Victorian Sick Pay Guarantee People and Places Grant Program frequently asked questions

The Victorian Sick Pay Guarantee is an Australian-first initiative that provides eligible casual and contract workers in certain jobs with up to 38 hours a year of sick and carer’s pay at the national minimum wage.

Casual, contract and self-employed workers in more than 600 jobs are eligible to sign up for the Sick Pay Guarantee. It is a pilot program, fully funded by the Victorian Government.

For more information about the Sick Pay Guarantee visit the Victorian Sick Pay Guarantee web page.

The People and Places Grant Program (the program) will provide funding to organisations to deliver activities that help eligible workers in priority communities and locations to:

• become aware of and understand the Sick Pay Guarantee
• check their eligibility for the Sick Pay Guarantee
• sign up and access the Sick Pay Guarantee
• provide feedback on the Sick Pay Guarantee.

The program is administered by the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions (the department).  

To be eligible to apply for this program, your organisation must:

• hold a current Australian Business Number (ABN). To check your ABN, go to the Australian Business register webpage.
• be based in Victoria or be the Victorian chapter of a national organisation
• have no overdue final reports from previous department-funded grants, by the time of applying. If you are unsure whether your organisation is up to date with all grant reporting, email the program team
• be one of the following legal entity types:
  • a company incorporated in Australia
  • an incorporated association
  • a Victorian local government council
  • other incorporated entity (an industry association or business chambers)
  • a Victorian government entity structured as a company under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
  • a trustee on behalf of a trust (where the trust is the eligible business).

If your organisation is not incorporated or does not have an ABN, you may still apply if you are supported by an eligible auspice organisation that has agreed to manage the grant for you. Auspice organisations are required to meet the organisation eligibility criteria.

A trustee can apply on behalf of a trust and a Partner can apply on behalf of a partnership provided that the trustee or partnership would otherwise be eligible and be able to meet the obligations under the signed agreement.

Sole traders and individuals are not eligible to apply.

For more information about eligibility, please refer to the program guidelines. 
 

Funding for the grant program is to 31 December 2024. All activities included in your project should be delivered prior to this date.

There may be some administrative activities that require completion after 31 December 2024. These activities and their due dates will be specified within grant agreements for successful applicants. 

The program aims to support eligible workers that:

• may not be aware of the Sick Pay Guarantee
• face barriers to sign up, or
• require additional support to sign up.

We encourage applications that include innovative ideas for effectively reaching and engaging with these workers.

Example activities include but are not limited to:

• Planning activities:
  • co-development of communication and engagement plans in collaboration with the department
• Communications activities:
  • facilitating tailored messaging flows through the appropriate channels  
  • providing strategic advice to the department on targeting harder to reach communities​
• Engagement activities:  
  • reaching into networks and employers of eligible workers facilitating registrations​
  • attending or hosting relevant community and industry events, or having pop-up stalls at priority locations, to promote the Sick Pay Guarantee​
  • organising community registration sessions​
  • holding online and/or offline seminars  
  • collaborating with community leaders to make the program more accessible to their communities​
• Other value-adding activities:
  • conducting surveys and data collection activities to assist with the Sick Pay Guarantee evaluation​
  • identifying people who are happy to be case studies to help encourage others to sign up to Sick Pay Guarantee. 

Consider how your organisation can best support eligible workers and deliver upon the program outcomes. See section 1.2 of the Program guidelines to learn more about the program outcomes. 

As outlined in the Fair Jobs Code Grant Guidelines for Departments and Agencies, the Code applies to all Victorian Government grants with a value of $500,000 or more exclusive of GST, where a key milestone is to deliver new jobs (significant business expansion grants).

Regarding joint/consortia grant applicants, if the applicant is comprised of more than one business, it is the business and ABN that will contract with the government to receive the grant that applies for the Fair Jobs Code certificate. If all businesses in the consortia will be contracted and receive the grant, then they should each apply for the Fair Jobs Code certificate.

For the department’s practices and policies related to the collection, use and storage of applicants’ information, please read the DJSIR Privacy Statement. 

Applications open on Monday 18 December 2023 and must be submitted by 5pm on Wednesday 7 February 2024.

We will not accept late applications. 

If you weren’t able to attend an information session, and would like to view a recording of an information session or view the presentation slides, please contact the department at spgpeopleandplaces@ecodev.vic.gov.au.

Grants of between $100,000 and up to $1,200,000 (excluding GST) are available on a competitive basis.  

Grant funds may be used to employ staff such as community outreach officers to deliver targeted communications and engagement activities.

Applications should explain how the proposed employees fit into their project delivery plan.

The total grant amount approved includes the proposed staffing costs for the organisation to complete its project. 

The department will provide up to $150,000 (excluding GST) per full-time equivalent staff member to cover salary and all associated costs. 

Depending on the volume of applications, assessments will occur in February 2024, and applicants will be advised of the outcome in March and April 2024. 

We will advise you of the outcome of your grant application via email. We will endeavour to notify applicants of the outcome of their application within a month of receiving a final completed application. Feedback on unsuccessful applications may be provided on request.

Please see Section 6 Assessment Process and Section 6.1 Assessment Criteria in the program guidelines for information about selection criteria, considerations and weighting.

The department is not able to meet with any organisation to discuss their application.

If you have any specific questions, please email spgpeopleandplaces@ecodev.vic.gov.au.

The department will reply to your email and update the FAQs accordingly, in order to provide all applicants with equal access to program information.
 

