Why are the costs of the Employability Skills Training (EST) course not funded by the department?
MTC Australia receives funding as part of our core service offering to help ensure that our customers have the job search skills they need and the employability skills that employers want.
Training Block 1, our Introductory and Generalist Employability Skills Training (EST) courses, which cover employability and job search skills, is considered a core service offering of employment services providers and is therefore fully fee for service ($1,250 per participant).
As Training Block 2, our Specialist EST course, focuses on industry-specific training that is not a core servicing requirement for employment services providers, the government subsidises this training (for employment services providers other than DES), so the fee for service is lowered to $300.
MTC Australia must charge referring employment services provider (excluding Yarrabah) the applicable EST fee (listed in the table below) if we accept a referral for an EST customer.
The EST fee for service cannot be paid for out of the Employment Fund, referring providers must use their own funds.
| Training Block 1 | Training Block 2 | |||||
| Employment Service (Referral Source) | EST Charge | Commencement Payment | Final Payment | EST Charge | Commencement Payment | EST Charge |
| Workforce Australia Services Online | N/A | $875 | $375 | N/A | $875 | $375 |
| Yarrabah | N/A | $875 | $375 | N/A | $875 | $375 |
| Workforce Australia Employment Services | $1,250 | N/A | N/A | $300 | $575 | $375 |
| Transition to Work | $1,250 | N/A | N/A | $300 | $575* | $375* |
| Disability Employment Services | $1,250 | N/A | N/A | $1,250 | N/A | N/A |
EST Charge – Fee that the referring provider pays upfront prior to commencement. Note that the fee cannot be paid for out of the Employment Fund – referring providers must pay the EST Charge from their own funds.
Commencement Payment – Fee paid by the department to the EST provider upon the participant’s commencement of the course.
Final Payment – Fee paid by the department to the EST provider if the participant meets the requirements for completion.