Death of one member of a pensioner couple 099-02020040

When a person contacts Services Australia to advise of the death of a customer, staff must offer:

• a social worker referral if the notifier becomes or shows signs of distress during the contact
• the pamphlet Needing help after someone has died? (HD001) if the person is at a service centre
• direct them to 'Death of a loved one' on the Service Australia website. See the Resources page for a link

Consider and respect the following cultural issues when being advised of the death of an Indigenous customer:

• In some cases, immediate family members cannot mention the name of the deceased person. This means immediate family members may have to ask other relatives/friends to call on their behalf or attend the interview with the notifier
• It may also be offensive to the person for the Service Officer to say the name of the deceased customer. If unsure, sensitively ask the person if it is all right for them to use the deceased customer's name. If the person is not comfortable with this, avoid using the deceased customer's name wherever possible. See Cultural considerations when someone dies

Does the customer's record show they were income managed, as shown by INM on the benefit status line?

• Yes, follow procedure to update record for death of an income managed customer. Return to this procedure and go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 2

Was the customer residing outside Australia and/or paid under an international agreement when they died?

Note: staff can check the Additional Residence Details (ARD) screen to confirm if a customer is paid under an international agreement.

• Yes, suspend the customer's record, reason OTH (do not send a Q134) and send a referral to International Services:
• Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Centrelink International Services > Death > Notification of Death
  Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 3

Action must be taken immediately following a notification of a death, including via:

• an Advice of death form (SA116)
• information provided in a claim by the partner of a deceased person

Obtain as much information as possible during the initial contact to reduce the need for future contact with the deceased person's partner or family.

To confirm the death, the minimum information the notifier must provide:

• The full name and date of death of the deceased adult and
• At least 2 of the following:
• deceased adult's last address in full
• date of birth
• Customer Reference Number (CRN)
• partner's name

Service Officers must gather the following information:

• if the death is confirmed, how and by whom
• full name, address and contact number of the person notifying the death
• relationship to the deceased
• name of the funeral director or hospital able to confirm the date of death
• any other information considered to be confirmation of death
• whether there are any doubts about the information provided

Service Officers must check the correct customer's record has been selected before taking steps to record the death. For example, do not record the death on the deceased customer's partner or parent's record. Unnecessary grief and stress is caused to the deceased person's family when a death action is performed on the wrong record.

Centrelink International Services (CIS) can action advice received from the International Agreement partner. Notification of death can be received via Agreement Liaison or from the International data exchange and auto indexation of foreign pension process.

Is there enough information to confirm the death of this customer?

• Yes, death can be confirmed:
• For actioning a notification of death from aged care MFU, go to Step 4
• For all other notifications of death, go to Step 5
• No, need more checks to confirm death, go to Step 6

A manual follow up (MFU) is created when an aged care service has coded that a customer has left care for reason - deceased.

If notification received from an aged care service, further confirmation is required before actioning the notification of death.

Staff must check for any record of contact regarding a customer's death:

• Documents icon in Process Direct or Document Tools in Customer First for an SA116 - Advice of Death or letter
• Check Document List (DL) screen for other notification received
• Check the Integrated Review System (IRS) for any reviews. See Review Types and Review Reasons in the Integrated Review System

If no other evidence is on record, investigate further to confirm death:

• Website search - for example, use customer's name, state and year of death with the word death or funeral
• See Resources for website links
• Confirm that service that has coded departure from care by checking the RCA Institution Summary (RIS) screen
• Contact the aged care service to confirm the details that have been coded
• Search the internet to get the service phone number
• Give details for care recipient
• Verify departure reason and date of death with service
• Note the person's name that gave information for inclusion in notes

For all care types, if date of death is confirmed and is different to the date that is in Aged Care Staff Portal (ACSP):

• document the reason for a different date being used in Notification of death
• Aged Care Programmes will investigate departure details
• escalate with relevant details to Aged Care Programmes - Operations team using the escalation form. The Resources page has a link to the form

Note: Service Officers should adhere to telephone standards including the privacy statement when contacting an aged care service to get more investigation on a customer's death.

See How to code and action a manual review or Workload Management.

Is there enough information to confirm the death of this customer?

• Yes, death can be confirmed:
• If confirmed date is different to reported date, escalate to Aged Care Programmes - Operations team
• If there are transactions or activities blocking completion, go to Step 7 for assistance in getting them cleared
• When ready to action, see Completing Notification of death using data match table in Aged care reviews - manual follow ups
• Procedure ends here
• No:
• Death is not able to be confirmed or the service is unable to provide information and the deceased customer's payment must be suspended, go to Step 6
• Confirmation received that the customer has not died, see Aged care MFUs after departure from care

Staff can access and run the Notification of death on the deceased customer's record. This will help determine if the death can be confirmed.

