Under the agreement, contracted Registered Training Organisations receive additional training subsidy for concession eligible students. The additional subsidy must be passed on to the relevant student in the form of low-fee training, in accordance with the Training Fee Framework.

Concession reimbursement is paid to the Registered Training Organisations who must either:

• pass on the full amount of the reimbursement to the Participant or
• at least, pass on the value of the reimbursement to the extent that the Participant pays a minimum Participant Course Fee of $0.25 per hour for undertaking the course.

From 15 October 2020 the amount payable for concession reimbursement and completion of a course changed. However, the formula for calculating subsidies payable, including the Concession Reimbursement Rate per hour, has not changed. For further information, see the Training Fee Framework.

Yes. Information on how to apply and the application form for a subsidy level review is located at Subsidy payments.

Qualifications and short courses have been identified based on industry skill needs, responding to economic conditions, upskilling opportunities and priorities raised through consultation including with the National Skills Commission. The list of qualifications and short courses is intended to be dynamic to meet changing needs. You are encouraged to contact us at skills@sa.gov.au if you wish to submit an application for a qualification or a short course to be added.

No, claims for accredited training will be processed through the normal monthly submission process.

Yes. Upon creation of a Training Account, you must indicate that the participant is eligible for concession by selecting ‘Yes’ on the field: ‘Eligible for Other Concession’. Setting the concessions fields correctly is important because it determines the concession reimbursement your organisation will receive, which it must pass on to the participant in the form of low fee training.

Set the ‘Eligible for Other Concessions’ field to ‘Yes’ if the participant is:

• Not employed and not enrolled in a secondary school; or
• Is aged 16 to 24 years old and not enrolled in a secondary school; or
• Is a prisoner in a South Australian correctional institution; or
• Enrolled in a Concession Eligible Course and not enrolled in a secondary school.

Effective 29 November 2021, holders of a Commonwealth Government Concession Card are now eligible for concession for the whole duration of their Training Account. Select a relevant Commonwealth Government Concession Card. Expiry date is no longer required. The User Guide to ‘Create Participant Profile and Training Account’ has been updated to reflect these changes. Further scenarios are also available in Table 1, (Question 31): Training Account Creation under JobTrainer.

Information about subsidies and student fees is provided in the Training Fee Framework.

Yes, Learner Support Services (LSS) are available for anyone undertaking accredited training on the Subsidised Training List.

Yes. All students applying for subsidised training must be assessed for their suitability, learning and support needs before enrolling, using the Up-front Assessment of Need (UAN) process. However, for skill sets the assessment of literacy and numeracy finishes with the short reading and numeracy assessment. See the UAN Guidelines under section 9.

Providers are invited to apply for Building Capability Projects (BCP) that can assist them to deliver more quality training. Funding will be considered on a per-project basis, based on the scope of activity. Further information is available in the BCP Project Guidelines .

No. JobTrainer funding is enabling Government to support low fee training. It builds on existing government subsidy arrangements and Skilling South Australia programs.

JobTrainer funding increases the Government subsidy to enable lower student fees. Access to low student fee courses was available from 15 October 2020. The partnership with the Commonwealth extends the arrangement until 31 December 2022 Funding for concessions to enable lower student fees will be supported while the funding is available.

Yes, providers will be required to submit a monthly report to the Department showing courses offered, courses fees and start dates in a specified format. This information will be provided to the National Careers Institute and made available on the My Skills website.

Providers only need to report on courses that are:
1) offered in South Australia; and
2) subsidised in South Australia (and therefore available under JobTrainer)

Providers are required to provide their course details in a defined format each month. The first completed template is due to be returned to the Department by 15 December 2021 and must be emailed to DIS.SkillsContracts@sa.gov.au

From January 2022, a monthly return is required to be forwarded to the Department by the last calendar day of each month. Email completed template to DIS.SkillsContracts@sa.gov.au

The course information must be provided using a standard template.

Providers should provide details of course fees/start dates for all subsidised courses offered in South Australia via the monthly report to the Department. You would not need to separately update the corresponding course fee/start date fields on My Skills.

However, providers retain the ability to edit other course details on My Skills (e.g. ‘Available campuses’) or toggle delivery of a course ‘on’ or ‘off’, using existing My Skills logins. Providers may also use their direct My Skills login to add course fee/start dates information for non-subsidised courses or courses offered interstate.

Providers must submit a monthly return, even if the information is the same as the previous month.

Clause 20 of the Training Schedule states that RTOs will publish their course details. The Department will work with providers to ensure compliance and only as a last resort would impose any limitations against existing contract arrangements. Training opportunities and support is available by contacting DIS.SkillsContracts@sa.gov.au or contact the Infoline on 1800 673 097.

