Regional Employment Trials

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The Regional Employment Trials creates an opportunity for local stakeholders in 10 eligible regions to deliver employment related projects.

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Application detail:

You can apply at any time.

What do you get?

Grants between $7500 and $200,000.

Who is this for?

Local government, RDA committees and incorporated entities such as businesses and not-for-profits who want to deliver employment projects in selected regions.

Overview

The objectives of the program are to deliver:

strong connections between regional stakeholders, including employment services providers
employment initiatives that meet local needs
improved awareness of local labour markets
the potential for improved regional employment outcomes

Your project must demonstrate that it:

provides opportunities and assistance to help unemployed people prepare for and find work
has at least $10,000 in eligible expenditure

You must complete your project before 30 June 2020.

Eligibility

What are the eligibility criteria?

To be eligible you must:

have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
implement the project in one of the eligible trial regions

And be one of the following entities:

an entity incorporated in Australia
a local government agency or body as defined in appendix A of the guidelines
a Regional Development Australia (RDA) committee

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Not eligible

Where are the eligible regions?

The 10 Regional Development Australia regions eligible are:

New South Wales

Northern Inland
Far South Coast

Victoria

Western Melbourne and North Western Melbourne Employment Regions
Gippsland

Queensland

Townsville Employment Region
Wide Bay Burnett

South Australia

Murraylands and Riverland
Yorke and Mid North

Western Australia

Peel

Tasmania

North and North Western Tasmania Employment Region

The eligible regions are also available in key documents:

appendix D of the grant opportunity guidelines
Regional Development Australia Regions and Contacts

Applying

How do you apply?

Before you consider applying, you should read the key documents:

grant opportunity guidelines
sample grant agreement

The guidelines provide detailed information on the grant opportunity, including:

granting activity objectives
all eligibility and merit criteria
assessment processes
reporting and acquittal requirements
a description of review mechanisms

To apply, you must:

complete and submit your application through the online portal
provide all the information requested
address all the eligibility and merit criteria
include all necessary documents and attachments

If you’re not an RDA committee or jointly applying with an RDA committee as a project partner, you’ll need to submit your project to the local RDA committee prior to completing the portal application.

In your application, you need to include the name of the jobactive, ParentsNext or Transition to Work employment services provider who is partnering on the project with you. They will complete a risk assessment as part of the grant agreement. Where your application includes a partnership with more than one provider, please also include their details in the Project Partners section of the application form.

When you're ready to submit your application, make sure you:

have the support of the local RDA committee
can supply completed and comprehensive supporting documentation
meet the eligibility and merit criteria

Apply now

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How do you submit your project to your local RDA committee?

Before you apply, you must submit information about your project to your local RDA committee using the RDA project proposal template under Key documents.

We strongly encourage you to contact your local employment facilitator to discuss your proposed project with them. Your employment facilitator will help guide you through the RDA assessment process to ensure your project aligns with local employment priorities.

How does the RDA committee assess your proposal?

The RDA committee will score your proposal out of 30, taking into account how the project aligns with local employment priorities. The RDA committee will provide you with written feedback using the template on the final page of RDA project proposal. You must attached this document to your full grant application.

What attachments do you need to apply?

We'll only accept the following documents with your application:

evidence from your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) that the project is supported, and that you can complete the project and meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding
your RDA committee project proposal assessment
letter of support from project partner organisations
trust deed (if applicable)

You don't need to provide the RDA committee assessment if you are an RDA committee or if an RDA committee is a project partner.

When you attached supporting documentation, make sure you only provide requested documents. We will not consider information in documents that we haven't requested.

How do we assess your application?

We assess your application against the eligibility criteria. Only eligible applications will proceed to the merit assessment stage. During the merit assessment, we also take the RDA assessment into consideration.

The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide in your application should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested. You should define, quantify and provide evidence to support your answers. The sample application form displays character limits.

Individual state managers within the Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business decides which grants to approve in their state. They take into account the application assessment and the availability of grant funds.

What are the merit criteria?

To be competitive, you must score at least 50% against each merit criterion:

Merit criterion 1: The extent to which the project will deliver employment outcomes in your region (30 points)
Merit criterion 2: The impact of grant funding on your project (20 points)
Merit criterion 3: Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (20 points)

If your project has an RDA committee project proposal assessment, the first merit criterion is worth 60 points.

What happens next?

If your application is successful, we'll email you and include any specific conditions attached to the grant offer.

Successful applicants must enter into a grant agreement with the Commonwealth. The grant agreement will specify the reporting requirements, payment schedule and milestones necessary to receive payments.

We'll make payments by direct credit into your nominated bank account.

If you are unsuccessful, we'll email you and give you an opportunity to discuss the outcome with us.

Key documents

A local approach to employment projects

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