Confirm if the person notifying of the death is the executor of the estate. If the informant is not the executor, but knows the executor details, get the:

• name and address of the executor, and
• name of the funeral director or hospital

Nominee arrangements and Power of Attorney (POA) stop at the time of death. Send any correspondence, including the payment summary and possible debt recovery action from a deceased estate to the:

• executor, or
• administrator of an estate

Services Australia's ability to finalise any outstanding matters will be impacted if executor or administrator details are:

• incorrectly recorded, or
• not recorded when details have been given

If the executor details are not known at the time of death notification, leave the executor details fields blank.

Note: executor details can be recorded manually on the Death and executor information (DEA) screen in Process Direct or Death/Executor (DEA) screen in Customer First if details become known later.

Go to Step 7.

If death cannot be confirmed and the customer's whereabouts cannot be established, suspend payment until the death can be confirmed using the Notification of death:

• 'Other' (OTH) will automatically be selected. The suspension date of effect is the unconfirmed date of death or date paid to plus 1 (DPT+1), whichever is the later
• If the Notification of Death guided procedure in Customer First is not available or the suspension option cannot be selected, code the suspension manually
• Record a DOC on the customer's record, ensuring that it meets Online Document Recording (ODR) standards for significant decisions and includes what action is needed to confirm the death
• Do not issue a suspension letter. Cancel the advice activity on the AL screen triggered by the 'OTH' suspension

Note: it is imperative that the death is confirmed and actioned as a matter of urgency.

If a DOC or work item about the death notification is not already open:

• Generate an open work item by running the Notification of death
• If the Notification of Death guided procedure in Customer First is not available, create an open work item using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Generic > Update > Death Notification (Adult) - ACTION REQUIRED

The relevant staff will complete the death action when all outstanding activities are complete.

When the death is confirmed and all pre-checks and outstanding transactions and activities have been completed on the customer and/or partner's record, go to Step 7.

Before processing a death action, all transactions or activities on the customer and/or partner's records must be completed. When using the Notification of death workflow in Process Direct or the Notification of Death guided procedure in Customer First, a message displays saying there are outstanding transactions or activities on the customer and/or partner's record.

Service Officers must check:

• Transactions icon and go to the Activity List (AL) screen to check all outstanding transactions / activities are processed
• Documents icon in Process Direct /Document Tools in Customer First for any outstanding documents or information that may not have been actioned
• Notes/Document List (DL) screen for any information that may have previously been provided
• Update the customer record with the appropriate information obtained before coding the death action
• Run the daily driver (DDR) in Customer First

If there:

• is a 'debt activity on the AL screen, create an open work item advising them of the death and requesting the debt activity be completed. Staff must:
• create a Fast Note, and
• select the correct Service Reason relating to the payment of the debt activity on the AL screen: for example, JSP/FTB/CAR/AGE. To find the correct Service Reason, select the debt from AL screen the payment is displayed as Benefit Type
• make sure Document Completion is marked as 'No'
• select Auto text, use Debts > Debt Raising > Debt Raising Deceased ACTion Request
• select Confirm
• include all necessary information in the text field
• select Continue
• is a Vacation of Home (HVR) review on the AL screen, create a Fast Note - select Auto text, use Assessments and Reviews > Income and assets > Action required - Home vacation review, to refer the review to a Home Vacation Review processing Service Officer
• are outstanding transactions or activities (for example, a claim or reassessment), process the activities:
• Service Officers who do not have the skills to process the outstanding activities should immediately contact the team or Service Officer who needs to complete it. If unsure who to contact, refer to existing escalation channels
• Do not delete or cancel activities to finalise a death action. Claims/activities cannot be actioned/reindexed on deceased records
• are Aged Care (RCA) activities:
• RCA/MFU activity - cancel the activity
• Any other RCA activity types contact Local Peer Support (LPS)

If a work item about the death notification is assigned to a Service Officer, but there are still outstanding activities on the record they cannot complete:

• place the work item on hold for a day (or 2 or 3 days if the activity may take a while to complete)
• the Service Officer must check the record each day if the 'hold to user' option is selected

Have all started transactions or activities been completed?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, go to Step 8

If there is an outstanding transaction or activity that cannot be actioned, Service Officers must:

