VET crisis: another 3500 aged care, disability qualifications cancelled

Even more aged care workers are likely to lose their qualifications after another Vocational Educational Training (VET) provider was cancelled by the national regulator.

Following an investigation into an alleged ‘cash-for-diplomas scheme’, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has cancelled the registration of Arizona College Pty Ltd, slapping more than 3500 former students with a notice of its intent to cancel qualifications issued between January 2024 and June 2025.

Arizona College issued diplomas in ageing support, disability, mental health, childcare and community services, allowing graduates to go on to work with some of the country's most vulnerable individuals.

“ASQA’s decision to cancel the registration was based on findings during a compliance investigation that Arizona College did not meet the conditions of registration, including financial viability requirements; had issued qualifications and/or statements of attainment without adequate assessment; and/or did not ensure impacted individuals had successfully satisfied all requirements prior to issuing VET certification,” an ASQA spokesperson said.

“Given the significant issues identified during the compliance investigation and the potential safety risks to impacted individuals, others in the workplace and some of the most vulnerable members of the community, urgent action was required by ASQA to consider the legitimacy of the qualifications and/or statements of attainment.  

“All affected individuals were given the opportunity to demonstrate to ASQA that Arizona College had delivered for them the training and/or assessment necessary to achieve or confirm the learning outcomes or competencies required prior to being issued with certification.  

“However, ASQA has subsequently cancelled 3,717 qualifications and/or statements of attainment issued by the former RTO - including disability, ageing support, mental health, and child, youth and family intervention qualifications – that were issued to 3,569 individuals,” the spokesperson said.

In June, VET provider SPES Education Pty Ltd suffered the same fate, as ASQA revoked more than 4200 credentials including the Certificate III in Individual Support, Certificate IV in Ageing Support and Certificate IV in Disability Support for the same reasons as Arizona College.

The quality and integrity of the Australian VET system has been under scrutiny for years now. In 2023, the federal government allocated $37.8 million to support the improvement of VET provision, over $30 million was injected into the national regulator which saw the establishment of an Integrity Unit and tip-off line.   

However, as the aged care sector continues to battle against workforce shortages, the removal of thousands of workers from the system will undoubtedly be felt.

ASQA says confidence in the integrity of our VET sector and the qualifications issued by registered providers is paramount. Since November 2024, over 25,500 qualifications held by more than 23,000 individuals have been cancelled.

“ASQA will also continue to work across government - and as part of multi-jurisdictional actions - to prevent, detect, deter and disrupt fraudulent behaviour. This behaviour undermines and threatens the vast majority of providers who are committed and capable of delivering quality VET outcomes for students, industry and the community,” an ASQA spokesperson said.  

“The ASQA Integrity Unit is at the forefront of our ongoing program of work to disrupt non-genuine or and bad-faith operators in the VET sector.”