RTO Registration – Terms and Conditions

 

Please take the time to read through these terms and conditions carefully. These are not your typical legalistic terms and conditions. They explain how we will work thogether and yours and our responsibilities. They will help you make a decision about proceeding with this service or not. Make a list of questions and if you are keen to have a discussion with Joe, submit an enquiry and we can set that up on phone or Zoom.

1. Agreement

1.1 When you submit the purchase order for the RTO or CRICOS Registration package, you are required to indicate by ticking the checkbox that you have read, understood and agree to these terms and conditions associated with the RTO or CRICOS Registration package. Evidence of this acknowledgement will be retained within Newbery Consulting client records. These terms and conditions came into effect on the 1st January 2020 and remain current.

1.2 When readng these terms and conditions, any reference to RTO Rgistration is referring to both the RTO Registration package and CRICOS Registration package.

2. Costs

2.1 Cost for this service. The cost for this service is as follows:

2.1.1 RTO Registration Domestic – $14,300.00 ($8,800.00 upfront and $5,500.00 on RTO registration.)

2.1.2 RTO Registration CRICOS – $16,500.00  Closed to new applicants.

2.1.3 The completion payment of $5,500.00 is invoiced when your entity is registered on the national training register at training.gov.au.

3. Before purchasing this package

3.1 Before proceeding with the purchase of the RTO Registration package, Newbery Consulting require that you are satisfied that you meet the following requirements:

3.2 Legal entity. You have already established a suitable legal entity as the applicant for the RTO registration and which is registered with an Australian Business Number.

3.3 Fit and Proper Person Requirements. All owners, directors, officeholders or significant persons who may have a role in the organisation or have influence over the RTO operation will meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (click) specified by the national regulator. This will be demonstrated during the application process by all persons being required to complete a Fit and proper person requirements declaration (click).

3.4 Financial Viability. Your business entity will be able to demonstrate its financial viability and meet the Financial Viability Risk Assessment Requirements 2011 (click) specified by the national regulator. This will be demonstrated during the application process by having your qualified accountant complete the following financial viability risk assessment tool (click). We strongly recommend that you meet with your accountant and review these requirements prior to commencing this service. To be clear, we do not expect you to complete a financial viability assessment prior to engaging us. We want you to be satisfied and confident that the financial viability will be ok on your end. It is not something we have any control over, so we simply recommend at least a discussion with your Accountant so that you can have this confidence. It is important that you have engaged with a qualified accountant to assist with the development of your business/financial plan and to perform your financial viability risk assessment.

3.5 The national regulator specify that the nominated accountant that performs your financial viability risk assessment must be an external and independent accountant engaged by you and must be a member of one or more of the following professional bodies:

3.5.1 CPA Australia,

3.5.2 The Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia,

3.5.3 The Institute of Public Accountants, or

3.5.4 Registered with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission as an auditor.

3.6 Funding Contracts and Training subsidies. Much of the training delivered in Australia is delivered by training organisations which have secured contracts with State funding authorities or Commonwealth programs such as the VET Student Loan contract. If your intended funding model for your RTO operation will be dependent on securing these types of contracts, you need to fully research these opportunities before you commence this project. Assisting you with securing a funding contract is not part of this service. You should also be aware that many of these funding contracts require the RTO to be successfully operating for a minimum number of years (usually 2-3) before you are eligible to apply. Many of these State funding contracts are basically closed to new providers and have not issued an expression of interest for many years. If you are thinking about securing a VET Student Loan contract, forget this. It is not possible or realistic to secure this contract within a 7-10 year initial period of operation and even then, you need to have a level of financial viability that is out of reach to any small or medium sized business. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it is good that you are realising this now before you commence our project. If you are planning an RTO to operate on a student fee-for-service basis or a business-to-business payment basis, great! You are in the right place.

3.7 Operating Premises / Delivery sites. You have access to or can otherwise secure a suitable premises from where training and assessment will be delivered or coordinated from. This will require you to provide evidence in the application process that the facility is of a suitable size and amenity, have a current lease/ownership and have local government approval to operate from the premises as a training organisation if applicable. Some local government authorities do not require this and so in that case, it will not be applicable. For a CRICOS application, 9B building certification is a requirement and evidence of this must be supplied with the application submission. Just as a guide for a basic classroom, we recommend ten (10) square meters for the trainer and walkways and two (2) square meters per student. So, as an example, if you wanted to teach 20 students in a classroom, you would need a classroom of about 50 square meters.

