Department of Education, Skills and Employment - Notice of a data matching program - 2021

Overview

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment has announced the implementation of a data matching program in 2021, as published in C2021G00708, to facilitate the administration of several measures aimed at supporting apprentices and trainees, specifically the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees (SAT), Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) and Australian Apprentice Wage Subsidy (AAWS) initiatives. This initiative, authorised by the relevant legislature, seeks to address gaps in the verification of employer eligibility and the accuracy of information provided in relation to these subsidy measures. The program will involve the electronic matching of data with the Australian Taxation Office to capture records relating to approximately 180,000 apprentices and trainees, 270,000 apprentices, and 90,000 employers, as well as information from the Training and Youth Internet Management System and SmartForms completed by employers. The policy objectives of this data matching program include confirming employer eligibility, validating employer-provided information, and ensuring that employers do not concurrently claim and receive other government payments for the same employees. This program adheres to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on data matching to safeguard individual privacy.

Scope and Application

The legislation in question, Gazetted as C2021G00708, pertains to the Department of Education, Skills and Employment's data matching program with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). This program is designed to support the administration of various initiatives, specifically the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees (SAT), Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC), and the Australian Apprentice Wage Subsidy (AAWS) measures. The data to be matched includes information about businesses employing apprentices, apprentices' records from the Training and Youth Internet Management System (TYIMS), and SmartForms completed by employers. The program targets approximately 180,000 apprentices and trainees, 90,000 employers for SAT, 270,000 apprentices and trainees for BAC, and 3,300 apprentices for AAWS. It encompasses a national scope, as it involves Commonwealth entities and their interaction with state and territory-level data. This data matching program aims to confirm employer eligibility for SAT, BAC, or AAWS, validate employer-provided information, and ensure no concurrent claims are made for the JobKeeper Payment or the JobMaker Hiring Credit concerning the same employees. The Department adheres to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on data matching, ensuring the protection of individual privacy, and a comprehensive privacy policy is available on the Department’s website.

Key Provisions

The primary operative sections of the Gazette C2021G00708 focus on the implementation of a data matching program by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment in collaboration with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to administer three specific measures: the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees (SAT) program, the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) program, and the Australian Apprentice Wage Subsidy (AAWS). Section 1 outlines the purpose of the data matching program, which is to confirm employer eligibility for the aforementioned measures and to validate the information provided by employers claiming these subsidies. Section 2 specifies the data sources that will be used in the matching process, including information from the Training and Youth Internet Management System (TYIMS), SmartForms completed by employers, and ATO data holdings. Section 3 addresses the estimated number of records affected, which includes around 180,000 apprentices and trainees and 90,000 employers for SAT, 270,000 apprentices and trainees for BAC, and 3,300 apprentices for AAWS. Under the provisions of the Gazette, the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, along with the ATO, has certain obligations and requirements to ensure the effective administration of the SAT, BAC, and AAWS programs. The most crucial requirement is to electronically match the specified data to confirm employer eligibility and validate information. The data matching program must be conducted in accordance with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on data matching in Australian government administration (2014), ensuring that privacy standards are met. Furthermore, the Department must ensure that employers claiming SAT, BAC, or AAWS have not concurrently claimed and received other government payments such as the JobKeeper Payment or the JobMaker Hiring Credit for the same employees. This is crucial for the integrity of the financial support systems and to prevent double-dipping. The Gazette also outlines the potential consequences for non-compliance with the data matching program and the underlying measures it supports. While the specific offences and penalties are not detailed within the Gazette itself, breaches of the conditions governing the SAT, BAC, and AAWS programs could lead to a variety of civil or criminal consequences. In the context of government subsidies and payments, non-compliance might result in the recovery of improperly received funds, which could be pursued through administrative or legal action. Additionally, if the data matching process reveals fraudulent activity or misuse of funds, this could lead to more severe penalties, including fines and potential criminal charges. The exact penalties would be dictated by the specific legislation governing the SAT, BAC, and AAWS programs, which may include maximum penalties for fraudulent claims or misrepresentation of information.