2023 Frontline Survey

We want you!

Workforce Australia is potentially the most significant reform of employment services in 25 years – with the split between digital and enhanced services, considerable turnover of providers in contract regions, and major changes to the performance framework, payment model, and points-based activation. It is critical to understand the impact that these policy and governance reforms are having on providers and on how their staff are working to support participants into employment.

The survey is run by a team of researchers from University of Melbourne, UNSW, and La Trobe University, who have been studying the impact of policy and administrative reforms on the frontline delivery of welfare-to-work programs since the late 1990s. This includes four previous Australian surveys (1998, 2008, 2012, 2016) plus comparative international research in the UK, Netherlands, and Ireland.

Support from the sector is essential to the research, and employment services agencies have always been very generous in facilitating this research (the 2016 survey involved 32 different agencies and over 1,200 frontline staff). So, we are asking providers to once again get involved in the research.

For more details

The Getting Welfare to Work research team would be happy to meet with any agencies to further discuss the research and any questions people may have about the survey. Please get in touch with Corey Carter at corey.carter@unimelb.edu.au if you would like to be involved or know more about the research.