After your performance assessment: If you’re non-compliant

If we find you’re non-compliant during a performance assessment or monitoring activity, we’ll notify you about our findings, any decisions made as well as the next steps.

Guiding providers to return to compliance

We have a dedicated compliance team that engages with you to help you to return to compliance and continuously improve.

Our return to compliance approach includes:

giving you more time to comply in an Agreement to Rectify (ATR), where appropriate
identifying ways to resolve disputes early
providing comprehensive evidence in our reports
making distinctions between minor compliances and significant non-compliance.

Actions we take

Actions we usually take at this stage may be to:

provide you with a non-compliance letter containing an opportunity to respond to the non-compliance within 20 working days or the option to request an Agreement to Rectify (ATR) for up to 3 months
advise you of our intent to impose a sanction or condition and provide you with an opportunity to respond
advise you of our intent to reject your application and provide you with an opportunity to respond, or
reject your application (without an opportunity to respond).

You’ll get a letter from us outlining next steps and any decisions made with your performance assessment, monitoring activity report or statement of reasons.

Your report, or statement of reasons, will outline our findings about your compliance against the relevant standards and legislation.

The letter will explain actions or decisions made and give you options to respond to us.

How to respond to a non-compliance letter

This letter explains why you don’t comply and what you need to do.

It gives you an opportunity to explain your circumstances and show us that you’ve rectified (or plan to rectify) your non-compliance.

You will get an Evidence of Compliance template with your letter, which you will use to respond to us and explain the actions you have taken to comply.

You may also get an Agreement to Rectify (ATR) template with your letter. If you need more time to rectify the non-compliance, you can request to enter an ATR. The Agreement to Rectify (ATR) section below, provides more information.

If you are able to address some of the non-compliances in a shorter timeframe, but require more time to address systemic issues, you can submit a combination of both Evidence of Compliance and request to enter an ATR.

We have a Guide to addressing non-compliance, which will take you through the process of identifying the cause of the non-compliance, planning, and then addressing the areas of concern.

Evidence of Compliance

What is the Evidence of Compliance template?

The Evidence of Compliance template is the document you must complete to describe the actions you’ve taken to address the identified non-compliances. You will also need to provide evidence of the actions you have taken and an explanation about how those actions, as supported by the evidence, has resulted in a return to compliance.

This could be submitted:

within the 20 working days to address all non-compliance
within the 20 working days to demonstrate you have addressed some of the non-compliances while also requesting to be considered for an ATR
at the end of your ATR to demonstrate compliance
when responding to a notice of intent to impose a sanction.

Use it to describe:

why the non-compliance has occurred, including your understanding of the root cause
what you’ve reviewed and addressed to be compliant
what actions you took to rectify your non-compliance, supported by evidence
how you have improved your governance, systems and controls to effectively mitigate future non-compliances, improving quality outcomes for students
how you’ve managed issues impacting other students, including across other training products.

How to provide Evidence of Compliance?

It’s important that the Evidence of Compliance template is only used when you have addressed all identified non-compliances within a clause or standard. Address the whole clause or standard in either the Evidence of Compliance template or the Agreement to Rectify, do not split the clause or standard across both.

It’s important to explain your actions, supported by the evidence – do not simply state “see clause 1.1” for clause 2.2 or copy and paste information from your policy. Instead submit the policy document, for example, as evidence and explain the actions you have taken to address the non-compliance.

Make sure your evidence is relevant, organised and supports your actions. Document titles referenced in the Evidence of Compliance template should reflect what is uploaded to asqanet. Our Guide to submitting evidence to ASQA will assist you in preparing your evidence to support reaching an outcome in an efficient and timely manner.

If you disagree with specific findings of non-compliance, you should also describe this in your response, and provide the relevant supporting evidence.

We will then consider your response in detail before making a regulatory decision.

Agreement to Rectify (ATR)

What is an ATR?

We recognise that most providers are committed to and capable of delivering quality training and will be continuously reviewing their performance and taking action to ensure ongoing compliance.

