NEIS Applications

Applications for the July NEIS course are now closed as our government allocation is full to capacity.

Applications are now open for the next NEIS training course Certificate IV in Small Business Management which will commence in February 2011. These applications will be considered earlier if extra places become available.

NEIS training helps you to achieve a nationally recognised qualification, and is a Centrelink approved activity for up to 13 weeks. This allows time for completing the course (normally six to eight weeks), assessment of your business plan by your NEIS provider and any final business preparations.

NEIS Training

Job Services Australia has set aside specific training places under the Australian Government''s Productivity Places Program  for job seekers who wish to establish their own small business through NEIS.

About Training Austrlia as your NEIS provider delivers Certificate IV in Small Business Management. During the training you will also develop a business plan which will need to be approved by your NEIS provider.

NEIS training helps you to achieve a nationally recognised qualification, and is a Centrelink approved activity for up to 13 weeks. This allows time for completing the course (normally six to eight weeks), assessment of your business plan by your NEIS provider and any final business preparations.
If you have prior training or experience in business, you may be eligible for prior learning exemptions.

If your business plan is approved, you will receive NEIS Assistance, which includes:

• NEIS Allowance for up to 52 weeks
• NEIS Rental Assistance for up to 26 weeks (if eligible), and
• business mentoring and support during your first year of business operation.
  
  

NEIS Allowance and Rent Assistance

While participating in NEIS you will receive NEIS Allowance for the first 52 weeks of business operation. NEIS Allowance is equivalent to the single, 21 or over, no children rate of Newstart Allowance, and is paid fortnightly in arrears, subject to you fulfilling your obligations under your NEIS Participant Agreement.

An advantage of NEIS Allowance is that the amount you receive will not be affected by income from your NEIS business. 

You can receive external income while participating in NEIS—that is, income from outside your business, such as from investments or other work. However, your NEIS provider is required to ensure that your NEIS business is your primary, full-time activity. Therefore, if your external income is greater than twice the basic rate of NEIS Allowance in a given financial quarter, it may affect the amount of your NEIS Allowance.

Note: Recipients of Disability Support Pension, Carers Payment, Parenting Payment (Single) and some Department of Veterans’ Affairs pensions can choose to remain on these payments while participating in NEIS.

You may also be eligible to receive NEIS Rental Assistance, which is a fixed rate payment made to you for a period of 26 weeks from the date you first receive NEIS Allowance.

NEIS business mentoring and support

Business mentoring and support is an essential component of NEIS. NEIS business mentors are people with proven business acumen and experience in marketing, finance, accounting or other relevant business skills.

As a NEIS participant you will receive NEIS business mentoring for the first year of operation of your business, including assistance and advice about organisational, financial and marketing issues to help develop your business.

Your NEIS mentor will meet with you face-to-face a number of times during this first year of operation to help maximise the potential success of your business. If you have been assessed as highly disadvantaged, or are an Indigenous Australian, NEIS can provide you with additional mentoring and support to ensure you have the best chance of getting your business off the ground. 

Who can participate in NEIS

To participate in NEIS you must be registered with a Job Services Australia provider. Your Job Services Australia provider can tell you if you are eligible. You also must:

• be at least 18 years old when you begin receiving NEIS Assistance
• be available to participate in required training and work full time in your proposed NEIS business*
• not be an undischarged bankrupt
• not have received NEIS Assistance for a similar business activity, and
• not have received NEIS Assistance in the previous two years.

* or fewer hours for those with an assessed partial capacity to work, reduced work participation requirements or who volunteer for employment services.

Your NEIS business must be:

• not currently operating on a commercial basis
• independent, capable of withstanding public scrutiny, and lawful
• assessed as commercially viable by a NEIS provider
• not based on the purchase or takeover of an existing business
• not competing directly with existing businesses, unless it can be demonstrated that there is an unsatisfied demand for the product or service, or the product or service is to be provided in a new way
• established, located and operated solely within Australia, and
• in an area where skills are in demand for less disadvantaged job seekers.
  

Information Sessions - Locations and Times

This information will be updated shortly.

Documents

Enrol

To Enrol in the NEIS program, please click the "apply now" button below