3.8 Learning and Assessment Materials. You have access to or capacity to develop suitable learning and assessment materials to support the delivery of the training products which you will be applying to the national regulator for approval to deliver. By “learning and assessment materials” we are referring to the learning content, learner guides, presentations, activity instructions, session plans, self-paced learning activities, assessment tools, et cetera in support of each unit of competency. Some important considerations:

3.8.1 Newbery Consulting do not develop these materials as part of this service. Newbery Consulting will provide advice about the compliance of materials, and it is the responsibility of your organisation to undertake the required development work to demonstrate compliance.

3.8.2 Please note that, the standard of learning and assessment materials in meeting the requirements of training packages for initial registration is extremely high. Please beware of buying learning and assessment materials online that are cheap. You usually get what you paid for. There are some really dodgy suppliers of learning and assessment materials, so buyer beware. Newbery Consulting will be happy to review a sample of commercial learning and assessment resources with you and help you choose a package that is as close to compliance as possible. To be clear, they are all non-compliant so even if you purchase the best resources available, you will still need to customise and modify these to support your delivery.

3.8.3 Make sure you do your homework on the options before you commence the project. Investigate if the training product (qualification of units of competency) is about to be superseded. Nothing worse than spending a lot of money on buying a commercial learning and assessment package only for it to be superseded before or during your application is approved. Checkout the relevant Training Package Developer website to see if your training product is identified as a current or future project to release a revised training product. If unsure, give them a call and ask for the project office responsible for your training product.

3.8.4 If the training product you are seeking to deliver is not supported by good quality commercial learning and assessment resources, then you will need to develop these yourself. If this is the case, you need to factor this into your planned cost and timelines. This can be a significant piece of work and can often lead to clients stalling in the project due to their inability to make progress with other work/life commitments.

3.8.5 If you are currently using the learning and assessment resources of another RTO that you partner with, let’s be clear, these resources are not yours to use without their permission or applicable licence if they are commercial resources that the RTO purchased. Starting your new training business with learning and assessment resources you have stolen from someone else is not on. Forget this as an option. Newbery Consulting has no tolerance for copyright infringement or the theft of intellectual property. Plan on purchasing your own resources or developing these yourself.

3.9 Skills and Capacity. You employ or otherwise can engage suitable persons with skills and knowledge within your organisation to prepare learning and assessment material to meet the requirements of nationally recognised training. You are recommended to establish a solution or arrangement for this prior to commencing this service. You will need to apply suitable time and resources to prepare the application evidence and be responsive to the advice provided by Newbery Consulting. It is not the role of Newbery Consulting to teach your staff how to develop learning and assessment resources. We are experienced at providing advice toward this work, but if the person performing the work does not understand how to apply or respond to our advice, it will seriously impact on the time needed to develop material and potentially on the success of your application. If you plan to develop learning and assessment resources yourself, it is critical that you have access to a competent person to perform this work.

3.10 Competent and Current Trainers. You employ or otherwise can engage a sufficient number of competent and current trainers who hold the vocational competency in the training products they intend to deliver and are also competent in training and assessment such as hold a TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. These trainers will need to demonstrate their current industry skills and knowledge and the ongoing professional development in vocational education and training. It is important to acknowledge that, it is not sufficient to simply hold the right qualifications. If your nominated trainer does not have sufficient industry experience in the skills they indent to train and assess, they will not be accepted by the national VET regulator. It is important to consider where and how you will engage suitable trainers before you commence this project. Be aware that trainers who are engaged as an employee will come under the Educational Services (Post-Secondary Education) Award 2020. Trainers who are engaged as a contract trainer on an as required basis are usually being paid about $55 per hour inclusive of GST. The cost of engaging trainers is one of the biggest costs in any RTO so it is important to fully understand this cost before you commence this project.

