Privacy

Privacy notice

Personal information is collected by the National Panel of Assessors (NPA), Job Access Provider, and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and or on behalf of the Department of Social Services (the Department, DSS) for the purpose of administering, managing, and delivering the NPA and JobAccess Programs to provide independent assessments and administer the Employment Assistance Fund (EAF) to support the needs of people with disability in the workplace. Personal information is protected by law, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

DSS and its service providers collect your personal information, either through this secure site or by contacting you directly, for the purposes of:

• administering DSS's NPA and JobAccess programs and services (this includes processing EAF and Supported Wage System (SWS) applications, and administering SWS and Workplace Modification Services (WMS) assessments)
• research and statistical analysis conducted by DSS or by contracted research organisations on DSS’s behalf, and
• evaluating and monitoring programs and services provided by DSS and its contracted service providers.

Personal information collected

The following categories of personal information (including sensitive information) may be collected:

• your contact details, such as your name, phone number, email address, residential address, postal address
• your date of birth and gender
• your personal circumstances
• your health, disability and other medical information
• any help or supports you need (for example assistive equipment)
• copies of your identity documents and certain identification numbers e.g., your Services Australia Customer Reference Number (CRN)
• your online account details including myGov Profile, Digital ID, and eSAM User ID
• your employment status, education and training history and information, such as work experience
• your employment details, such as your workplace address, tasks and duties
• your participation in employment service programs or activities (for example Inclusive Employment Australia or Workforce Australia)
• any income support allowances you receive and associated requirements
• your religion, culture and/or ethnic background, and languages you speak
• contact details of your advocate, nominee, interpreter, or anyone authorised to act on your behalf
• your genetic information that is not otherwise health information
• biometric information that is to be used for the purpose of automated biometric verification or biometric identification; and
• biometric templates.

How your personal information will be used and disclosed

Your personal information (including sensitive information) may be used or disclosed for the purpose of administering, managing and delivering the NPA and JobAccess programs. DSS usually provides some or all of your personal information collected to its contracted service providers for the purposes of administering NPA and JobAccess programs and services on its behalf. Personal information collected on this secure site is also usually given by DSS or its contracted service providers to independent workplace assessors, your employment service provider, and your employer where it is necessary to facilitate a workplace assessment.

Your personal information may also be:

• used to register you for a JobAccess Secure Online account
• collected and used by the Department or its service providers to assess funding eligibility for the EAF
• collected and used by the Department or its service providers to assess, review, allocate, and administer applications for EAF and SWS applications
• collected and used by the Department or its service providers to assess, review, allocate, and administer assessments for WMS and SWS
• collected and used by your Employment Services Provider or Employer to obtain NPA and JobAccess Program services
• used to provide information to a nominee, interpreter or any other person authorised to act on your behalf
• used by the Department to undertake fraud, compliance, reporting, evaluations or other regulatory functions as required by law and the NPA and JobAccess programs to ensure their integrity
• used to help to manage and resolve complaints made by you
• used by the Department to manage and process payments for its Service Providers and Assessors
• by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to provide ICT support services on JobAccess Secure
• used to include you in surveys or research conducted by the Department or on behalf of the Department
• used to support broader research and policy development being undertaken by Government agencies or other organisations and third parties (such as Universities) to better understand and meet the needs of persons with disability, and
• used to undertake other functions authorised or required by law, including but not limited to the Social Security Act 1991, the Disability Services and Inclusion Act 2023 and the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

Your personal information may be collected from, and disclosed to, third parties, including:

• Inclusive Employment Australia Providers, NPA Providers, JobAccess provider or other employment service providers
• Health care professionals including NPA Assessors, JobAccess Professional Advisors or other qualified health and allied health professionals, including those conducting assessments
• actual and potential employers
• the Department of Social Services, Services Australia, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, their respective contracted service providers, and their respective portfolio ministers
• other Commonwealth agencies, or entities as necessary, authorised or required by law
• contracted service providers of government agencies or other entities and services funded to provide services as part of NPA, JobAccess, the National Customer Service line, the Complaints Resolution and Referral Service, and any other complaint and query handling and service delivery bodies
• a nominee, interpreter or any other person authorised to act on your behalf or provide services to you in relation to the NPA or JobAccess programs
• Government agencies (including their contracted service providers) and other organisations and third parties (for example, Universities) collecting data for research, policy development, delivery of services and reporting purposes.

Your personal information may also be used by the Department or given to other parties where you have agreed, or where it is otherwise permitted, including where it is required or authorised by or under and Australian law, such as social security law, a court or tribunal order, or where a duty of care exists.

It is unlikely that personal information collected from you for the purpose of processing an EAF application will be provided to an overseas recipient. However, this may occur in rare circumstances when there is contact with suppliers of modifications who are based overseas or if your employer is based overseas. Personal information collected from you for the purpose of processing a SWS application, or SWS and WMS assessment, will not be provided to an overseas recipient.

Consequences of not providing personal information

If you do not provide some or all your personal information, the NPA Provider, JobAccess Provider, the Department, and other third parties may not be able to provide you with services suited to your needs, and you may ultimately be prevented from receiving services as part of the NPA and JobAccess programs. For example, EAF and SWS applications cannot be processed without collecting your personal information.

Withdrawing consent

You can withdraw consent at any time. Talk to your employer, provider, NPA assessor, JobAccess Provider or the Department about how to do this. Please note, not providing personal information and withdrawing your consent may limit the services you can be offered and you may ultimately be prevented from receiving services as part of the NPA and/or JobAccess program.

Further Information

For more information regarding the way DSS handles personal information please see the DSS privacy policy at the following link: http://www.dss.gov.au/privacy-policy.
The DSS privacy policy contains information about how individuals may seek access to and correction of their personal information and information about how an individual can make a privacy complaint.

By entering this site, you are agreeing to the collection and use of your personal information by DSS and its contracted service providers, and the disclosure of that personal information to the third parties named for the above stated purposes. By entering this site you are acknowledging that you have read and understood this Privacy Notice.