Applications from consortia (i.e. multiple organisations) who can work collaboratively to address multiple priority communities or locations are strongly preferred.  

You must identify a lead organisation for each consortium. Only one application should be submitted per consortium.  

For more information, please refer to the program guidelines. 

Grant applications will only be considered between $100,000 and up to $1,200,000, (excluding GST).

Applications from consortia (i.e. multiple organisations) who can work collaboratively to address multiple priority communities or locations are strongly preferred.
 

Applicants who are proposing to leverage their networks and stakeholders to deliver a project, and are not submitting a consortia bid, are not required to provide contractual evidence of such relationships. Evidence such as letters of support are recommended.

For applicants submitting a consortia proposal, letters of support are essential, as well as a proposal on the governance arrangement with consortia partners.
 

Priority communities for this program include:

• Aboriginal Victorians
• culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities including:
  • recent migrants (including refugees)
  • international students
• LGBTQIA+ communities
• people living with disability
• women
• veterans
• young people (15 to 25)
• older workers (55+).

Priority locations are based on where people work, not where people live. The priority locations were selected based on where there are:

• higher volumes of eligible workers
• lower rates of Pilot uptake
• higher rates of relative socio-economic disadvantage.
   

We will consider applications from organisations that can provide statewide or location-specific support for eligible workers.  

Priority locations are the local government areas within:

• Metropolitan Melbourne:
  • Brimbank
  • Casey
  • Frankston
  • Greater Dandenong
  • Hume
  • Melbourne and inner metro
  • Melton
  • Whittlesea
  • Wyndham
• Regional Victoria:
  • Ballarat (incl. surrounding region)
  • Geelong (incl. surrounding region to South Western Victoria)
  • Greater Bendigo (incl. surrounding region)
  • Greater Shepparton (incl. surrounding region)
  • Latrobe (incl. surrounding region)
  • Mildura (incl. regional North Western Victoria)
  • Wodonga (incl. surrounding region). 

In the first section of the project delivery plan template, you are asked to provide ‘yes/no’ answers to identify which priority communities and/or locations your proposed project will support.

You should only answer ‘yes’ if you will be specifically targeting that community or location. If your project will reach the community or location indirectly, you should answer ‘no’ and provide an explanation in the ‘other’ box.

For example, if your project will have a statewide reach, please explain this in the ‘other’ box.

Applications that demonstrate a targeted strategy for priority communities and locations will be looked upon favourably.

Applications that are statewide, community agnostic, or reach other communities and locations are encouraged. All applications will be assessed as per the assessment criteria. 
 

For the purposes of this program, Inner metro refers to the City of Melbourne, Yarra City Council and the City of Port Phillip.

The department will manage and deliver all paid advertising, media events and Sick Pay Guarantee branding.

The department will also develop tailored materials for priority communities using the Sick Pay Guarantee brand, including some translations and public relations activities.

Organisations who want to further develop promotional materials to assist in engaging with priority audiences are encouraged to include these proposed details in their applications.  

Applications should include details of all proposed marketing, communications and public relations materials, activities and estimated costs. 

The department will develop materials using the Sick Pay Guarantee brand, including some translations and public relations activities.

As part of your application, completion of the templated project delivery plan is required. Along with your application, the plan will outline the organisation’s proposed scope, budget and activity timeline.  

The department will work with successful applicants to review the project delivery plans. This will ensure proposed activities work towards achieving program outcomes and duplication of work is minimised.
 

Successful applicants will receive a ‘Grantee Handbook’ that will outline information about both the Sick Pay Guarantee and the grant program.

Successful applicants will have a project kick off session that will include initial training. This will be supplemented by ongoing support online and on the ground in some instances.

KPIs will be dependent on the nature of an applicant’s project. Sign up KPI’s may be a part of your project if you are proposing to directly assist workers to sign up. 

All KPIs must be attached to specific measurable activities, and applicants are required to outlined their proposed performance measures in the response to Question 6 in the project overview section of the application form. 

Some examples of possible performance metrics: 

• If you are proposing to host or attend community events, performance metrics could include an event summary with evidence of attendance, 
• If you are planning outreach to workers and businesses directly, this outreach can be tracked in the engagement capture form provided by the Department, 
• If regularly sharing SPG content through newsletters, email, WhatsApp, etc, to your network is planned, metrics such as reach and target audience could be used. 

KPIs will be agreed with successful grant recipients and specific to your project will be agreed and included in grant agreements.  

Successful applicants will be required to complete a monthly status report that outlines recently completed and planned upcoming activities, and progress against performance measures.  

The department will provide access to data capture forms and reporting templates to successful grant recipients.
 

There are no limitations on the amount of work that can be subcontracted out. Applications should consider both the eligibility and assessment criteria, with the project demonstrating capability and capacity to delivery, as well as value for money from the requested funding.

For more information, please read the program guidelines or email the department at spgpeopleandplaces@ecodev.vic.gov.au.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend at least one information session before submitting an application. 

Information sessions were held on 11 and 18 January 2024 and are now complete. If you would like to view a recording of an information session or view the presentation slides, please contact the department at spgpeopleandplaces@ecodev.vic.gov.au.

Applicants currently working with other Victorian government departments are able to apply, as long as all other eligibility criteria are met.

Applicants are encouraged to think about conflicts of interest, perceived and actual. 

Applicants also need to ensure they have no overdue final reports from previous department funded programs at the time of applying.