3.11 The current market vs initial registration. Before you commence this project, it is important to realise that there is often a big difference between what you can observe some current RTOs are getting away with and what will be expected of you to get your RTO registered. Let me give you an example. Scenario: You want to deliver training in the Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety. You see that some existing providers are delivering this course in 5 days, Mon-Fri. These students seriously start the course on the Monday and walk out with a certificate on the Friday. These RTOs are charging $1,500.00 per student and are advertising this 5 day course and are filling classrooms with 25 students at a time. Money for Jam! This is what I would call a “rubbish course”. These students are seriously learning nothing. Courses like this are undermining the value and quality of nationally recognised training and worse, are leading to those students holding a qualification which they do not have the skills and knowledge to support. You might ask, how do they get away with this? That is a great question! You only need to Google to find these providers and the National VET Regulator seems to be doing nothing to stop them. Essentially, I think that these providers are ticking along in their registration period with no other significant risk factors that would draw attention, no complaints from students and so they fly under the radar. ASQA just do not have the resources to deal with all these providers and so, that’s how they get away with it. The issue for you registering your RTO is that you will be held to a very different standard. Essentially, your course will need to be fully compliant. As an example, the minimum volume of learning hours for a Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety is 600 hours and we would usually have this being delivered part time over 12 months. You might be able to shave some of these hours down if your target learner are existing workers or you have designed the course in a very efficient way but even if you can get this down to say, 380 hours, you are still competing with these rubbish courses being delivered in 40 hours. Keep in mind that you will need to demonstrate that your RTO is financially viable even with this market reality. This is just one example of the current market vs initial registration. Before you jump in, you just need to realise that, at the initial registration, you need to be able to demonstrate your compliance and ASQA do not care what other RTOs are doing at that point. They are only focussed on you and assessing your application. It is good to understand this now because there is nothing worse than after a client has commenced this project and I need to explain that, no, you cannot deliver a first aid course in 5 hours or no, you cannot deliver a Certificate II in Security Operations in 4 weeks or no, you cannot deliver aged care training completely online.

3.12 The regulatory environment and application requirements. From time to time, the Government will implement reforms to the VET sector. This has occurred constantly over the past 15-20 years. These reforms in the past have entirely changed the nature of the regulatory environment in terms of the way the national regulator operates and also have led to significant change in the application requirements for initial registration. Newbery Consulting have no control over Government policy and whilst we will do our very best to adapt our service to any new requirements and support our clients, we cannot be held liable for any government policy change that prevents us from delivering our service.

3.13 Being a genuine training provider. If you are wanting to register an RTO for reasons other than genuinely delivering training and assessment you should not proceed with this service. We are talking about reasons such as to register the RTO for sale or to register the RTO simply to meet some procurement contract requirements. We are not interested in registering your RTO unless you are a genuine training provider that is seeking to deliver quality training and assessment.

3.14 Have a discussion with Joe Newbery first. Before you commence this project, it is critical that you get in contact and schedule a discussion with Joe to discuss what you have planned and how the project works. During the project, you will be working directly with Joe, so it is important that have an opportunity to meet and be comfortable that you will be able to work together. Joe will ask you lots of questions about how your planned RTO will operate and maybe give you some advice about what will work and what will not work. Sometimes, these discussion can identify that what you had in mind is not possible or may require certain other approvals in addition to your RTO registration.

3.15 Please note, if you are wanting to register the RTO with far too many training products, are in too much of a hurry, give the impression that you do not have the best interest of students or training quality in mind, you can expect that Joe will be very blunt in his assessment of your plan and will likely decline your project. So, if this describes you, maybe look for alternative consulting services before making an enquiry. We are about registering genuine training providers who what to deliver a great service to students and grow a successful business. We have been doing this for almost 20 years. We are a highly successful business and can afford to select the clients that we want to work with. Your enquiry is as much about us selecting you as you selecting us.

4. Preliminary activities

4.1 This services is only delivered as a business to business transaction. A valid ABN, entity details and contact details must be supplied in the purchase form.

4.2 Once the payment for this package has been received, Newbery Consulting will be in touch to organise a suitable time to schedule the initial teleconference. We will also confirm your entity details for the issuance of product licenses and organise to establish a shared folder on Dropbox with you.

4.3 You will then be sent a meeting request for the agreed teleconference time and date and the following products will be supplied:

4.3.1 RTO Policies and Procedures (click) to establish your compliance and quality management arrangements;

4.3.2 RTO Forms and Tools (click) to establish your administration system; and

4.3.3 RTO Data Cloud (click) to establish your student and learning management system.

4.4 These products will be supplied to you via email and will also be unpacked into the relevant folders within our shared folder on Dropbox. If you do not currently have an account on Dropbox, you can establish a free account here (click).

4.5 The shared folder will also contain many other folders that allow you to organise your application evidence. The following page describes the evidence which is required to be submitted with the RTO application and self-assessment (click). The shared folder will be arranged to capture, organise and review this evidence prior to its submission. You will need to provide the emails for all persons within your organisation that hold a valid Dropbox account to enable this folder to be shared.

4.6 With those initial products supplied, the initial teleconference scheduled and all stakeholders now having access to the shared folder, the preliminary activities are complete.

