3.11.14.30 Participation payment suspensions, connection failures, non-attendance failures, reconnection failures & penalties

Introduction

The RAES commenced on 1 November 2025, replacing the CDP. The service operates in RAES regions (formerly known as CDP regions). The RAES supports participants with the skills, mentoring and training they need to take up job opportunities, including those created through the Remote Jobs and Economic Development (RJED) program. Relevant information is being continually updated in the Social Security Guide.

This section concerns information on participation payment suspensions, connection failures, non-attendance failures, reconnection failures and penalties under the compliance arrangements set out in SS(Admin)Act Part 3 Division 3A (otherwise known as the Job Seeker Compliance Framework). These arrangements only apply to job seekers on participation payments who are declared program participants (that is, RAES participants) under the Social Security (Declared Program Participant) Determination 2025.

Participation payment suspensions & non-attendance failures for failure to attend an appointment with an employment services provider

A participant can be required to attend an appointment with an employment services provider, Services Australia or a third party organisation under SS(Admin)Act section 63 or as a term of their Job Plan. There are different consequences for non-attendance, depending on who the appointment is with.

If a participant fails to attend an appointment with their employment services provider and the provider decides to report this to Services Australia, the participant's participation payment becomes immediately non-payable (that is, their participation payment is suspended), and any payment due to the job seeker but not yet paid, including payment for any period prior to the failure to attend, is withheld. Once the participant attends a further appointment (or agrees to attend an appointment) with their provider their payment is restored from the date it was suspended (that is, they are fully back paid, although a penalty may subsequently apply - see below).

This further appointment is a reconnection requirement, which must be within 2 business days of contact taking place with the participant, otherwise the payment suspension is lifted.

If the participant has no reasonable excuse for the initial failure, or failed to give prior notice of a reasonable excuse when it was reasonable to expect them to do so, a non-attendance failure may also be applied. The participant then loses one-tenth of their fortnightly participation payment for each weekday from and including the day they were notified or were deemed to have been notified of the failure until the day before they attend the reconnection appointment. (See below for more detail on the calculation of the daily rate for non-attendance failure penalties). The non-attendance failure period also ends if:

• a reconnection appointment cannot be arranged to occur within 2 business days of contact with the participant
• the reconnection appointment is rescheduled
• the participant is no longer required to attend a reconnection appointment, or
• the delegate determines that an alternative, earlier, end date will apply.

Failure to attend the further appointment may again result in immediate suspension of payment. Failure to attend the further appointment without giving prior notice of a reasonable excuse can result in a reconnection failure, which means the participant immediately enters a reconnection failure period (see below).

Note: If the purpose of any appointment with an employment services provider (including an initial or usual appointment or a reconnection appointment) cannot be achieved due to the behaviour of the participant at that appointment then a payment suspension can occur or a non-attendance failure can be applied, even though the participant has attended the appointment. (Poor behaviour in this context does not include failure to enter into a Job Plan, as that is dealt with under the connection failure provisions - see below).

Attendance at the premises of a provider does not count as attendance at the appointment if the provider, for good reason, does not conduct the appointment.

Connection failures - overview

A participant will incur a connection failure if, without a reasonable excuse, they:

• fail to attend a compulsory appointment with a third party organisation
• fail to enter into a Job Plan where the participant is already in receipt of payment, or
• fail to meet job search requirements.

There is no financial penalty for a connection failure. Instead, the participant is given a reconnection requirement. The nature of the reconnection requirement is determined by the type of connection failure the participant has committed. A connection failure also contributes towards the count of failures used to determine whether a participant has committed a serious failure due to persistent non-compliance.

If the participant, without reasonable excuse, does not meet the reconnection requirement a reconnection failure period will commence (see below).

Connection failure for failure to attend an appointment

If a participant fails to attend an appointment other than an appointment with an employment services provider (for example, an initial appointment with a Skills for Education and Employment Program (SEE) provider) and the employment services provider decides to report that to Services Australia, or the participant fails to attend a participation-related appointment with Services Australia, the participant's payment is withheld and is reinstated once the participant agrees to attend a reconnection appointment.

If the participant did not give prior notice of a reasonable excuse for their failure to attend the initial appointment, then a connection failure is also applied unless it was unreasonable for the participant to give such prior notice.

Connection failure for failing to enter into a Job Plan

Note: A Job Plan is an EPP under social security law (3.11.2).

A participant currently in receipt of an income support payment will incur a connection failure if they fail to enter into a Job Plan without a reasonable excuse. Payment will be restored once they agree to attend a reconnection appointment at which they will be given another chance to enter into a Job Plan. A second consecutive refusal to enter into a Job Plan may result in a loss of qualification and cancellation, rather than the application of a second failure, unless the instances are separate and relate to different Job Plans.

Where payment is cancelled, the participant will need to reclaim their payment and demonstrate their qualification before they can be paid again. Arrears for the period of cancellation are not payable due to the lack of qualification.

A failure for refusing to enter into a Job Plan cannot be applied if the terms of the Job Plan were unlawful or unreasonable for the participant, given their circumstances.

Connection failure for job search-related failure

Job search efforts are checked by employment services providers and unsatisfactory efforts can be reported to Services Australia. A participant will incur a job search-related connection failure if Services Australia agrees with the provider's assessment that the participant's efforts have been unsatisfactory and no reasonable excuse exists. Unsatisfactory efforts include:

• failing to undertake the required number of job searches in a period as required by their Job Plan
• looking for work in too narrow a field
• falsifying job search efforts
• failing to act on a referral from their provider to a specific job, or
• submitting poor quality job applications.

Exception: PP participants cannot incur connection failures for not meeting job search requirements.

