Transition to Work (TtW) is an employment service that has been offered by OCTEC since April 2016. This Australian Government program is for young people aged 15 to 24 years who have been disengaged from employment or education.
Up until July 2022 OCTEC offered the program in the Capital, Central West and Central Coast Employment Regions. Following a tender process, our services now extend into the Capital, Central West, Illawarra, Murray/Riverina and South West Sydney New South Wales employment regions.
Under the new contract, TtW joins jobactive under the Workforce Australia service agreement. And our organisation has become one of the largest providers of TtW in the country.
Besides having a name change to Workforce Australia, Transition to Work Program Manager Charissa Mossop said the overall program remains the same in principle.
“For OCTEC this means we were successful in obtaining new business. We rolled out additional employment regions across the country and opened new sites and started servicing in those areas,” Charissa said.
While this is an “exciting” time for Charissa and the OCTEC team, it’s been very demanding, having to find offices, staff, furniture and more.
“The experience has been good,” Charissa said.
“Obviously there is a lot to do, but the staff and managers have worked really hard to get everything up and running. They’ve done a really great job.”
In the new regions, TtW participants will begin to receive services under the OCTEC model. We offer different engagement and delivery strategies, compared to what most participants would have received from their old provider. The TtW funding agreement runs for five years – until 2027 – which offers stability to our new colleagues and participants.
In September of this year, the ParentsNext (PN) program will also come under the Workforce Australia banner. OCTEC teams in NSW and Queensland offer this support service for parents with children under six who receive the Parenting Payment. Our PN team will continue to assist parents to reconnect with the labour market and realise their work and study goals.