Chapter 31. Licence Administration

The Workforce Australia Services licensing system aims to drive high quality service delivery and support employment outcomes for Participants.

Each Workforce Australia Services Licence is part of a Head Licence, which is formed when the Department issues a Work Order to a Panel Member. This Chapter contains information about how the Department will undertake Annual Licence Reviews and novations of Head Licences.

For the purposes of this Guideline, the Panel Member is referred to as ‘the Provider’ once it has been issued with a Head Licence. Being a Panel Member does not guarantee the issuance of a Head Licence.

The Deed provides that the Department will assess Provider performance, including through Licence Reviews. In February 2025, the Department finalised the first Workforce Australia Services Licence Review. All Workforce Australia Services Licences were assessed under the Licence Review, allowing the Department to consider performance and other factors related to each Licence held by a Provider to ensure the best possible service to participants.

Under the first Licence Review the range of factors considered included:

• Provider Performance Framework ratings;

• the requirements of the Deed;

• the Guidelines;

• the Service Guarantee;

• the Joint Charter;

• relevant Commonwealth and State or Territory Laws;

• financial viability;

• any other value for money considerations;

• representations from Providers made in the original response to the Request for Proposal (2021); and

• any other factors with a reasonable connection to performance of the Deed.

All Licence Review recommendations were made by experienced staff within the Department. An independent Probity Adviser supported the Licence Review to ensure it was conducted in a fair, transparent, accountable and defensible manner.

Should the Department commence any future Licence Review process, information will be given to Providers by the Department prior to its commencement.

Deeds and Head Licences are not transferrable (i.e. cannot be novated) when organisations sell their business/es without the Department’s agreement (in the form of a deed of novation).

Providers must not enter into any arrangement that might require the transfer (i.e. novation) of business under their Deed or Head Licence to another organisation, irrespective of whether that organisation is a Provider that is contracted to deliver Workforce Australia Services, or a Provider under any other deed the Department manages, without prior written approval from the Department. The Department’s approval is not guaranteed, and any timeframes requested by a Provider on the effective date of any legal instrument cannot be guaranteed.

The rights and obligations under the Deed and any Head Licence remain with the Provider until otherwise approved by the Department and the relevant legal instrument (i.e. a deed of novation) takes effect.

Where the Department considers that a Provider has failed to comply with its obligations regarding assignment and/or novation, the Department may potentially exercise its rights under clause 67 to terminate or reduce the scope of the Deed or the Provider’s Head Licence, which would include ending all relevant Licences.

(Deed Reference(s): Clause 60, 67)