Business Insights – Jobs Victoria Fund reminder: new employees can be eligible for $10,000+ grants

This insights briefing has information specifically for Victorian employers as it relates to the Jobs Victoria Fund.

For our NSW and Queensland clients, we’ve looked into the state government funding options but they’re not as relevant or lucrative for smaller businesses:

• NSW jobs funding is aimed at attracting bigger businesses to relocate from interstate and overseas to NSW (think corporate head offices);
• QLD jobs funding is primarily targeted to priority industry sectors (think biofutures, aerospace and advanced manufacturing), and apprenticeships.

With Victoria almost fully open, I want to talk to about options for you to get employees. As I’ve mentioned, the labour shortage is likely to be the biggest hurdle to most of your businesses’ growth, so I want to make sure we’re using every option available to get the resources we need in your businesses.

In this briefing, I’m talking about the Jobs Victoria Fund. I’ll send another briefing in the coming few days about wage subsidies for apprenticeships and traineeships.

I wrote about Jobs Victoria Fund in June this year, but I’m mindful that many of you have forgotten about this very lucrative grant – here’s a quick overview of the basics:

• The Jobs Vic offers 12-months of wage subsidies when you hire from priority groups:
  • Level 1 Priority groups: $20K in wage subsidies per full-time employee
  • Level 2 Priority groups: $10K in wage subsidies per full-time employee
• Employment must be:
  • For a permanent role for a minimum of 12 months,
  • Part-time or full-time basis (not casual) and with at least 19 hours of work per week
  • For roles with a maximum wage of $120K pa (excluding superannuation)
• Payments are made to you in 3 instalments over 12 months, with proof of employment
• You must first employ the person, then apply for the grant. You can’t make their employment contingent on you getting the grant.

There are some changes taking effect next week, which extend the priority groups and also make it a bit easier for employers to apply.

Once your new employee has joined your business, you need to apply within 16 weeks. So (using today’s date of 10th November) if you’ve had a new team member start on or after 21st July, you may be eligible for wage support for them. Speak with your coach to review any new employees you’ve signed up since late July.

Level 1 wage subsidy priority groups ($20K per full time employee)

• Women over 45 years
• Long-term unemployed people (unemployed for six months or more)
• Jobseekers registered with a Jobs Victoria Partner
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people
• People with disability
• *NEW* Single parents
• *New* Veterans (up from level 2)

Level 2 wage subsidy priority groups ($10K per full time employee)

• young people aged under 25
• people over 45 years

Visit the Jobs Victoria Fund guidelines here: https://jobs.vic.gov.au/about-jobs-victoria/our-programs/jobs-victoria-fund

3 stages for getting Jobs Victoria Fund

Stage 1: Apply to the Jobs Victoria Fund

You’ll need to provide:

• A completed Employee Consent Form, signed by your new employee, and
• A Statutory Declaration signed by you as the business owner (this needs to be witnessed by an authorised person, like your accountant or a police officer, pharmacist, etc.), and;
• A copy of your WorkCover Certificate of Currency
• If your business operates under a trust structure, you’ll also need to complete a Trustee Declaration.

Stage 2: Assessment

Jobs Victoria will assess your application and notify you of the outcome.

If successful, they’ll send you a Letter of Offer and Grant Agreement for your approval and signature.

Stage 3: Reporting and payment

There are 3 milestones for reporting and getting paid:

Milestone 1: When your application is confirmed with the signed grant agreement from Jobs Vic

Action: you provide copies of the employee’s payslips to Jobs Vic

Amount you get paid: For Level 1 priority group employee the instalment is $6,000, Level 2 is $3,000

Milestone 2: At 26-weeks of employment with you

Action: you provide copies of the employee’s payslips and a statutory declaration to Jobs Vic

Amount you get paid: For Level 1 priority group employee the instalment is $6,000, or a Level 2 employee is $3,000

Milestone 3: At 52-weeks of employment with you

Action: you provide copies of the employee’s payslips and a statutory declaration to Jobs Vic

Amount you get paid: For Level 1 priority group employee the instalment is $8,000, or a Level 2 employee is $4,000

Things to know

• You can be receiving other incentives (state or federal) in addition to the Jobs Victoria Fund wage subsidy.
• If your application is successful, you’ll be signing a legal contract with the Victorian Government. As always, be aware of your obligations with a legally binding agreement like this.
• If you do receive the funding, you may be subject to a range of compliance and probity processes, including an independent audit.

Wrapping it up: Jobs Victoria Fund

I encourage Victorian clients who are recruiting to look at using this grant. In many cases, the priority groups include candidates you would have employed anyway, or maybe already have.

Having been through the process with several Tenfold clients, I know there are quite a few hoops to jump through. However, don’t be put off by the complexity – the financial support available through this grant could be very useful for Tenfold clients with growing businesses.

Work with your Tenfold business coach in Melbourne to see how this funding opportunity might apply to planned increases in your workforce or recently hired people. We will help you with interpreting which employees you may be eligible for.

If you feel you may get tripped up on the unemployed/underemployed criteria, speak to your coach as we have been in contact with the Jobs Vic (we have a reference number for the advice we obtained, which means you can act on it) and we can provide you with further information based on your specific circumstances.

Ash

Ashley Thomson B.Eng. (Hons), Grad. Dip. Mgmt, MEI
Managing Director
Tenfold Business Coaching