Skills First Contract Update: Disallowed Persons

Disallowed Persons

A part of the Skills First contract that has always confused providers, the Disallowed Persons requirement states that a contracted RTO should not engage/employ/contact/deal with, a disallowed person.  What actually constitutes a disallowed person has always been ambiguous, but the more common complaint by Skills First providers is the lack of a national register (or equivalent), making it very difficult to determine whether someone can be classified as a disallowed person.

The current fact sheet provides clarity on the definition. A disallowed person can be:

• An individual; or
• An organisation

Disallowed Organisations

Disallowed organisations must have been an RTO that was subject to one of the actions described in the definition of disallowed person. Those actions being:

• Having had its registration status revoked, cancelled or suspended
• Having had restrictions imposed on its operations that would affect its ability to provide services equivalent to the “Training Services”

So…what are Training Services you may ask

Training Services

Training services can include:

• Student attraction activities (marketing and advertising)
• Provision of information to students (brokers, RTO delegates, etc.)
• Conducting PTR sessions
• Testing for eligibility
• Conducting enrolment sessions
• Developing or documenting the training plan
• Levying fees (including concessions, exemptions, waivers)
• Training/assessment delivery
• Collecting and maintaining evidence relating to all of the above points
• Data reporting activities (SVTS uploads, responding to SVTS enquiries)

Disallowed Individuals

Disallowed individuals must have been a “relevant person” at an RTO that was subject to one of the above actions. By definition, a “relevant person” would be someone who:

• Held a sufficiently high level within the disallowed organisation (determined as having exercised a material degree of control or influence over the management or direction of the organisation)

Our Compliance Tips

To ensure that your organisation addresses the disallowed persons requirement of the contract, we recommend the following:

• Ensure your employment process includes a requirement for you to conduct due diligence on the candidate’s employment history such as referencing public registers (like the one on the ASQA website)
• Ask your new employee to sign a declaration stating that they are not a disallowed person
• Retain evidence on the employee file demonstrating you undertook due diligence
• Ensure your staff understand the contractual requirements in relation to disallowed persons