• manually suspend using the reason OTH (other) pending completion of the outstanding activity. The suspension date of effect if the death is:
• is confirmed - is the confirmed date of death
• unconfirmed - is the date paid to plus 1 (DPT + 1)
• record a DOC on the deceased customer's record, including:
• Suspension Date
• Include <confirmed> <unconfirmed> date of death notification date
• Significant decisions
• If a provisional debt activity has been created, the updates/changes that lead to the debt activity
• Further actions required on the customers record, found in Document Tools, DL screen or a review
• Record a manual review in Customer First using review reason SOR Bereavement, for no more than 7 days from suspension to check if death has been confirmed
• Do not issue a Q134 suspension letter. Service Officers must cancel the triggered suspension OTH advice activity on the AL screen

Note: request for an urgent QMA or QOL if the transaction or activity submits to QMA or QOL, so the death action can be finalised.

If a DOC or work item about the death notification is not open:

• Generate an open work item by running the Notification of death
• If the Notification of Death guided procedure in Customer First is not available, create an open work item using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Generic > Update > Death Notification (Adult) - ACTION REQUIRED

The relevant staff will complete the death action when all outstanding activities are complete.

Once all pre-checks and outstanding transactions and activities have been completed on the customer and/or partner's record, go to Step 9.

Is payment suspended?

• Yes, restore payment if suspended:
• run the DDR in Customer First if finalised activities are still showing on the AL screen
• pensioners are entitled to the final payment for the entitlement period in which they died
• make sure that no arrears are issued other than the final payment unless it has already been paid. To zero off arrears the deceased customer is not entitled to, see Step 4 in Table 2 of Payment of arrears after reassessment and stopping a payment
• inhibit the restoration advice as it is not appropriate to send a letter to a deceased customer:
  - Process Direct: Entitlements (ELD) screen
  - Customer First: Assessment Results (AR) screen
• DOC the record with relevant information and actions taken
• go to Step 10
• No, go to Step 10

Did the deceased customer report, or lodge a reporting statement?

• Yes, go to Step 11
• No, go to Step 12

Are the deceased customer's employment income details for the reporting period in which they passed away known, or can the person notifying of the death give the customer's employment income details for the last reporting period?

• Yes:
• Process the reporting statement
• Go to Step 12
• No:
• Stimulate the payment by manually coding 'Y' on the Report Results (RR) screen. See Recording and correcting employment income details
• Go to Step 12

Check if the customer has received any of the following payments:

• Family Tax Benefit (FTB) instalments
• Child Care Subsidy (CCS)
• Ancillary benefits for a Regular Care Child
• Paid Parental Leave (PPL)
• Dad and Partner Pay (DAP)

Has the customer received any of these payments?

• Yes:
• Code the child out of care. See Step 5 and 6 in Death of family assistance or Paid Parental Leave scheme customer
• Invite new carer to claim FTB
• Note: request for an urgent QMA or QOL if the transaction or activity submits to QMA or QOL, so the death action can be finalised
• No, go to Step 13

Run the Notification of death to code the death action.

If the Notification of death is not available in Customer First, manually code the death action in Customer First.

When recording a death the Notification Handler (NOHL) is incorrectly using the date of notification as the date to increase the survivor's rate to the single rate. The workaround for this is to record the date of receipt (DOR) as the later of either the date of death (DOD) or date paid to + 1 (DPT + 1).

Note: the workaround auto-applies if the Notification of death workflow in Process Direct or Notification of Death guided procedure in Customer First is used.

Before finalising the death action activity, check the auto-generated Lump Sum Bereavement Payment (LBP) amount on the Entitlements (ELD) screen in Process Direct or the Assessment Results (AR) screen in Customer First. If it appears to be correct, a manual calculation is not needed. Only if a manual calculation is needed, see Calculation of a Lump Sum Bereavement Payment (LBP).

The deceased person's pension is cancelled from the later of the date of death (DOD) or date paid to + 1 day (DPT + 1).

If the surviving partner was a joint owner of any assets with their late partner, full ownership of the assets legally transfers to the surviving partner following the death of their partner. However, for social security purposes, if assets are owned in joint names with the deceased partner, the surviving partner is only assessed as owning 50%. The system will continue to assess that the surviving partner owns 50% of the asset, until the surviving partner advises of the transfer of assets.

During the death action, if the system displays the warning 'WC - Change prior to Limiting Date - Update WC balance':

• check the Working Credit Balance Summary (WCBS) screen, and
• if needed, correct the balance on the W/C Manual override (WCRC) screen

Note: if someone other than the partner (a third party carer) is getting Carer Payment for the deceased, see Death of an adult or child care receiver and the effect on Carer Payment.

