[Sub ID 4428] Embed employment coordinators in existing parental support services (Policy Hack Table 9)

Submission ID: 4428
Organisation name: Policy Hack Table 9 (Young Parents)

Which priority group of the Try, Test and Learn Fund does your idea support?
Young parents

What need or issue are you trying to address?
1) Services which currently assist young parents don’t always have an employment focus. This has been observed personally by those members of the Policy Hack team who have experience in delivering services to young parents.
2) In some circumstances, young parents receiving Parenting Payment may not be eligible for Australian Government employment services such as jobactive or Transition to Work. For example, young parents aged 22-24 are not eligible for Transition to Work, and if their youngest child is under the age of 6, they can access only limited assistance from jobactive. Eligibility for these services is set out in the links below. https://jobsearch.gov.au/jobseekerinfo/eligibleforjobactiveservices.aspx https://www.employment.gov.au/transition-work

What is your idea?
The proposal is to embed an Employment Coordinator in existing services dedicated to assisting young parents. The Employment Coordinator would be an employee of the existing service, and their role would be to:
•Help young parents to plan for work
•Help them to overcome vocational and non-vocational barriers to work, either through the organisation’s existing services (e.g. housing, child/family health) or through referral to work-related services (e.g. training).
•Coordinators would have access to a discretionary pool of funds to assist parents address these barriers
•Provide young parents with advice on education, training, employment and career options
•Work with existing employment services to identify opportunities for work, training or work experience
•Support parents as well as their employers and education/training organisations to improve sustainability of education and employment outcomes

If the Employment Coordinator refers a young parent to Australian Government employment services such as jobactive or Transition to Work, the parent would have immediate access to the full range of employment services and programs, including the National Work Experience Program, Youth Jobs PaTH internships, wage subsidies, and the Employment Fund (which can be used to pay for work-related expenses such as training, clothes, equipment, transport).