5. Initial Teleconference

5.1 The initial teleconference is conducted primarily to talk through the application requirements, the context of operation of your planned RTO and the process which will be followed to prepare and submit the application. We will need approximately 90 minutes to conduct the initial teleconference. In establishing the context of the RTO operation, the following is considered:

5.2 Your intended scope of registration. You are strongly recommended to minimise your planned scope of registration. These are the training products such as qualifications and units of competency that you intend to deliver as an RTO. There is a temptation to include every desired course on this list. This typically results in the client not being able to secure the required learning and assessment resources or obtain access to a sufficient number of qualified trainers. Your scope of registration needs to be selected on the basis of your area of industry expertise, your market analysis, financial viability, access to compliant learning and assessment resources, access to competent and current trainers and assessors, access to the required equipment, facilities and resources. These need to be rational and well considered choices based on the above factors. It is your responsibility to select your initial scope of registration based on your business needs. Newbery Consulting do not make recommendations about your planned scope of registration. Try and keep your initial scope of registration as simple as possible.

5.3 Your operating jurisdiction. You will need to nominate the states or territories in which you intend to operate as an RTO. This should be minimised to your planned operating area and be in accordance with your business plan. Nominating to operate in a particular state or territory will require you to provide evidence of access to relevant premises and facilities, competent trainers and assessors, management arrangements, et cetera to support the delivery at that location. Grandiose plans to operate a national operation may need to wait until you have established the business. Your identification of the operating jurisdiction should reflect your operation for the initial two-year period. Please note, this service is intended for RTO registration with the National VET Regulator (ASQA) and not with the remaining State based regulators being the TAC and the VRQA.

5.4 Your delivery method. You will need to nominate a planned delivery method in the application. This should reflect the arrangements that you have established to support the delivery of the training products intended in your scope of registration. It is desirable as a new RTO, that your delivery methods reflect a high quality approach to vocational education and training with an emphasis on direct contact between students and trainers and assessors. Newbery Consulting will not assist in the registration of an RTO for delivery of training products via RPL only. If you are considering such a registration (assessment only), then do not proceed with purchase. We are completely supportive of clients who seek to deliver high quality face-to-face or online learning (or a blend of those).

5.5 Delivering subsidised training. You will need to identify if you intend to deliver your training products via a contract with the State and Territory funding authorities. This is identified by the national regulator as a risk factor. It should be noted that flagging your intent to deliver subsidised training as part of the application can be premature. Some of these contracts are quite difficult to obtain access to and it could be many years before the RTO is in a position to competitively tender for these contracts when they become available. Newbery Consulting recommend that you plan your RTO operation on a consumer fee-for-service or business to business basis. Otherwise, there is a tendency for an applicant to make false assumptions about their access to these contracts in the financial viability risk assessment, before they even have a contract. Also, why would you flag this risk factor when you don’t even have access to a contract?

5.6 Being a genuine RTO applicant. As part of the application process, you will need to confirm to the national regulator that your primary purpose for applying to become an RTO is to deliver nationally recognised vocational education and training. The national regulator places a lot of emphasis on verifying that your intention to deliver nationally recognised training is genuine. Examples where the applicant is not genuine is where the sole purpose for registering the RTO is other than delivering nationally recognised training such as to sell the business soon after registration or to satisfy some government procurement requirement with no intention of actually delivering national training products. If this describes you and your intention, do not proceed with this service. Newbery Consulting are only wanting to work with businesses that fully intend on using their RTO registration for the delivery of nationally recognised vocational education and training.

5.7 Delivering offshore. You will need to identify in your application if you intend to deliver nationally recognised training offshore. This is not a reference to CRICOS delivery but simply a situation where a domestic RTO is delivering services in a country other than Australia. This does not require particular approval from the national regulator however the national regulator is required to be informed of such an arrangement and may request to review the delivery arrangements to ensure the integrity of the national training system is being maintained and Australia’s reputation is not being placed in jeopardy.

5.8 Other training organisations. As part of the application process, any owners, directors, officeholders or high managerial agents need to identify if they have an “Association” with an RTO that is either currently or has previously been registered. Association includes but is not limited to any business dealings, employment, contracting, endorsement and/or the provision of services as a third party. The details of this need to be fully declared within the fit and proper person declaration. If a person has had an interest in an RTO which has been subject to adverse findings by the national regulator then this could put the application in jeopardy or effect the fit and proper person status of the applicant.

5.9 Third party arrangements. As part of the application process, you will need to declare to the national regulator if you intend to operate the RTO using third party arrangements. These include situations where you intend to allow other businesses to deliver training and assessment services on your behalf, to undertake learner recruitment on your behalf or to deliver learner support services on your behalf. The rules for how third party arrangements are regulated changed in 2019 (click). Newbery Consulting recommend that applicants not enter into any third-party delivery or recruitment arrangement until they are well established.

