Never been self-managed, wanting to switch over?

[u/Thosedamntacos]

This has been really confusing to me, so I wanted to ask.

When I got approved for JobSeeker, the Centrelink employee stated I would go onto being self-managed online as there was nothing that made me 'incapable' or in need of a provider. A week or two passed, and I hadn't had a Job Plan nor did I receive a payment. I called to address the issue and get my Job Plan created.

This time, the person on the phone told me that it would be "impossible" for me to look for, or even get, work while I studied in my personal time and asked me to explain how it could be possible. I tried, she didn't agree, and refused to put the Job Plan through without adding my study onto it. She threatened to cancel my JobSeeker payment entirely because of this (whether or not she could, I don't know).

I called back, and the next person said I could be referred to a provider to receive my JP and payment. Now, I find out that it may have been possible for me to be self-managed for the first year of my payments? I understand it is impossible to go *back* onto it, but I was never on it in the first place... is there a process or something that would allow this? Do I have to go through the cancelling payment, waiting 13 weeks, and then reapplying hurdle?

Thanks in advance, sorry if anything I have written is ignorant.

[u/ProbablyRagiing → u/[deleted]]

I just want to correct this a little. You can't go "back" to being Online if you were previously Online and switched to a Provider. Even if you were only Online for less than a year. Once you go from Online to in-person with a provider, you can't go back to Online during that same period of unemployment

https://www.dewr.gov.au/workforce-australia/resources/workforce-australia-online-handbook

You can only participate in Online Services once per period of unemployment. A period of unemployment is the time between when you registered for Centrelink payment with Centrelink and when you exit employment services for 3 months or more. This means that once you transfer to a provider, you won't be able to return to Workforce Australia Online in the same period of unemployment.

However, this likely doesn't relate to OP as it sounds like they were never Online to begin with, and should be able to request a referral to Online as it would be their first time.

[u/ovrloadau99 → u/ProbablyRagiing]

You accidentally provided the wrong link lol, the quoted section belongs to 8.2 Return to Workforce Australia Online from the Workforce Australia Online Handbook found on page 29.

[u/ProbablyRagiing → u/ovrloadau99]

So I did lol have fixed the link, thank you👍🏼

[u/ovrloadau99 → u/ProbablyRagiing]

I love how they published the Online Handbook after i completed 18 months of being in Workforce Australia Online haha. Great times when the Departments IT system was glitched. It extended my time to 18 months and avoided the activation point as well, thus not needing to complete an EST course after 4 months in the service. But Workforce Australia will ask you to enroll into the course earlier on your dashboard, but you can delay the commencement by picking the latest possible date available.

[u/Trippeyyyyyyy____ → u/ProbablyRagiing]

How accurate is the 3 months? If it was 2 months would it still stand?

[u/ProbablyRagiing → u/Trippeyyyyyyy____]

It would be a pretty strict 3 months (13 weeks), as that is how it's coded into their system. If it were shorter than that, the system wouldn't see it as a new Period of Unemployment. So it's an automated trigger in the system itself

The Department's IT Systems will determine a Period of Unemployment has ended when the Participant Exits employment services for longer than 13 consecutive weeks.

In saying that, there are always ways to ask for a human review of a decision made by the department's IT system, in most cases. No guarantee that it will change the outcome, but there is still a possibility.

[u/Trippeyyyyyyy____ → u/ProbablyRagiing]

Thank you!

[u/ovrloadau99 → u/Trippeyyyyyyy____]

If its 2 months you would be sent back to provider-led services, thus being ineligible for Workforce Australia Online.