Where this is the case, we are likely to give you an opportunity to rectify identified non-compliance through an ATR. An ATR is a plan that commits you to take action to address areas of non-compliance, where you may need more time to make systemic and sustainable changes to ensure ongoing compliance.

If you enter into an ATR, you may have up to 3 months to take the actions as set out in your plan to return to compliance.

How to be considered for an ATR?

If during a performance assessment or monitoring activity, non-compliance is identified across some areas of regulatory obligations, but you demonstrate a commitment and capability to return to sustained compliance, you may be given the opportunity to enter into an ATR.

We will advise you if we consider an ATR to be an appropriate option and will take into account a number of factors, including:

the nature and impact of the non-compliance
your conduct and understanding of the problem
your commitment to continuous improvement
your willingness to take action to ensure the solution is effective and sustained.

If you need more than the 20 working days to rectify some of your non-compliance, you can request consideration of an ATR by completing the ATR template (if provided) and submit it as your response to the non-compliance.

We will review your proposed ATR to ensure you have understood the causes of the non-compliance and that the actions you plan to take cover all aspects of the identified non-compliance.

We will decline entering into an ATR if we are of the view that you will be unable to return to compliance with your proposal.

What should my ATR cover?

The ATR must include an explanation of the cause for the non-compliance, detail the actions you intend to take to address the identified non-compliances and list the evidence you will be submitting at the conclusion of the ATR to confirm you have taken those actions.

An ATR can cover some or all of the identified non-compliance in a performance assessment or monitoring activity.

You may find you are able to rectify some of the non-compliances within the 20 working days provided and may request to enter into an ATR for the remaining non-compliances, if we agree it is appropriate.

If you request an ATR but have already fully addressed non-compliance against a specific clause or standard, you need to complete an Evidence of Compliance template, gather the evidence to demonstrate your actions and upload it with your ATR outlining what you've done. In this instance, the ATR will include the remaining non-compliances yet to be addressed. Refer to the above section on Evidence of Compliance for information on how to complete the template.

How to be successful with your ATR?

It’s important to be thorough with your submission. Referring to our Guide to addressing non-compliance will assist you in your planning to complete the ATR successfully.

During the ATR

Once an ATR is in place, you need to:

follow the plan you’ve put in place using the Guide to addressing non-compliance
discuss with us any changes required to the ATR (eg if you wish to address non-compliances in a different manner than what was agreed to)
let us know about changes affecting your ability to comply with the ATR within the agreed timeframes
work with us and respond to our information and evidence requests
prepare your Evidence of Compliance and evidence to support your actions by the agreed end date.

You may also have a check in phone call with us at the midway point of the agreement to confirm your progress. This is an opportunity for you to notify us of your progress or highlight of any issues that you feel may prevent you from rectifying all non-compliances in the agreed timeframe.

At the completion of the ATR

You will submit the Evidence of Compliance template that explains the actions you have taken to return to compliance and submit the evidence to support your actions.

Refer back to your plan to address non-compliances and make sure you have cross-checked your actions with the report(s) prior to submission. This helps to ensure that you have addressed all of the relevant parts of a clause or standard.

Refer to our Guide to submitting evidence to ASQA to ensure your evidence is relevant and organised to support reaching an outcome in an efficient and timely manner.

Withdrawing from the ATR

We will withdraw the ATR if:

we have increasing concerns of actual or potential risks to students and an increasing level of confidence the provider does not have the commitment of capability to deliver quality VET.
we need to take alternative action to address our concerns.

How to respond to a notice of intent letter

A notice of intent letter details the regulatory actions we intend to take after you respond.

These may include:

a written direction to notify students of a specified matter
imposing a condition on your registration
amending or suspending the scope of your registration
rejecting your application
cancelling your registration.

You’ll have an opportunity to respond to us in writing and provide details of why this decision should not be made.

If we reject your application

If we reject your application, we’ll send you a letter to explain why. You can also ask us to review our decision.

Learn more about how we assess applications through the links below.

Registered training organisations (RTOs)

Initial RTO application

Renewal RTO application

Change to scope RTO application

Providers registered on Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS)

Initial CRICOS application

Renewal CRICOS application

Change to scope CRICOS application