5.10 During the initial teleconference, Newbery Consulting will take note of your context of operation and will prepare a detailed application action list that will identify each item of evidence and its priority for development. We will also talk through  the complete application process and provide an orientation to the action list we supply and the project folder where the evidence for your application will be organised. The primary purpose of the initial teleconference, is for us to gain an understanding of your planned RTO and to introduce you to the project arrangements so we can hit the ground running. Following the initial teleconference we will usually schedule a weekly Zoom meeting so that we consult regularly to prepare the application evidence.

6. RTO Data Cloud

6.1 Following the initial teleconference, the Newbery Consulting support team will get in contact with you and establish your account on RTO Data Cloud. This product is fully described at the following page (click). RTO Data Cloud service is supplied with this project with no subscription cost for 12 months or until you are registered as an RTO. Monthly usage charges will apply from the time you commence using RTO Data Cloud as an RTO or after a 12 month period, whichever occurs first. These usage charges are explained at the following page (click). The RTO Data Cloud support team are available to guide you to set-up your courses in the software and provide unlimited system training. You are strongly recommended to review the terms and conditions for RTO Data Cloud prior to commencing this service (click). Your acceptance of these terms and conditions also confirms acceptance of the RTO Data Cloud Terms and Conditions.

7. Consulting Support

7.1 Consulting support is delivered remotely typically using teleconference. You are recommended to schedule support sessions of a one-hour duration at certain points where you have evidence to review or particular advice to seek. We schedule consulting support meetings Monday to Thursday only. We generally recommend either a weekly or fortnightly catch-up to keep things moving.

7.2 Consulting support is particularly useful during the registration process to undertake the following:

7.2.1 providing advice about the establishment of the course training and assessment strategy,

7.2.2 review of learning and assessment resources with the client,

7.2.3 responding to questions about the application process,

7.2.4 educating the client on the requirements of the RTO standards,

7.2.5 preparing the client to engage in the application assessment process,

7.2.6 reviewing and providing advice on application evidence, and

7.2.7 responding to non-compliance identified during the initial registration assessment.

7.3 Consulting support expires 12 months after the date on which it was commenced. Joe is happy to be a flexible with this, but this is dependent on the client making progress and allocating suitable time, resources and expertise to progressing the project outcomes. After the 12 months has expired, if the project has stalled, you are not responding to communication or are not allocating suitable time, resources and expertise to progressing the project outcomes, we will close the project off. Newbery Consulting reserve the right to end the project anytime after the initial 12 months at our complete discretion.

8. Communication

8.1 During this service, we are going to be communicating a lot. It is important that we have some ground rules for how communication will work and what to expect. In general, we have the following preferences and guidelines for communications:

8.1.1 The preferred method of communicating with Joe is email. We use email to give advice, receive your questions and documents for review. If you send a document to Joe for review, maybe allow 3-4 days for a response with feedback.

8.1.2 We prefer not to use text messages to communicate unless it is something super urgent like letting us know you are running late for a zoom or something like that. Joe may send you a text if he is running late. We do not provide consulting advice over text and if you send Joe a text asking this, he will revert you back to email.

8.1.3 We do not communicate through any form of social media (such as Linkedin chat, Facebook Messenger), ever.

8.1.4 All scheduled meetings are conducted on Zoom. Sometimes depending how the data is performing, we may talk on the phone and share a screen on Zoom. We can also use Teams, but prefer Zoom. We generally have a 30-60 minutes meeting once per week or fortnight if you prefer. This is particularly during the phase of preparing the application. After the application is submitted, we generally meet once a moth to make sure things are progressing. Most clients like to schedule a meeting week-to-week or we can schedule a fixed reoccurring meeting. If you have some burning issue, we can generally schedule an ad-hoc meeting most days, even if for 15-30 minutes. Joe schedules meeting Mon-Thu 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (NSW time). These meeting are your meetings. So, you drive the agenda to discuss the issues and questions you have based on your current point of progress. Joe will often use time in these meeting to educate you on regulatory requirements relating to your RTO or things to consider in the next steps of preparing the application evidence.

8.1.5 Timings, you can send us an email anytime you like. Joe often responds to email early morning between 4-7 am. Joe will monitor emails virtually every waking hour but will generally not respond to emails after 5 pm. Joe also will generally not respond to emails on the weekend unless it is something super urgent.

8.1.6 Please be aware that Joe uses voice recognition software to virtually write everything. This includes emails and whilst he generally does a quick proof read before sending, sometimes he will not have time and would prefer to send you a reply with advice  rather than delaying. Please excuse any minor software interpretation errors.

8.1.7 We use email, phone, Zoom and Teams to communicate. That’s it. Please do not request that we subscribe to some new collaboration platform as this will be declined.