Reconnection requirements & failures - general

Where a participant fails to attend an appointment with their provider (regardless of whether or not they had a reasonable excuse), and their provider decides to report that to Services Australia, their provider will book a rescheduled appointment, which will be a reconnection requirement. If the participant incurs a connection failure for failing to attend a participation-related appointment with Services Australia, failing to enter into a Job Plan or failing to comply with the job search requirements in their Job Plan without a reasonable excuse, Services Australia will generally issue the participant with a reconnection requirement. Services Australia will generally also book the reconnection appointment where the provider submits a report due to non-attendance at a specialist or third party provider appointment, regardless of whether a connection failure is applied.

The reconnection requirement will depend on the circumstances but will be:

• attendance at a further appointment, for participants who have missed an appointment, or
• attendance at a further appointment to enter into a Job Plan, for participants who have failed to enter into a Job Plan.

When the reconnection requirement is to attend a further appointment, it can be on the same day as the contact is made with the participant to discuss the failure to attend the initial appointment, if this is reasonable and will present no difficulties for the participant. Additionally, a reconnection appointment can be undertaken over the phone where this is the most suitable method of re-engaging the participant and suits the sorts of services to be delivered during the appointment. If an appointment cannot be arranged to occur within 2 business days of contact with the participant, the participant's payment, if suspended, must be restored with back pay and any non-attendance failure period must be ended.

A reconnection failure occurs if the participant fails to meet their reconnection requirement without a reasonable excuse. They then immediately enter a reconnection failure period and need to meet a further reconnection requirement.

If the participant has a reasonable excuse for failing to meet their reconnection requirement, they do not incur a reconnection failure, but they will usually be given another reconnection requirement.

If a participant has incurred a connection failure for refusing to enter into a Job Plan and has been given a reconnection requirement to attend a further appointment to enter into a Job Plan, they may incur a reconnection failure for not attending the appointment. However, if they attend but refuse to enter into a Job Plan or, when discussing their failure to attend they indicate that they still do not want to enter into a Job Plan, the provider should report this to Services Australia and, if Services Australia finds they had no reasonable excuse, Services Australia should cancel the participant's payment.

Reconnection failure period

During the reconnection failure period, the participant loses one-tenth of their fortnightly participation payment for each weekday from and including the day the failure occurred until:

• the day before the day on which they meet their further reconnection requirement, or
• if they have a reasonable excuse for not meeting the further reconnection requirement, the day before the day on which they were supposed to meet the further reconnection requirement.

Participants with a reasonable excuse for non-attendance at a further reconnection requirement will usually be given another reconnection requirement.

Further reconnection requirements - general

For participants who have incurred a reconnection failure for failing to attend an appointment, the further reconnection requirement will be another requirement to attend an appointment.

A participant who fails on a second consecutive occasion to meet a requirement to enter a Job Plan should have their payment cancelled so no further reconnection requirement needs to be given.

If a person who is in a reconnection failure period has a requirement to attend a CCA, then that becomes their further reconnection requirement and they can only end the reconnection failure period by attending the CCA.

If a participant fails to comply with a further reconnection requirement without a reasonable excuse, and if the failure is reported by their provider, or if they fail to meet a Services Australia reconnection requirement without a reasonable excuse, they will incur another reconnection failure and be given a further reconnection requirement and will remain in a reconnection failure period.

If a participant fails to meet a further reconnection requirement but has a reasonable excuse for doing so, the reconnection failure period ends on the day before the participant failed to meet the further reconnection requirement. The participant would then need to meet another reconnection requirement and may remain suspended until they do so. The participant would enter another reconnection failure period if they failed to meet that requirement without having a reasonable excuse.

Similarly, if a participant contacts with a reasonable excuse prior to a reconnection appointment and the appointment is rescheduled, the reconnection failure period ends on the day before the participant contacts. The participant would still be required to attend the rescheduled reconnection requirement and would enter another reconnection failure period if they failed to meet that requirement without having a reasonable excuse.

Continued failure to comply with a requirement to reconnect may also result in a loss of qualification for payment due to the ongoing failure to meet mutual obligation requirements. Where the person has been required to reconnect but has still not reconnected 4 weeks after first being required to do so, their payment may be cancelled.

Where payment is cancelled in the above circumstances, the participant will need to reclaim their payment and demonstrate their qualification before they can be paid again. Arrears for the period of cancellation are not payable due to the lack of qualification.

Reconnection & non-attendance failure penalties - daily penalty rate

For each weekday of a reconnection failure period or non-attendance failure period, the participant will lose the equivalent of one working day's rate of basic participation payment, including ES, and the pro rata amount of any participation related supplement. While the duration of the 2 penalty periods is calculated differently, the penalty amount for each day in either period is calculated in the same way.

Note: The applicable penalty amount is the sum of the daily penalty rates for each weekday in the reconnection failure period.

In a fortnightly instalment period this is one-tenth of their participation payment for the pay period for each weekday they remain in the reconnection failure period, or non-attendance failure period, one-tenth of any fortnightly ES paid (see note) and one-tenth of any participation-related supplement. A participation-related supplement is the additional payment a participant gets under social security law for participating in some activities including SEE.

Note: The ES may be paid either fortnightly or quarterly. If a participant is receiving the ES on a fortnightly basis, paid with their fortnightly participation payment, the ES is included when calculating any penalty amount. If the ES is paid on a quarterly basis, it is a separate payment and is not included in or affected by any reconnection penalties or non-attendance failure penalties.

The calculation of the amount does not include add-on payments such as RAA, pension supplement, RA, PhA, YDS, MOB, PES, TAL and UA. The penalty does not affect a participant's access to a HCC or FTB. The penalty amount cannot be greater than the participant's payment for the period in which the failures occurred.

The calculation method for a reconnection penalty is detailed in the Social Security (Administration) (Penalty Amount) Determination 2025.