News and updates
Important update to the Productivity Places Program - Job Seekers
We regret to announce that, effective Tuesday 9th September 2008, Phase II of this program became over-subscribed without notice. This means that all contracted Registered Training Organisations who were processing applications in good faith are now obliged to advise all eligible applicants of the following changes to the program:
- only Certificate III qualifications are being funded at this time
- only applicants referred by an Employment Service Provider have a chance of obtaining a funded place
- no self-referrals can be accepted at this time (this includes "JSS" and "JSSO" referrals from Job Search Agencies)
- there are only 15,000 places being issued each month at the moment, with the September quota already fully utilised in all States; further funding is expected to vanish quickly when released on the 1st of each subsequent month
- applicants who were being processed prior to the "IT problem" on Tuesday 9th September will not be approved unless they meet Criteria 1 and 2 above
We sincerely regret having to pass on this news and apologise to all of those individuals who contacted us in good faith. Unfortunately, no one advised us prior to this event to let us know that places were likely to run out or what arrangements were being put in place by the government to better manage this process. This has inconvenienced thousands of people (job seekers, contract trainers hired specifically for PPP programs and other RTO staff) around Australia.
We do know that ACPET is arranging a meeting with the Federal Government to raise member concerns with those responsible for managing this program. As further updates become available, we will keep you informed via our website.
Last updated on September 18, 2008