See Table 2.

Is the surviving partner getting DSP and under 21 years of age with no dependent children?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 3

If the surviving partner gets DSP and is under 21 years of age with no dependent children, check the Telephone Summary (TDS) screen in the surviving partner's record.

Is the surviving partner recorded as a telephone subscriber?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, and the couple were:
• living together, update the surviving partner's record to pay them TAL. Go to Step 3
• not living together, check if the surviving partner has a telephone service connected in their name. Go to Step 3

If the surviving partner has a status of RCA/CUR-DSS, they have started Aged Care. See RCA Circumstance (RCIRC) or RCA Institution Summary (RIS) screens to confirm that surviving partner is in Care Type: Residential and not Care Type: Home.

Their former home is an exempt asset, if the:

• surviving partner is either an aged care resident or in a care situation, and
• customer was residing in the principal home

When the customer at home dies, a 2 year exemption period starts for the partner. Other exemptions may also be applicable for aged care residents. See Vacation of principal home due to illness.

If a member of a couple dies after their partner vacated their home to enter a care situation, the start date of the 2 year exemption period is set from the later of the date:

• the partner entered a care situation
• the deceased customer entered a care situation (if applicable)
• of the customer's death, if they resided in the principal home

Check the Homeowner Ownership field is a homeowner (for example, codes GFH, NHH or HOM) on the surviving partner's Accommodation (AC) screen.

Is the surviving partner a homeowner and an aged care resident or in a care situation?

• Yes, to make sure the former home is assessed at the appropriate time, create a work item in the surviving partner's record, if:
• partner is RCA/CUR: create a Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Aged Care > Enquiry > Aged Care Prin Home Rev, for Aged Care (RCA), to review the value of the home and include it in any current means assessment. Go to Step 4
• partner is in other care situation: create a Fast Note - select Auto text, use Assessments and Reviews > Income and assets > Action required - Home vacation review, to refer the decision to a Home Vacation Review processing Service Officer. They will determine and update the required vacation of home date, as the partner of a customer in a care situation has passed away. Go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 4

Is the surviving partner paid under an agreement or under the pre 20 September 2000 portability provisions?

To identify if a customer is paid under an agreement, the Agreement country and Year fields are coded on the Additional Residence Details (ARD) screen.

To identify if a customer is paid under pre 20 September 2000 portability provisions, see the Resources page in Customers overseas on 20 September 2000.

• Yes, the surviving partner is entitled to continue to have their rate calculated using their deceased partner's Australian Working Life Residence (AWLR)
• Check the deceased partner's AWLR by going to their (AWLR) screen
• Retrieve the AWLR amount, and switch back to the surviving partner's record
• Code this amount on the customer's (ARD) screen using the date of death as date of event
  Note: this action needs to be done within the death activity. This will make sure that future entitlement and Lump Sum Bereavement Payment (LBP) is calculated correctly
• No, go to Step 5

After the death action has been recorded in:

• Process Direct: select Relations Menu > Partners Record
• Customer First: The system will auto-switch to the Assessment Results (AR) screen of the surviving partner's record

The following will display:

• the surviving partner's rate that will auto-update to the single rate, or maintained at the single rate for a surviving partner who was separated due to ill health. The rate is based on the surviving partner's income and assets. The rate is varied from date paid to + 1 day (DPT + 1) or date of death (DOD), whichever is the later
• an auto-calculated Lump Sum Bereavement Payment (LBP) if the partner is eligible. For example, the single rate is less than the combined member of a couple rate

If the surviving partner starts work, or is currently working, working credits may enable them to keep some of their income support payment while they are working.

If their income reduces their fortnightly rate to nil and some of that income is employment income, they may remain current at nil rate for up to 12 fortnights and retain certain benefits.

Note: if the person's deceased partner was working and had any working credits, these credits cannot be transferred to them.

If the surviving partner is granted a reversionary income stream, assess from the date it is first entitled to be received. A lump sum arrears payment received by the reversionary beneficiary, accrued between the death of the primary beneficiary and when the reversionary beneficiary starts to get regular payments, is assessed as income from the income stream. This means the income is assessed over the period to which it relates. Effective from 9 May 2018, if bereavement provisions apply and the assessment of lump sum arrears result in a debt during the bereavement period for the surviving spouse, it can be waived under the legislative instrument 'Social Security (Waiver of Debts - Bereavement Period) Specification 2017' made under subsection 1237AB(1) of the Social Security Act 1991.

