department will pay a contribution for tuition revenue foregone.

Training Providers should enrol students in JobTrainer as they would for any other Skills First enrolment. Like any other Skills First enrolment, participation in JobTrainer will affect a student’s future Skills First eligibility. TAFEs and Learn Locals should note that JobTrainer activity will not be included in the calculation of the calendar year eligibility exemptions.

JobTrainer enrolments must be reported to SVTS using the following Funding Source Identifier – State Training Authority:

• JFP for JobTrainer – Non-Apprenticeship-Traineeship
• JFL for JobTrainer – Traineeship.

At the same time, the Eligibility Exemption Indicator must be set to “Yes”. This must also be reflected in the Evidence of Eligibility and Student Declaration Form where the individual must be deemed as eligible for zero funded courses and the eligibility exemption checkbox must be ticked. Fee Exemption/Concession must be reported as normal and where the JobTrainer student is not eligible for a normal concession it must be reported as “Z” none. When this is reported with a JobTrainer Funding Source Identifier (JFP or JFL), it will trigger the payment of a concessional contribution payment.

Training Providers must remember that JobTrainer commencements cannot be reported before 25th November. Here is a number of recommended actions that your organisation should consider taking if you have chosen to participate in the JobTrainer initiative:

1. Familiarise yourself with all the JobTrainer documentation released on SVTS, especially with the “Deciding how to report JobTrainer students” Fact Sheet
2. Communicate the initiative requirements to all staff involved in the pre-screening, enrolment and reporting process (Sales Officers, Enrolment Officers, Authorised Delegates, Administrators)
3. Incorporate the JobTrainer guidelines into the related documented business processes (e.g. Pre-Training Review and Enrolment Procedure, Marketing and Advertising Procedure, Fees and Charges Policy etc.)
4. Update your Evidence of Eligibility and Student Declaration Form to include all questions applicable to the JobTrainer initiative in line with the newest version of the Guidelines about Determining Student Eligibility and Supporting Evidence
5. Check with your SMS vendor on whether your Student Management System can support the reporting of JobTrainer reporting, most SMS vendors are currently working on updating their products to include the JobTrainer Funding Source Identifier
6. Develop an internal process which will assist you with tracking the number of JobTrainer commencements (e.g. SMS custom report) and implement a procedure for monitoring and updating all staff involved in the enrolment process on these numbers.