What is the Back to Work Regional Employment Package?
The Back to Work Regional Employment Package is a program that provides regional Queensland businesses with a payment when they employ eligible unemployed job seekers.
Background
Back to Work Regional Employment Package supports regional Queensland businesses when they employ eligible unemployed jobseekers.
This program is offered in the following regions:
- Wide Bay Burnett
- North Queensland
- Far North Queensland
- Mackay / Whitsunday
- Central Queensland
- North West Queensland
- South West Queensland
Funding
The amount of payment offered varies depending on the type of worker employed:
- job seeker unemployed for between 4 – 52 weeks – $10,000
- job seeker unemployed for 52 weeks or more – $15,000
- youth (aged 15-24 years) – $20,000
From 1 July 2017, eligible employers may claim a maximum of 5 Back to Work regional initial payment applications.
Eligibility
To be eligible, the job offered to the worker must be:
- mainly located in regional Queensland (excluding South East Queensland)
- ongoing paid full-time (at least 35 hours per week on average), or
- ongoing paid part-time (at least 20 hours per week on average), or
- a registered and eligible Queensland full-time or part-time apprenticeship, or
- for a person with a disability who has a workplace assessment to work between 8 and 20 hours per week, hours consistent with their approved benchmark
Eligible employees must:
- be a permanent resident of Australia and live in Queensland
- not have displaced an existing worker
- have been unemployed for at least 4 weeks directly before starting
- not be a full-time student
- not have worked for the employer in the 12 months directly before starting the current role with the employer
Timing
Applications open on an ongoing basis.
