Determining Who is Work Eligible

The eligibility worker needs to know who to refer to work register. Cúram provides tools for this task. Income Support uses the output of CER rules to determine which clients must be referred. The Work Eligibility portion of CER rules determine for adults a status of Work Eligible or Not Work Eligible and a recommended Non Participation Reason, if any. The CER rules provide the following information:

• Work Eligible – A client determined Work Eligible by the CER rules does not have an exclusion from having to work register for Cash Assistance or Food Assistance. A client can be Work Eligible and have a Non Participation Reason at the same time.

• Not Work Eligible – A client determined Not Work Eligible by the CER rules meets regulations to not have to register at all for that program. Not Work Eligible is usually a permanent (or semi permanent) condition such as the client is disabled/incapacitated, caring for someone who is disabled/incapacitated, or someone who is aged. The reason for being Not Work Eligible is determined by rules and displayed as part of work eligibility.

• Non Participation Reason – A Non Participation Reason is a temporary reason why a client does not need to work register. Non Participation Reasons may be recommended for a client as part of CER rules based on evidence. If the recommended reason is acceptable to the eligibility worker, this worker creates Non Participation Reason evidence for the client.

There are separate CER sets for Work Eligibility for Cash Assistance and Food Assistance. Two rule areas of note relate to these concepts:

• CER Sanction Assessment rules look at Work Registration and Non Participation Reason evidence when determining if a client has work registered appropriately.

• If a client is determined Work Eligible and if a client does not have Work Registration evidence and a client has a Non Participation Reason that is in effect at the period of time when eligibility rules run, a sanction will not be recommended for the client.

Work eligible rules are run as part of an eligibility run and do not run again when a work eligible screen is accessed. The following types of information display:

• List of client names (all clients in household who don't have a work registration record and are not dependent children)

• Work Eligible Status (based on Work Eligibility rules run in Income Support)

• Not Work Eligible Reason (based on Work Eligibility rules run in Income Support)

• Non Participation Reason (based on existing Non Participation Reason evidence)

• Recommendation for Non Participation (based on Work Eligibility rules)

• Registration Status (whether a work registration record exists in evidence)

• Plan Exists (Yes/No)

For more information on the pre-defined Not Work Eligible Reasons, the pre-defined Non Participation Reasons, sanction assessment rules, and the work eligible rules, see the Cúram Income Support Cash Assistance Program Guide, the Cúram Income Support Food Assistance Program Guide, and the Cúram Evidence Guide.