Death of a child care receiver and the effect on Carer Allowance (CA) 009-03090050

When advice is received of the death of a child, offer social worker assistance.

Confirmation of death can be accepted where the child's full name and date of birth is provided together with at least two of the following:

• deceased customer's last address in full
• date of birth
• Customer Reference Number (CRN)

See Centrelink - Notification, confirming and recording a death.

Can informant supply enough information to confirm death?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No,
• obtain name and contact number of person advising and details of funeral director if known on a DOC
• confirm the death before taking any further action and suspend Carer Allowance (CA) if death cannot be confirmed and customer's whereabouts are unknown
• Go to Step 4

CA (auto) recipients

Where the carer received CA (auto), this payment will continue for 14 weeks during the bereavement period because of the continuation of Carer Payment (CP). This CA (auto) is not paid under CA bereavement conditions but because of the continuation of CP for the 14 weeks.

There is no lump sum bereavement payment for a CA (auto) child.

CA (child) recipients - lump sum bereavement payments

A bereavement payment of 14 weeks CA may be payable from the child's date of death, where the child met the definition of a Family Tax Benefit child (does not necessarily mean that the carer received Family Tax Benefit (FTB) payments) immediately before the date of death. This amount is paid as a lump sum.

Where the child did not meet the definition of an FTB child a bereavement payment of 4 weeks CA may be payable from the date of the child's death. This amount is paid as a lump sum.

The bereavement payment is paid at the CA rate that applied immediately before the child died. It is paid as if the child had not died and care continued to be provided.

The lump sum bereavement payment of CA (child) is calculated in accordance with section 992K of the Social Security Act 1991. The References page contains a link to the legislation.

Was the child receiving care assessed under the '2 disabled children combined' rule?

• Yes, reassess the other child receiving care to see if the carer still qualifies for CA. As the system will cancel CA, any reassessment should be done as an abridged new claim process. Go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 4

In Customer First, go to the Child Selection (CHS) screen.

Is the child a FTB, Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and/or Parental Leave Pay (PPL)child of the carer or another person?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

Use the Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Families >Updates > Notification of death FTB/CCS/PPL - Child Fast Note to record the following information: full name, address, contact number and relationship to the child of the person notifying the death

• full name, address, contact number and Customer Reference Number (CRN) of the customer receiving FTB/PPL
• full name, date of birth and date of death of the deceased child
• name of the funeral director or hospital able to confirm the date of death
• whether FTB payment options were discussed and if the customer has chosen to be paid via instalments or a lump sum
• any other information considered to be confirmation of death for a child
• whether there are any doubts about information provided
• if applicable, the name of any person charged with the death of the child/ren

The Notification of death FTB/CCS/PPL - Child Fast Note template auto - adds the keyword FAOBRV to ensure the open work item is allocated to the Families Bereavement and Double Orphan Pension (DOP) team. There is no requirement to add additional keywords.

When the death action has been completed and has returned from the Families Processing Team:

• If the carer is still entitled to receive CP in relation to any other care receiver, finalise activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen. Take note of any warnings that appear before finalising the activity
• If the carer is not entitled to receive CP, the Child Bereavement Assistance Delivery Option (FBRV) screen will display. The options presented are to pay as a lump sum or in instalments. Press [Enter], and finalise the activity from the Activity List (AL) screen

Go to Step 7.

• Access the carer's record in Customer First
• Go the Child Selection (CHS) screen and 'S'elect the appropriate care receiver. Complete the Source: and DOR: fields, then press [Enter]
• The Child Task Selector (CHTS) displays. Select the Change Child (CCH) screen. Complete the Death Date: field and press [Enter]
• The FTB Child Bereavement Assistance Delivery Option (FBRV) screen displays. This offers the bereavement payment delivery as a lump sum or an instalment option. CA will pay a bereavement lump sum.
• If the customer is receiving FTB for the child, code the FBRV screen as required
• If FTB is not being paid, FTB Child Bereavement Assistance will not be payable, so proceed to the AR screen
• If the deceased child only attracted the Health Care Card (HCC) for CA, the system will automatically cancel the carer's entitlement
• The system will automatically pay a lump sum bereavement payment and cancel CA for that care receiver. Ensure any instalments of CA paid after the death of the child were deducted from the CA lump sum bereavement payment
• If instalments paid after the child’s death are not deducted (this is a known system issue – see Resources), adjust the CA lump sum bereavement payment:
• From the AR screen within the death activity, select Optional Actions>Carer Allowance>One-Off Payments (OOP) from the left hand menu
• Overstrike the amount with the correct bereavement payment amount and press [Enter] to return to the AR screen
• Finalise the activity on the AR screen
• Take note of any warnings that appear before finalising the activity on the AR screen
• Record the details of the bereavement and any adjustments made to the lump sum bereavement payment in a DOC
• Offer the services of a social worker

To double check the action taken, go to the Care Receiver Assessment Results (CJAR) screen after selecting the relevant care receiver from the Care Receiver Summary (CRS). The following will be displayed in the BEN/STS-RSN field:

• Status 'STS': CAN
• Reason 'RSN': DEA (Death)