Chapter 3. Exploring Self-Employment Workshops

Supporting Documents for this Chapter:

• Exploring Self-Employment Workshops Content Guide

Exploring Self-Employment Workshops (Workshops) help Participants to make informed decisions about whether to pursue self-employment.

This Chapter outlines the objectives and essential content of Workshops, specifies how Providers should assist Participants to access Workshops, and identifies how Providers can flexibly deliver Workshops to meet local needs.

The Provider must ensure that Workshops help Participants to:

• gain a better understanding of what is involved when starting a business

• generate a business idea (if required)

• validate their business idea, and

• make an informed decision as to whether self-employment is right for them.

(Deed Reference(s): Clause 86.1)

All Participants who meet the Participant eligibility criteria identified in the Referrals, Eligibility and Onboarding chapter are eligible to participate in a Workshop.

Participants can participate in a Workshop more than once; however the Workshop Fee is only payable once every 12 months per Participant. This applies regardless of which Provider delivered the Workshop.

Note: A Participant can be placed in Small Business Training while they are completing a Workshop.

(Deed Reference(s): Clause 86.2)

Once a Participant and a Provider agree that the Participant is Eligible to participate in a Workshop, the Participant should be placed in the next available Workshop.

• System step — Participants accessing a Workshop must be placed into a Workshop activity in the Department’s IT Systems.

• System step — Placing a Participant in a Workshop activity in the Department’s IT Systems with an activity placement status of ‘Placement Confirmed’ will, where appropriate, trigger payment of the Workshop Fee and use a Workshop Place. The Workshop Fee can only be paid for a Participant once in a 12-month period.

(Deed Reference(s): Clauses 86.2, 95)

Placing a Participant with a ‘veteran’ special placement flag in a Workshop

In addition to the Places allocated to each Provider for Workshops, there is a separate national pool of places that may only be used by Participants with the ‘veteran’ special placement flag. These Places may be accessed by any Provider each Financial Year, and will have:

• 150 places in 2022-23,

• 130 places in 2023-24, and

• 130 places in 2024-25.

• System step — Placing a Participant with the ‘veteran’ special placement flag in a Workshop activity in the Department’s IT Systems with an activity placement status of ‘Placement Confirmed’ will, where appropriate, trigger payment of the Workshop Fee.

Providers are responsible for delivering at least 25 hours of content over the course of a Workshop to Participants. Unless otherwise specified by the Department, the 25 hours of content must be delivered in an interactive, real-time learning environment where Workshop Participants can easily interact with each other and the Personnel delivering the Workshop.

Workshops should be delivered to Participants over the course of one week, however, Providers may deliver Workshops over a longer period (up to a maximum of 3 weeks) to ensure that Workshops are accessible to Participants with part-time availability.

Providers have the flexibility to choose the delivery method for Workshops that most effectively:

• achieves the objectives of Workshops (see Workshop Objectives)

• maximises the Provider’s usage of Workshop Places, and

• ensures that Workshops are accessible, including to Participants with limited access to the internet and to Participants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Regardless of the delivery method chosen, Providers must ensure that Workshops provide Participants with opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and, for those who request it, one-on-one support.

(Deed Reference(s): Clause 86.3)

If a Provider is concerned with a Participant’s progress through a Workshop, they should arrange a meeting with the Participant and/or inform the Participant’s Other Program Provider (if applicable). If the Provider determines that a Participant is repeatedly failing to satisfactorily engage with the Workshop, the Provider must advise the Participant that they can no longer participate in the activity. If the Participant is registered with an Other Program Provider, the Provider must inform the Other Program Provider of the Participant’s exit from the Workshop.

(Deed Reference(s): Clause 82.4)

Providers must ensure that Workshops cover the matters specified in the Exploring Self-Employment Workshops Content Guidesign-in required (sign-in required), unless otherwise agreed to by the Department in writing.

To ensure that Workshops are delivered effectively, Providers should ensure that the Personnel delivering the Workshop maintain a current understanding of:

• key stakeholders in the relevant small business ecosystem(s), and

• labour force needs, emerging industries and skills shortages, to better support Participants to generate and validate business ideas.

Alternative delivery plans

Providers may develop and submit to the Department proposals for alternative approaches to the delivery of Workshops that deviate from the standard approach specified in this Guideline and in the Exploring Self-Employment Workshops Content Guidesign-in required (sign-in required).

Alternative delivery plans may propose changes to:

• the topics and matters specified in the Content Guide, and/or

• the duration of Workshops.

The Department will consider the suitability of alternative delivery plans by considering whether the proposed plan:

• continues to achieve the objectives of Workshops (see 3.2.1 – Workshop Objectives)

• maximises the Provider’s usage of Workshop Places, and

• ensures that Workshops are accessible, including to Participants with limited access to the internet and to Participants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

The Department will, at its absolute discretion, approve or deny each alternative delivery plan in writing.

Following the Department’s approval of an alternative delivery plan, a Provider may deliver Workshops in accordance with that alternative delivery plan unless otherwise instructed by the Department. Providers with an approved alternative delivery plan may also choose to deliver a Workshop according to the Department’s prepared content where they believe this will better achieve the objectives of Workshops than their alternative delivery plan.

(Deed Reference(s): Clause 86.3)

On or before the Workshop completion date, the Provider must have informed each Participant who participated in the Workshop of any local services that may be appropriate for their needs. These may include:

• another Service delivered by the Provider that may be relevant

• small business services delivered by other entities

• websites with relevant information, including business.gov.au and the Workforce Australia website

• referring Participants who decide that self-employment is not for them to other employment services, where relevant, for other vocational and non-vocational support.

If requested by the Participant, the Provider must agree to meet with the Participant one-on-one to discuss possible next steps for the Participant’s pathway to self-employment.

• System step — Following the completion of a Workshop, the Provider must record the completion date and outcome for each Participant’s activity placement.

The Provider is nominally allocated Places for Exploring Self-Employment Workshops at an Employment Region level, although these Places may be used in any of the Provider’s Employment Regions. The Provider must, however, consider the impact of exceeding their nominal Place allocation for any Employment Regions for Exploring Self-Employment Workshops, as doing so may negatively impact the performance of their other contracted Employment Region(s) under KPI 1B. Providers should keep track of how many Places they are utilising in each Employment Region. This is to ensure that they are balancing the overall allocated numbers across all Employment Regions that they are contracted to operate. For more information see the Performance Framework Chapter.

See Flexible usage of Places for Business Health Checks and Business Advice Sessions for examples of flexible usage.