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Supported Living Payment : Contents

Work obligations - partners

Full-time work obligations apply to:

  • partners with no dependent children and
  • partners with a youngest dependent child aged 14 years or over

Part-time work obligations apply to:

  • partners with a youngest dependent child aged between 3 and 13 years

Partners with work obligations must:

  • be available for, and take reasonable steps to obtain, suitable employment
  • accept any offer of suitable employment, including temporary employment or seasonal employment

Note suitable employment can include employment that contains and employment trial.

  • attend and participate in an interview for any opportunity of suitable employment to which the partner is referred
  • when required to attend and participate in any interview with Work and Income or on behalf of Work and Income
  • when required to undertake planning for employment
  • report to Work and Income on progress in meeting their work obligations as often as required and
  • when required by Work and Income, undertake any activity to improve their work readiness and employment prospects, including:
    • any work assessment
    • any programme or seminar
    • any work experience or work exploration activity
    • any employment related training
    • rehabilitation (but not medical treatment)

Partners aged 16 to 19 years old

Young partners (aged 16 to 19 years old) of clients receiving Supported Living Payment have youth activity obligations and not work or work preparation obligations if they are:

  • aged 16 to 17 years old without dependent children or
  • aged 16 to 19 years old with a dependent child or children and
  • married to, or in a civil union or in a de facto relationship with a person receiving Supported Living Payment

See:

Youth activity obligations

Suitable employment

Partners with full-time work obligations must be available for, and take reasonable steps to find, suitable employment of at least 30 hours or more per week.

Partners with part-time work obligations must be available for, and take reasonable steps to find, suitable employment of at least 20 hours per week.

However, if suitable employment is available for hours other than 20 or 30 hours per week (as applicable), the partner can be required to accept an offer of this job.

Work obligations can be applied on any day of the week provided it is suitable for the partner's circumstances.

To help you decide if the job is suitable for the partner see:

Failing to comply

If a partner does not meet their work obligations, without a good and sufficient reason, you should initiate an obligations failure.

You should consider the partner's individual circumstances before referring them to a job or an activity, to ensure that they can realistically meet their obligations.

For more information see:

Legislation

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Any paid employment up to but not including 91 days.