No. It will not be necessary to separately report incidental fees as part of the monthly My Skills report.

Further information about incidental fees is available in Clause 20.1 of the Training Schedule.

Providers are required to enter a date (dd/mm/yyyy) in the 'Next start date' field of the monthly My Skills report for each course. If there is no specific intake date because students can apply at any time, please simply input the first calendar date of the next month.

If your organisation does not expect to offer any subsidised courses in South Australia in the foreseeable future, you would need to submit a ‘Nil to report’ notification to DIS.SkillsContracts@sa.gov.au prior to the last working day of each calendar month, in order to fulfil the My Skills reporting obligation.

Please make sure the monthly ‘Nil to report’ email to DIS.SkillsContracts@sa.gov.au includes the following subject line: My Skills Monthly Report - [current month] - [RTO Legal Name] - [RTO National Code]

The concession reimbursement for an eligible student undertaking a Certificate II course is available, as it is for all courses. The Registered Training Organisation will be reimbursed an additional $0.25 per payment hour for eligible concession students undertaking a Certificate II course.

Yes. Unless the course fee is specified by the Department for Innovation and Skills, the Registered Training Organisation will charge a minimum Participant Course Fee of $0.25 per hour. The Registered Training Organisation will not charge the Participant more than the specified amount for courses listed in Training Fee Framework - Attachment 3 Prescribed student fees or Fee Free if TGSS or ASBA undertaking TGSS approved courses at Certificate II level.

Yes. This person is eligible for concessions because they are unemployed and hold a Commonwealth Government Healthcare Card. This person will receive concession rates for the duration of their Training Account.

When creating a Training Account for a student who is over 24 years, not working and holds a concession card, set the ‘Eligible for Other Concession’ to ‘Yes’, fill in the details under the ‘Commonwealth Government Concession Type’. The expiry date of the Commonwealth Government concession card is no longer required.

For further information refer to Table 1 (Question 31): Training Account Creation under JobTrainer.

Yes. This person’s eligibility is based on their possession of a Commonwealth Government Healthcare Card, and they will receive concession rates for the duration of their Training Account.

When creating a Training Account for a student who is over 24 years, employed and holds a concession card, set the ‘Eligible for Other Concession’ field to ‘No’ and fill in the details under the ‘Commonwealth Government Concession Type’. The expiry date of the Commonwealth Government concession card is no longer required.

For further information refer to Table 1 (Question 31): Training Account Creation under JobTrainer.

This person will receive concession rates for the duration of their Training Account.

When creating a Training Account for a student who is aged 16 to 24 years and not enrolled in a secondary school, not employed and holds a concession card, set the ‘Eligible for Other Concession field to ‘Yes’’ and fill in the details under the ‘Commonwealth Government Concession Type’. The expiry date of the Commonwealth Government concession card is no longer required.

For further information refer to Table 1 (Question 31): Training Account Creation under JobTrainer.

Yes. If a student is eligible for concession, then the Registered Training Organisation will be reimbursed. Training Accounts created against an ESTC must indicate the student is eligible by selecting ‘Yes’ under the ‘Eligible for Other Concessions’ field.

Concessions apply to eligible students and for all courses that are on the Subsidised Training List (STL) including the Subsidised Traineeship and Apprenticeship List.

No, secondary school students are not eligible to access concessions.

Yes, RTOs are required to collect evidence of unemployment and concession eligibility at the time of enrolment and record this in the creation of the training account, as stipulated in the Training Fee Framework .

The Training Fee Framework, Section 11 Concession Reimbursement states:

The Service Provider must seek evidence of eligibility for a Participant Course Fee Concession from the Participant and record this in the Participant’s Training Account. The Service Provider must ensure the information about concession eligibility recorded in the Training Account for each Participant is current.

The new minimum charge applies to training accounts created from 15/10/2020 (including Skills Sets and Skills Clusters), unless the course fee is specified by the Department( Training Fee Framework - Attachment 3 Prescribed student fees or Fee Free if TGSS or ASBA undertaking TGSS approved courses at Certificate II level).

Yes, concession will be paid for completed units that are claimed by the Registered Training Organisation.

No, not unless the course is also listed on the Training Priorities List (TPL).

The extended concession conditions apply to Training Accounts created on or after 15 October 2020. If the SSA contract is after this time, please contact us on 1800 673 097 to discuss further.

The following table provides examples of how to complete the concession fields when creating a Training Account.  

* For those Eligible for Other Concession and hold a Commonwealth Government Concession Card at the time of enrolment, the concession reimbursement is applied to the subsidy calculations for the life of the Training Account.