Note: any debt incurred after the Act's 14 week bereavement period has ended would not be waived under the provisions of this legislative instrument. The legislative instrument is not retrospective. This means that any of these debts that occur before 9 May 2018 cannot be waived under class of debt waiver provisions.

Is the surviving partner receiving Carer Payment (CP) or Carer Allowance (CA)?

Note: if someone other than the partner (a third party carer) gets CP/CA for the deceased, see Death of a care receiver and the effect on Carer Payment, or Death of an adult care receiver and the effect on Carer Allowance.

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 7

If the surviving partner gets CP, and:

• the deceased partner was the care receiver:
• CP can continue to the partner for 7 full payments after the death of the care receiver. A Lump Sum Bereavement Payment (LBP) may also be payable. Note: CP (XWP) continues during the bereavement period if the care receiver who died was the only or last CA care receiver. A bereavement period does not apply if CP (XWP) continues because the customer gets payment level CA for a different care receiver. See Transfer from Wife Pension (WP) to Carer Payment (CP)
• the deceased partner was not the care receiver:
• CP can continue whilst the customer is still providing care. A LBP may be payable
• Tell the customer of allowable absences from providing care
• the surviving partner is getting CA and an income support payment (other than Carer Payment) that does not qualify them for a bereavement payment, and:
• the deceased partner was the care receiver, a CA Bereavement Payment may be payable
• the deceased partner was not the care receiver, CA can continue while the customer is still providing care

In Process Direct:

• Select Finish
• Record details of the update on the Finalise screen
• Select Finalise to complete the transaction

In Customer First:

• Select Finish, then select Continue
• Select Finalise to complete the activity
• Record the details of the bereavement on a DOC. Note: the Notification of Death guided procedure should auto-record all of these details
• Check that all bereavement period and payment details appear on the surviving partner's record on the Bereavement Payment Information (BVI) screen
• If the surviving customer is entitled to a lump sum bereavement payment that is not auto issued, such as when the deceased was a Department of Veteran's Affairs (DVA) customer, a BRV activity will appear on the Activity List (AL) screen for a manual calculation to be made

Is there a BRV activity on the AL screen?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 10

DVA may be responsible for paying the lump sum bereavement payment.

Transfer the BRV activity to the DVA Clearance Team (SCS) if the deceased partner was receiving any of the following payments from DVA:

• Social Security Age Pension (paid by DVA)
• Age Service Pension
• Partner Service Pension
• Invalidity Service Pension
• Carer Service Pension
• Veteran Payment
• Income Support Supplement (ISS)

Transfer the BRV activity to the DVA Clearance Team (SCS) for assessment of the LBP if:

• both the surviving partner and deceased partner were receiving an income support payment paid by Services Australia, and
• either of them is receiving a Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA) payment

If the deceased partner was getting a DVA Disability Pension, DVA auto-pays the LBP to the surviving partner.

Note: if the surviving partner is a social security pensioner, they can receive an LBP from DVA as well as from Services Australia.

SCS will assess entitlement for the LBP and calculate the amount.

Will SCS finalise the bereavement activity?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, go to Step 9

The Service Officer should perform a lump sum bereavement payment calculation manually.

Select the BRV/OOP activity, and on the One Off Payments (OOP) screen:

• in the Effect date field, key the date of death
• in the Payment Type field, key 'BLS' (Lump Sum Bereavement Payment)
• press [Enter] to view the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• key 'O' next to the BRV/OOP line to display the OOP screen
• in the Amount column on the Bereavement Payment line, key the LBP amount
• press [Enter] twice to return to the AR screen. The activity can now be completed
• record details on a DOC

After completing the death action:

• offer referral to a social worker, if appropriate
• if the deceased person was receiving Family Tax Benefit, see Death of a family assistance payment or Parental Leave Pay (PPL) customer or child
• if the surviving partner is getting Carer Payment and will not have an ongoing entitlement, tell the surviving partner to claim an alternative payment before Bereavement Period End Date (BPED) + 1 is reached. An auto-review (reason either BRV or BRS) is set for the BPED + 1
• reissue a concession card to the partner if it does not auto-reissue
• identify any service providers to be advised of the death
• update executor details after the death has been recorded
• surviving partners getting a pension are issued a Centrelink Bereavement Statement 8 weeks after their partner's date of death. A bereavement income and asset review may also be completed
• If the death action resulted in a potential overpayment for the deceased person, see Requesting refunds and raising debts for deceased customer

These actions may auto-cancel the surviving partner's payment. If a letter is not auto created, send a Q486 letter to tell them about the cancellation and available bereavement assistance.