Under the Employee benefits and entitlements policy, the department is committed to providing attractive benefits and entitlements to all employees by drawing on the existing language skills of employees through the community language allowance scheme to provide equal access to department services and programs.

Employees receiving the allowance:

• provide timely and accurate language assistance
• keep informed about the department's services and referral points related to their work area, as well as a general understanding of other department services
• determine if a matter is formal or sufficiently complex to warrant the use of interpreters and notify the appropriate person to ensure that this assistance is provided
• keep records of community language allowance scheme (CLAS) usage
• notify their manager or supervisor if the demand for CLAS assistance is impacting negatively on the employee's normal workload.

Principals (or above) or managers (Clerk 11/12 or above):

• review and approve requests for the community language allowance for employees within their team as per delegation of authority
• identify the potential demand for a specific language within their area
• determine the languages, number and locations of recipients under the CLAS
• survey the existing language skills of staff members who may be eligible for CLAS testing
• advise all staff in their workplace of the names of CLAS recipients and ensure all staff, the public and service users are aware of the availability of the service
• ensure CLAS recipients are available to use their community language/s when required
• notify the relevant payroll area to organise payment of the allowance once it has been approved and to stop payment once the allowance recipient no longer uses their language skills. This may be due to a change in tasks or when the employee is transferred to another location where there is no demand for the language skills
• annually review staff members receiving a CLA, to determine that there is continued demand for their language assistance
• notify the department’s CLAS Officer of approved CLAS recipients.

CLAS Officer:

• distributes information about the CLAS throughout the department
• reviews and updates the list of staff receiving the allowance
• liaises with the Community Relations Commission about the CLAS test
• reports on the CLAS as required.

Employees must:

• have manager or director approval to apply for CLAS
• have a recognised basic level of competence in a language (see below)
• work in locations where their language is used at work to provide on-the spot language assistance, such as dealing with public enquiries
• use their language skills to meet occasional or regular demands for language assistance
• not be currently employed as interpreters or translators
• not be currently employed in a role where particular language skills are an essential requirement of their role, such as student learning and support officers (bilingual)
• not already be receiving the allowance. Employees can only receive one allowance per year, regardless of how many languages they support.

A recognised basic level of competence in a language is assessed as either:

• accreditation at the interpreter or translator level or above
• holding a National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters recognition award (valid for 5 years)
• holding a Multicultural NSW CLAS certificate (valid for 10 years).

2. Send the completed form – the manager sends the form to the CLAS Officer at Multicultural NSW (refer to the Policy contact section below or to Multicultural NSW Community Language Allowance Scheme (CLAS).

3. Review the application – Multicultural NSW will review and provide the employee with a registration link for NAATI. NAATI will find a suitable language assessor for any language not on their website list.

4. Register for the test – the staff member must use the link to register with NAATI, noting that Multicultural NSW is sponsoring the registration.

5. Complete the test – the staff member must complete a test for each language they will provide aid in.

6. Release the test results – NAATI will notify Multicultural NSW, which will then notify the employee and provide the employee with a CLAS certificate signed by Multicultural NSW CEO.

There are 2 rates for the Community Language Allowance (CLA), which are adjusted annually under relevant awards and agreements (Table 1).

The base level assistance rate is paid to employees who need to use their language skills for occasional one-to-one language assistance (with no regular pattern of demand) and have either:

• passed a CLAS examination administered by Multicultural NSW
• hold NAATI accreditation.

The higher-level assistance rate is one and a half times the base allowance, paid to employees who meet the requirements for base level assistance, and either:

• use their language skills to regularly meet high demand for one-to-one language assistance, involving a regular pattern of use of the employee’s language skills
• have NAATI qualifications as an interpreter or above.

Table 1 Community Language Allowance rate and amount

Refer to the current Premier’s Department Circular for Meal, Travelling and Other Allowances on the NSW Government Administrative Requirements Portal.

• Crown Employees (School Administrative and Support Staff) Award
• Multicultural NSW – Community Language Allowance Scheme (CLAS)
• NAATI – Community Language Aide (CLA) Test
• NSW Government – Administrative Requirements Portal
• Schedule 2: School administrative and support staff – allowances
• NSW Industrial Relations Commission – Community Language Allowance Scheme – section 32

Education CLAS Officer (Multicultural NSW)
02 8255 6737
virginia.dominguez@multicultural.nsw.gov.au

EDConnect
Phone: 1300 32 32 32