8.1.8 We all need to keep our communication courteous and professional. We should give each other the time to talk and make their point and try to avoid talking over the top of each other. We will have robust discussions and sometimes we may not completely agree. That is ok, as long as we respect each other’s opinion and work toward finding a middle ground way forward.

9. What we do not do in supplying this RTO Registration service

9.1 It is critically important to note that Newbery Consulting provide products and advice only during this service. In addition to our products, we are happy to provide examples and give you advice about preparing certain documents, but do not undertake this development on your behalf . We work alongside you to guide you to prepare and submit the application and register the RTO. We do complete the application self-assessment and submit the application on ASQAnet on your behalf when we are happy with the application evidence. We are expert consultants in vocational education and training and compliance with the Standards for RTOs 2015 and the National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018. We are not business consultants, financial advisors, realestate advisors, building certifiers, legal advisors or accountants. We are very disciplined at staying in our lane and recommend that you always seek advice from those qualified and experienced to provide it.

9.2 It is important to note that during this service Newbery Consulting do not:

9.2.1 develop your learning and assessment strategies, tools or resources,

9.2.2 customise your policies and procedures or forms and tools,

9.2.3 provide support to develop your business or financial plan,

9.2.4 provide advice on building approval for BCA or local government requirements,

9.2.5 provide advice on building rental or lease terms and agreements,

9.2.6 provide business advice outside of the RTO registration,

9.2.7 provide advice on human resource management or staff recruitment,

9.2.8 provide advice or support to your financial viability risk assessment,

9.2.9 provide support or consultation on site or at your premises,

9.2.10 develop application evidence on your behalf,

9.2.11 provide advice on migration to Australia or visa conditions,

9.2.12 provide advice on industrial relations or worker rights and entitlements,

9.2.13 provide legal advice,

9.2.14 provide consulting support toward any government funding contracts,

9.2.15 communicate on your behalf to the National VET Regulator,

9.2.16 represent you at or attend audits conducted by the National VET Regulator, and

9.2.17 provide services which can be construed as a High Managerial Agent.

10. Timeframe for Registration

10.1 The typical time to achieve registration is about 10-18 months assuming you have access to appropriate facilities, equipment, trainers, learning and assessment resources, finances, etc. Many applications can take longer than 12 months depending on the client’s other commitments, the size of the application and the availability of good quality learning and assessment resources that can be purchased. There are no shortcuts in this process. If you present to the initial registration assessment without being ready, it will result in non-compliance and take longer to rectify. Our objective is for you to avoid any complications. Do it right and do it once!

10.2 The trick to getting your RTO registered as soon as possible is:

10.2.1 Keep the courses to an absolute minimum (one or two is ideal);

10.2 2 Select courses with available and compliant learning and assessment resources if possible;

10.2.3 Appoint a dedicated person to progress the application development actions and work with us who has appropriate skill and capacity;

10.2.4 Invest in products and services that reduce your workload such as purchasing compliant learning and assessment resources and engaging an Accountant to assist with building your financial viability evidence.

10.2 5 Keep your planned initial RTO operation simple; and

10.2.6 Follow our advice and use the systems we supply.

10.3 It is important to note that this is not a registration project that has defined or expected timelines. This service involves the purchase of products and remote consulting support which can be used at your discretion. The time that it takes you to register your RTO is entirely your responsibility. If you get distracted by other business opportunities, life or do not allocate sufficient time and resources to progressing the project action items, then this will clearly have an impact on your progress. Newbery Consulting give no warranty or make no claim about the timeframe for the registration of your RTO as we have absolutely no control over this. This is completely in your hands. We can certainly help you to move very quickly if you desire to fast-track the application process. We are totally responsive to your priorities.

10.4 It is important to note that the only timeframe you have control over in this process is the time it takes to prepare and submit the application. The process after that is in the hands of the National VET Regulator. To give you an idea of the typical timeframe after the application is submitted, lets assume that with our help, you were able to submit your application within four (4) months of commencing the project. After the application has been submitted, you can expect the following typical timeframes:

10.4.1 Submit. We submit your application on – 16 December and pay the application fee.

10.4.2 Completeness Check. ASQA undertake completeness check – 27 January and issue you the invoice for the assessment fee. You pay that invoice and then the application is forwarded to the initial assessment team where it will sit for anywhere from 4-6 months until an Auditor is allocated.

10.4.3 Verification Stage. ASQA requests verification evidence and schedules closing meeting – 23 June. The Auditor allocated to your application makes contact to book in a closing meeting in about four weeks from that phone call. They will also send you a request for some final evidence such as a sample of your learning and assessment resources and evidence of your facilities and equipment.

