About the Fund

Using insights from the Australian Priority Investment Approach to Welfare, the $96.1 million Try, Test and Learn Fund trialled new or innovative approaches to assist some of the most vulnerable in society onto a path towards stable, sustainable independence.

The fund used the Priority Investment Approach and other policy considerations to identify priority groups in the community at high risk of long-term welfare dependency.

The objective of the Try, Test and Learn Fund was to build knowledge and evidence for approaches that could reduce ongoing reliance on welfare.

The quality and value of the evidence projects could produce was an important part of project selections. This allowed government to better identify approaches that worked and findings that could be used to inform government approaches to welfare investments.

The Try, Test and Learn Fund took a collaborative approach to project development. It focussed on new ideas from a diverse range of stakeholders, including the community, business, and academic sectors, to develop new ways of tackling complex social challenges. Co-development activities refined and improved project design, were tailored to the needs of each project and involved collaboration between government and other key stakeholders.

The Try, Test and Learn Fund helped inform Australia’s approach to welfare reform by contributing to a modern welfare system that increases the capacity of individuals, reduces the risk of welfare dependency and maintains a strong welfare safety net.

Stakeholder engagement

State and territory governments, the community sector, academics, business, social entrepreneurs, and people who receive welfare payments all had important contributions to make to the Try, Test and Learn Fund.

Stakeholder engagement activities included:

  • information sessions
  • an ideas exchange
  • a policy hack to help inform ideas
  • consultation with state and territory governments
  • a consultative design workshop
  • newsletter updates through our mailing list.

Fund tranches

The first tranche of the Try, Test and Learn Fund was open for ideas from 9 December 2016 to 24 February 2017. The priority groups for this tranche were: 

The second tranche was open from 22 November 2017 until 28 September 2018. The priority groups for tranche 2 were older unemployed people and at-risk young people.  

Applications were also accepted for other vulnerable groups at risk of long-term welfare dependence.

Evaluation of the Fund

The Try, Test and Learn Fund provided funding to organisations across Australia for the delivery of 52 projects, supporting more than 12,000 Australians. Service delivery for all projects ended on or before 30 June 2021.

We contracted the University of Queensland, in partnership with the University of Melbourne, to conduct an independent evaluation of the TTL Fund.

Evidence and insights gathered through the evaluation continues to inform policy and program approaches now and into the future.

For more information about the evaluation of the TTL Fund, contact OutcomesTrialsandEvidence@dss.gov.au.

Transition funding for projects

Transition funding for successful Try, Test and Learn projects was a ‘payment by outcomes’ program. We trialled the program from 2021-2023 following the completion of the Fund. Projects were evaluated as achieving employment outcomes for participants during the lifetime of the Fund.

We commissioned Social Ventures Australia from January to July 2023 to evaluate the extent to which the program had achieved its intended objectives. The evaluation used both qualitative and quantitative methods to look at the impact of the program overall as well as project-level analyses.

The report presents the findings from the evaluation, together with lessons learned to inform future policy and program decisions.

Read more

For a history of the successful Try, Test and Learn program you can access 2021 information via our website archive:

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