- Client Services IRC's 2018 Skills Forecast
- IRC membership
- SkillsIQ – Skills Service Organisation
Client Services
Overview
There are a diverse range of workers in this sector providing services across the community services industries. The main job roles within this sector are:
- Career development/employment consultants
- Community services and case managers
- Celebrants
- Child protection services
- Counselling and financial counselling
- Family and relationship services practitioners.
Nationally recognised qualifications for occupations related to Client Services are delivered under the CHC Community Services Training Package. For more information on other community services related industries, please visit the pages for Community Sector and Development, Direct Client Care and Support, and Children’s Education and Care.
Information sourced from the Client Services IRC's 2018 Skills Forecast (forthcoming).
All data sources are available at the end of the page.
IRC and Skills Forecasts
IRC and Skills Forecasts
Employment trends
Employment trends
Employment snapshot
The Health Care and Social Assistance industry is the largest employing industry in Australia. In 2018 close to 1.7 million people were employed in this industry. By 2023 it is projected that over 1.9 million people will be employed in this industry. Within this industry, and relevant to Client Services, the occupations of Welfare Support Workers and Counsellors have experienced growth overall in employment since 2000 (with some fluctuations) and will continue to do so until 2023.
Training trends
Training trends
Training snapshot
There were over 11,700 enrolments in Client Services qualifications in 2017 and a little under 3,200 program completions. Program enrolments decreased by close to 7,500 on the 2016 enrolment numbers.
Just under 90% of qualifications in 2017 were at the diploma or above level, with the rest being certificate IV level. Most enrolments (about 85%) were in counselling qualification(s). The main intended occupations of the training were Welfare Support Workers followed by Counsellors (not elsewhere specified).
Over 80% of the training was delivered by private training providers and about 86% of the funding was from domestic fee-for-service. Over three-quarters of the students were from the three eastern states.
Relative to the numbers of enrolments, there were only small numbers of apprenticeship and traineeship enrolments and completions for Client Services qualifications in 2017. There has also been a downward trend for enrolments and completions since 2012. The destination occupation for apprenticeships and traineeships was Careers Counsellor. A little under a half of the apprenticeships and traineeships were in New South Wales (48%), with a further 28% being in Western Australia.
For more data specific to your occupation, industry or training package, please visit NCVER’s VET students by industry.
For more data specific to your region please visit NCVER’s Atlas of total VET. If you are prompted to log in, please select cancel and you will continue to be directed to the program.
If you are interested in extracting NCVER data to construct tables with data relevant to you, please sign up for a VOCSTATS account.
Industry insights
Industry insights
Industry insights on skills needs
The Client Services IRC's 2018 Skills Forecast identifies factors that influence the need for workforce skills. These include:
- attraction and retention of staff
- provision of services in regional and remote areas
- potential new stream of customers for celebrants performing civil ceremonies due to the 2017 Same-Sex Marriage (SSM) plebiscite
- domestic and family violence and the implementation of initial actions in the first National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020
- an increase in gambling activities, particularly online and interactive gambling
- provision of and access to work placements involving confidentiality issues, with work placements considered a restrictive issue for new entrants
- technology use such as video counselling.
Future skill needs indicated in the Community Sector and Development IRC's 2018 Skills Forecast include:
- ‘soft’ or interpersonal skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, emotional judgement, professional ethics and global citizenship
- adaptability to be able to actively apply skills to new situations, as well as to be able to reflect on the successes and failures of this application
- digital skills.
The job vacancy data indicates that Welfare Support Workers was the fifth most sought-after occupation in the broader Health Care and Social Assistance industry. The employment data presented on this page indicates that there will be ongoing demand for workers in this occupation.
The report, Future job openings for new entrants by industry and occupation, forecasts that employment in the occupation of Health and Welfare Support Workers will grow by 2.3% per year over the period 2016–24 due to such factors as the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Links and resources
Links and resources
Below is a list of industry-relevant organisations and associations. Hyperlinks have been included where available.
Government
Australian Capital Territory Government Community Services
Australian Government Department of Human Services
Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business (formerly Department of Employment)
Australian Government Department of Social Services
Australian Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet –Indigenous Affairs Group
New South Wales Government Department of Family and Community Services
Northern Territory Government Territory Families
Queensland Government Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors
Queensland Government Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women
South Australia Government Department for Education and Child Development
Tasmanian Government Department of Health and Human Services
Victoria Government Department of Health and Human Services
Western Australia Government Department of Communities, Child Protection and Family Support
Industry associations and advisory bodies
Australian Community Workers Association
Australian Counselling Association
Career Industry Council of Australia
Case Management Society of Australia
Coalition of Celebrant Associations (CoCA)
Family and Relationship Services Australia
Financial and Consumer Rights Council
Financial Counselling Australia
National Employment Services Association
Employee associations
Regulators
Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Relevant research
Future job openings for new entrants by industry and occupation – Shah C 2018
Maintaining the mental health of Child Protection Practitioners - VAGO 2018
Data sources and notes
Data sources and notes
Department of Employment, 2018, Employment Projections, available from the Labour Market Information Portal:
- by ANZSIC 1 digit Health Care and Social Assistance, employment projections to May 2023
- by ANZSCO, selected occupations, employment projections to May 2023
- 2721 Counsellors
- 4117 Welfare Support Workers.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018, Employed persons by Industry group of main job (ANZSIC), Sex, State and Territory, November 1984 onwards, 6291.0.55.003 - EQ06, viewed 1st November 2018
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6291.0.55.003May%202018?OpenDocument
Employed total by ANZSIC 1 digit Health Care and Social Assistance, 2000 to 2018, May quarter.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018, Employed persons by occupation unit group of main job (ANZSCO), Sex, State and Territory, August 1986 onwards, 6291.0.55.003 - EQ08, viewed 1st November 2017
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6291.0.55.003May%202018?OpenDocument
- Employed total by ANZSCO 4-digit unit group
- 2721 Counsellors
- 4117 Welfare Support Workers.