10.4.4 Closing meeting. Closing meeting for application assessment occurs – 28 July. This is simply a meeting on Teams to close off the assessment of your application and to verify anything that is not clear. You generally will know at the end of this meeting if there is anything that needs to be addressed or not.

10.4.5 RTO Registered. If no significant non-compliance, you are registered – 8 September.

If CRICOS Application:

10.4.6 CRICOS Entry to Market. Pay Entry to Market Fee and TPS Levy – 29 September.

10.4.7 CRICOS Registered. Registered on the CRICOS register – 6 October.

10.5 In the above example timeframe, it took 14 months from the commencement of the project to get the RTO registered for domestic delivery. It also took another month for the CRICOS registration to come through. You can do this in a shorter timeframe by submitting the application more quickly, but you have no control over the timeframe once the application has been submitted, other than making sure everything is ready to go for the application verification stage.

10.6 If you are not ready for the verification stage, it is likely you will have non-compliance that needs to be rectified before your registration is approved. This can add an additional six months to the application timeframe. So that 14 months, just became 20 months.  Being “not ready for the verification stage” can include not completing the customisation of learning and assessment resources for compliance and delivery, not preparing your facilities and equipment ready for delivery, et cetera. It is important to use the time you are waiting for ASQA by working hard to make sure everything is ready to go. Newbery Consulting will certainly prompt you on this and offer advice and guidance, but basically it is all down to you. If you want to avoid the additional six months, make sure everything is ready to go by the time ASQA get in contact to request verification evidence.

11. Other Costs

11.1 You acknowledge that as part of your application to become an RTO, you will incur many other costs which do not relate to services being provided by Newbery Consulting.

11.2 These costs include but are not limited to:

11.2.1 ASQA RTO application and assessment fee (click);

11.2.2 ASQA CRICOS application and assessment fee (click) if applicable;

11.2.3 CRICOS Entry to Market Fee / TPS Levy (click) if applicable;

11.2.4 Learning / assessment materials and equipment;

11.2.5 Operating and delivery premises lease and fit-out cost;

11.2.6 Staff / contractor recruitment and engagement;

11.2.7 Financial accounting fees (financial viability certification);

11.2.8 Insurance and WorkCover fees; and/or

11.2.9 Your personal time commitment.

11.3 The following article on RTO Set-up Costs explains the associated costs that may be relevant to you for consideration (click). This article includes a number of scenarios relating to different types of RTO to assist you to properly consider the cost.

12. Disclaimer

12.1 Newbery Consulting makes the RTO Registration package available on the understanding that Clients’ exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use. Before relying on the material in any important matter, users should carefully evaluate the accuracy, completeness and relevance of the information for their purposes and should obtain appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.

13. Refunds

13. If you wish to cancel the service you can simply advise Newbery Consulting of this decision via email at: enquiries@newberyconsulting.com.au.

13.2 No refunds whatsoever will be given for a cancelled services where any product linked with the services has already been supplied. Prior to any product being supplied, you are entitled to receive a full refund of the payment made to Newbery Consulting. Products will typically be supplied within 1-12 hours of receiving payment. If you change your mind and would like a refund then notify us immediately before products are issued. Businesses should be aware of their rights as a business consumer by reviewing the information at the ACCC Consumer rights and guarantees page (click).

13.3 The following are not valid grounds for a business to request a refund:

13.3.1 has changed its mind,

13.3.2 has experienced a change in circumstances,

13.3.3 failed to plan prior to commencing the service,

13.3.4 has experienced a change in market conditions,

13.3.5 has insufficient time and resources to progress,

13.3.6 could not satisfy fit and proper person requirements,

13.3.7 could not demonstrate financial viability,

13.2.8 do not have sufficient skill and capacity,

13.3.9 could not recruit competent and current trainers,

13.3.10 has decided to engage a different consultant,

13.3.11 change to government policy outside our control (see note below),

13.3.12 chooses not to use either part or all of the products and services, or

13.3.13 have discovered a new business opportunity.

Note. In respect of clause 13.3.11, the following media release was published on the 21st February 2024 in regards to legislation passed by the Parmiament that gives the Minister the powers to direct that “ASQA to pause the acceptance and processing of new RTO applications”. Ministers’ Media Release Date: 21 February 2024. This means that there is a risk that your RTO application may be prevented from being submitted which is outside our control. In proceeding with this service, you accept this risk and acknowledge that Newbery Consulting have no control over changes to government policy that negativity impacts your chances or opportunity of RTO Registration. If the Minister were to exercise this power, this would mean that your application would not be submitted and your consulting support in this service will expire. You need to accept that this is a real possibility and clause 13.3 and sub-clause 13.3.11 of these terms and conditions will be enforced. Requests for a refund under these circumstances will be refused. We are providing this information so that you are well informed about this. If you proceed with this service, you accept this risk. This note was included into these terms and conditions on the 9th February 2024 when the ligislation was introduced to Parliament and updated on the 22nd February 2024 the day after the legislation was passed by the Parliament.

