Massive penalties for dodgy training providers

DODGY training providers may be slapped with potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines under a new penalty regime.

DODGY training providers may be slapped with potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines under a new penalty regime.

From Friday, registered training organisations face fines if they fail to provide clear information to prospective students about the course they’re signing up for, where they’ll be studying and how long the course will take, among other details.

Penalties range from a couple of thousand dollars to $10,000 for a single breach by organisations marketing Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses.

For multiple breaches there is the potential for the ultimate fine to be hundreds of thousands of dollars, assistant minister for education Simon Birmingham said in a statement on Thursday.

“The new scheme will come in to effect tomorrow, and along with tough new standards and new laws to crack down on dodgy marketing practices by RTOs and third parties or brokers, will give ASQA a full suite of powers to act on rogue operators, something that didn’t exist under Labor,” Senator Birmingham said.

“ASQA can still take RTOs to court for serious breaches, including where an RTO breaches a condition of its registration, and can suspend or revoke registration of an RTO.

“New laws recently passed in the Senate require anyone, including brokers and other third parties, who is marketing a vocational education and training (VET) course to clearly identify which RTO is providing the qualification.

“The infringement notice scheme complements the new laws and allows ASQA to take action against an RTO, where they, or their marketing agent, fail to provide clear information to a prospective student about the qualification they are signing up for, where the training will be undertaken, how long the course will take, what support services are available and the costs associated with them.

“This includes any debt that may be incurred, when repayment is required and under what conditions, in line with the requirements of the government’s tough new national Standards for RTOs 2015.”

Originally published as Massive penalties for dodgy training providers