Training data has been extracted from the National VET Provider Collection, Total VET Student and Courses from the following training package or qualifications:
- CHC Community Services Training Package
- Career Development
- CHC41215 - Certificate IV in Career Development
- CHC42108 - Certificate IV in Career Development
- CHC42112 - Certificate IV in Career Development
- CHC70308 - Graduate Certificate in Career Development Practice
- CHC81315 - Graduate Certificate in Career Development Practice
- Celebrancy
- CHC41015 - Certificate IV in Celebrancy
- CHC42608 - Certificate IV in Celebrancy
- Client Assessment and Case Management
- CHC70208 - Graduate Certificate in Community Services Practice (Client assessment and case management)
- CHC82015 - Graduate Certificate in Client Assessment and Case Management
- Counselling
- CHC42212 - Certificate IV in Telephone Counselling Skills
- CHC51015 - Diploma of Counselling
- CHC51115 - Diploma of Financial Counselling
- CHC51708 - Diploma of Counselling
- CHC51712 - Diploma of Counselling
- CHC52108 - Diploma of Community Services (Financial counselling)
- CHC80107 - Vocational Graduate Diploma of Relationship Counselling
- CHC80208 - Graduate Diploma of Relationship Counselling
- CHC81015 - Graduate Diploma of Relationship Counselling
- Employment Services
- CHC30908 - Certificate III in Employment Services
- CHC30912 - Certificate III in Employment Services
- CHC40502 - Certificate IV in Employment Services
- CHC41115 - Certificate IV in Employment Services
- CHC42008 - Certificate IV in Employment Services
- CHC42012 - Certificate IV in Employment Services
- CHC51608 - Diploma of Employment Services
- CHC51612 - Diploma of Employment Services
- Family Dispute Resolution
- CHC80308 - Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution
- CHC81115 - Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution
- Statutory Child Protection
- CHC70108 - Graduate Certificate in Community Services Practice (Statutory child protection)
- CHC81215 - Graduate Certificate in Statutory Child Protection
This includes superseded qualifications and training packages.
Data covers a range of selected student and training characteristics in the following categories and years:
- 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 program enrolments
- 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 program completions.
Total VET students and courses data is reported for the calendar year. Program enrolments are the qualifications, courses and skill-sets in which students are enrolled in a given period. For students enrolled in multiple programs, all programs are counted. Program completion indicates that a student has completed a structured and integrated program of education or training. Location data uses student residence. Subject enrolment is registration of a student at a training delivery location for the purpose of undertaking a module, unit of competency or subject. For more information on the terms and definitions, please refer to the Total VET students and courses: terms and definitions document.
Low counts (less than 5) are not reported to protect client confidentiality.
Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. This can lead to situations where the total sum of proportions in a chart may not add up to exactly 100%.
CHC Community Services apprentice and trainee data has been extracted from the National Apprentice and Trainee Collection, including:
- 2010 to 2017 commencements
- 2010 to 2017 completions
- 2017 apprentices and trainees in-training October to December 2017 collection, by qualification and state and territory of data submitter.
Priority skills data have been extracted from the Client Services IRC's 2018 Skills Forecast.
Job vacancy data have been extracted from Burning Glass Technologies 2018, Labor Insight Real-time Labor Market Information Tool, Burning Glass Technologies, Boston, viewed July 2018, https://www.burning-glass.com.
Data shown represent most requested generic skills, occupations and employers according to internet job postings in Australia between July 2015 and June 2018 filtered by ANZSIC and ANZSCO classification levels listed below.
- Generic skills / Occupations
- 27 Legal, Social and Welfare Professionals
- 41 Health and Welfare Support Workers
- 42 Carers and Aides
- 134 Education, Health and Welfare Services Managers
- Industry Sector: Health Care and Social Assistance Employers
- Employers
- 4211 Child Carers
- 4233 Nursing Support and Personal Care Workers
- 2726 Welfare, Recreation and Community Arts Workers
- 1342 Health and Welfare Services Managers
- 4117 Welfare Support Workers
- Industry Sector: Health Care and Social Assistance.
Updated: 18 Dec 2019