Page 3614 - Week 09 - Thursday, 23 August 2018

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Government—contractors
(Question No
1621)

Mr Coe asked the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, upon notice, on 3 August 2018:

(2) What practices you have implemented to improve payment waiting times for those employed by the ACT Government on casual or short-term contracts, (a) when were these practices implemented and (b) how effective have they been at reducing wait times.

(3) Are there targets for payment waiting times for individuals employed by the ACT Government on casual or short-term contracts; if so, (a) how does the Government determine the target, (b) how frequently it is reviewed and (c) what the target wait times were during (i) 2015-16, (ii) 2016-17, and (iii) 2017-18; if not, why not.

(4) Are there national benchmarks or guidelines in relation to payment time frames for individuals employed by the government entities on casual or short-term contracts; if so, how does the ACT Government compare to other jurisdictions; if not, does the ACT Government consider the practices of other jurisdictions when determining the priority of payments and internal policies.

Ms Berry: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:

(1) The average payment times for an initial payment to individual contractors engaged by the Education Directorate on a casual or short-term employment contracts are as follows:

a.	2015-16 – 17.927 days;
b.	2016-17 – 21.581 days; and
c.	2017-18 – 22.0344 days.

After this initial period individual contractors engaged by the ACT Government on casual or short-term employment will be paid fortnightly in arrears, subject to a correctly completed and approved time sheet being received.

(2) Shared Services works closely with the Directorate in respect to deadlines when submitting timesheets. Where there are deviations from established deadlines, for example during Christmas, communication via emails is sent to all ACT Government employees. Shared Services is not aware of any systemic concerns with regards to timeliness of payments.

(3) No. Shared Services undertakes to make payments within established pay cycles and enterprise agreements.

(4) No. Shared Services undertakes to make payments within established pay cycles and enterprise agreements. When developing and reviewing internal procedures and processes, benchmarking and best practices within other jurisdictions are considered.

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