14. Refusal, Cancellation or Cessation of Service

14.1 We reserve the right to refuse, cancel or cease the service for any reason we deem appropriate. The following are some examples of why we may refuse, cancel or cease the service:

14.1.1 Rude, offensive or abusive behaviour. Rude, offensive or abusive behaviour toward Newbery Consulting staff by you or any representative from your organisation, will not be tolerated and will result in immediate cancellation of the service .

14.1.2 Breach of terms and conditions. Breach or failure to comply with these terms and conditions or any other terms and conditions of related products and services will result in immediate cancellation of service .

14.1.3 Failure to follow advice or use the documents we supply. Failure by the client to follow the advice provided by Newbery Consulting will not be tolerated particularly where the actions of the client are likely to result in non-compliant arrangements being presented to the initial registration assessment. This includes failure to use the documents and templates we supply on which we have great confidence and rely on for the efficient delivery of this service. Failure to follow the advice provided by Newbery Consulting will result in the cancellation of the service after fair warning has been provided.

14.1.4 Failure to protect the interests of students and consumers. Any action taken, or arrangement implemented by the client that Newbery Consulting consider fails to protect the interests of prospective learners of the client or consumers will result in the cancellation of the service after fair warning has been provided.

14.1.5 Non-genuine training provider. If Newbery Consulting bocome aware during the delivery of this service that the client is a non-genuine training provider and is seeking to register the RTO for other reasons such as to sell as a business or to meet a procurement requirement in a competitive tender or contract application, this will be seen as a breach of trust and a breach of these terms and conditions and will result in immediate cancellation of the service.

15. Confidentiality

15.1 Newbery Consulting agrees that any information received by it during the provision of services relating to your organisation, operational or commercial affairs is “Confidential Information” shall be treated by Newbery Consulting in strict confidence and will not be revealed to any other persons or organisation unless compelled to do so under the law.

15.2 Newbery Consulting acknowledge that the Confidential Information that is held or owned by the Client is valuable proprietary information and that harm may be caused to the Client by its disclosure.

15.3 Newbery Consulting agrees to hold in strictest confidence the Confidential Information and not to divulge, provide or otherwise make available or to allow any of its employees, agents, sub-contractors or representatives to divulge, provide or otherwise to make available to any person in whole or in part, any of the Confidential Information other than:

15.3.1 with the prior written consent of the Client;

15.3.2 by operation of law provided that all available legal steps have been taken to prevent or limit such disclosure;

15.3.3 to use and to ensure that its employees, agents, sub-contractors and representatives use the Confidential Information solely for the purpose of this agreement.

15.3.4 to take or cause to be taken such precautions as may be reasonably required by the Client to maintain the secrecy and confidentiality of the Confidential Information and to prevent its disclosure.

15.4 Newbery Consulting may be compelled under s 62 of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (Cth) to provide information to the National VET Regulator by issuing a written notice to Newbery Consulting to give information and documents. It is an offence under s 64 of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 to not provide information and documents when requested to do so. Newbery Consulting will comply with written notices issued by the National VET Regulator.

16. Waiver of Liability

16.1 By accessing the RTO Registration products and services, the Client waives and releases Newbery Consulting to the full extent permitted by law from any and all claims relating to the usage of products, the provision of advice or any occurance outside of our control and under no circumstances whatsoever shall Newbery Consulting be deemed to assume any responsibility for or obligation or duty with respect to any part or all of the Client’s business.

17. Acknowledgement of Terms and Conditions

17.1 By purchasing the RTO Registration package you acknowledge that you on behalf of your business entity understand and agreed to these Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions should be read in-conjunction with the other related Terms and Conditions. Acknowledgement of these Terms and Conditions implies acknowledgement of all related Terms and Conditions.

Published – 1st January 2020

Revised – 1st July 2022 – To reflect price increase and enhanced confidentiality terms.

Revised – 1st January 2024 – To reflect price increase.

Revised – 9th February 2024 – To include Note in respect of the clause 13.3.11.

Revised – 22nd February 2024 – To update the Note in respect of clause 13.3.11.

Copyright © Newbery Consulting 2022. All rights reserved.