Timing

  • The Employer Support Payment only applies for an eligible employee commencing employment on or after 1 July 2016.
  • The Youth Boost Payment only applies for an eligible employee commencing employment between 1 December 2016 and 31 October 2017 (inclusive).

 

Eligibility

  • The Youth Boost Payment is only available for employers hiring a jobseeker aged above 15 and below 25 on the date that they commence employment.
  • The Youth Boost Payment amount does not increase for an employee who has been unemployed for 52 weeks or more.
  • The Employer Support Payment amount will be increased to the long term unemployed amount, on a pro-rata basis, only for an employee who has been unemployed for 52 weeks or more at the commencement date of initial employment with the eligible employer.
  • If the eligible employee is employed for an average of between 20 and 35 hours of employment per week, or 8 and 35 hours per week for a person with a disability with an approved work assessment, you will be paid 75% of the relevant Employer Support Payment or Youth Boost Payment.
  • Where this employment is provided for a person with a disability, the person is to be engaged in the mainstream workforce.
  • A Payment may not be claimed for casual employees, contractors, subcontractors, consultants or similar third party employment arrangements.
  • The eligible employee must not displace any existing workers.

 

Lodgement of application

  • An employer can only lodge one application for each eligible employee.
  • An application for an eligible employee must be lodged after the completion of four weeks of employment and within 12 weeks from the day that the eligible employee commences employment.
  • A Payment will be paid only if your application is approved.
  • The Department administering the Payments (“the Department”) can refuse your application if you do not meet the eligibility criteria, if funding for the Payment is no longer available, or if the program has been discontinued. The Department will publish information on its website if funding for the Back to Work Program is no longer available, or the program has been discontinued.

 

Youth Boost second payment claim

  • The claim for the second payment must be lodged within 12 weeks from the day the eligible employee completed 26 weeks of continuous employment with you.
  • If employment ceases prior to completing the 26 weeks of employment with you, you do not need to return payments already received, but will be ineligible for the second and final payments.

 

Final Employer Support and Youth Boost payment claims

  • The claim for the final payment must be lodged within 12 weeks from the day the eligible employee completed 52 continuous weeks of employment with you.
  • The final payment will only be paid upon confirmation of eligibility including that the employee is still employed by you and has been in continuous employment with you for 52 weeks from their commencement date and a commitment to continued employment is provided.
  • If employment ceases prior to completing the 12 month term of continuous employment with you, you do not need to return payments already received, but will be ineligible for the final payment.

 

Other requirements

  • All Queensland Government grants programs are subject to audit. All records related to any claims made by you under this program must be kept for a period of seven years after lodging your claim and provided to the Department on request.
  • If it is determined that you are not eligible for any payment you received, you must repay the Department any payment you were not entitled to.
  • The employer’s business details, such as the ABN provided, may be used by the Department to cross‑reference existing information held for internal reporting and compliance purposes.

 

Privacy Collection Notice for the Back to Work Application Form

 

The Back to Work Regional Employment Package is a whole of Government initiative. The information collected on this form will be used by the Queensland Government for the purposes of assessing your eligibility for, administering, monitoring and promotion of the Back to Work Program. The Queensland Government may provide the information contained in the form to relevant Commonwealth agencies for the purposes of administering and monitoring the Back to Work Regional Employment Package. The personal information contained in this form will not be disclosed to any other third party unless with consent or as required by law. All personal information will be managed in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009.

 

Details of successful applicants may be provided to Members of Parliament and used in the Program’s promotional material, media releases, annual reports and on the Queensland Government Investment Portal.