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Carer Specialist Assessment Team (CSAT) referrals for Carer Payment (CP) (child) 009-04070060

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For Carer Payment/Carer Allowance New Claims Smart Centre Processing staff

This page contains the correct process for referring a Carer Payment (CP) or Carer Allowance child claim to the Carer Specialist Assessment Team (CSAT) to help determine eligibility for those claims that did not quite meet the qualifying threshold, or the interpretation of the Care Needs Assessment (CNA) is unclear or is deemed too complex.

New claim

On this page:

Identifying CSAT referrals

Triggers for a CSAT referral

CSAT referrals and assessments

Identifying CSAT referrals


Table 1: this table describes the process to identify Carer Specialist Assessment Team (CSAT) referrals for a Carer Payment (CP) child claim.

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Step

Action

1

Referral to CSAT for Carer Payment (CP) (child) claim

Has the claim previously been referred to CSAT, and returned?

2

Other qualification met

Does carer meet all other qualification criteria for Carer Payment (child) such as income, assets, residence, or a Treating Health Professional (THP) score of 'greater than zero'?

3

Validation trigger identified

Has a validation trigger been identified on a new claim?

4

Identify triggers for a CSAT referral for a CP (child) claim

There will be specific triggers identified by the Service Officer indicating the need for manual referral to a CSAT social worker to investigate additional evidence relating to the accuracy of care load requirements in the identified claim(s):

  • Automatic referral to CSAT is triggered by the 'total score' calculated from information entered on the Care Needs Assessment (CNA) as part of the new claim for CP (child), see Table 2 > Step 1. The Service Officer will be alerted that there is an automated referral trigger, and has the option to decide whether the automatic referral is required or not
  • Referrals to the CSAT must be made before finalising the claim

The Resources page contains a list of referral reason codes.

5

Complete the validation process - Care Load Validation (CLVL) screen

The CLVL screen will be presented when there are discrepancies between the responses provided in the THP report and the CNA form, and a validation is required.


Triggers for a CSAT referral


Table 2: this table describes the triggers for a Carer Specialist Assessment Team (CSAT) referral.

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Step

Action

1

Trigger 1

A claim may just miss the total required qualifying rating when there is a qualifying score for CP (child) on the THP report for care load required but the score on the 'care load provided' within the CNA, just misses out on a qualifying score.

Trigger 1 will occur when either:

  • The completed CNA total score for a single carer of a single child is:
    • 70-84.9 for a child aged less than 3 years, or
    • 80-84.9 for a child aged 3 years to less than 16 years, or
  • The completed CNA total score for 2 or more carers of a single child is:
    • 70-84.9 for a child aged less than 3 years, or
    • 80-84.9 for a child aged 3 years to less than 16 years
  • The completed CNA scores for 2 children of a single carer (combined care), or one or 2 children of a single carer plus a lower ADAT score adult (multiple care) are 80-84.9 for any child less than 16 years

Did any of the above occur, resulting in an automatic referral being created?

2

Trigger 2

Where the system is unable to deliver a determination (for example, in exchanged care cases with more than one former spouse) as the case may be of a complexity that requires specialist assessment by the CSAT social workers to clarify the care arrangements and to confirm that the arrangements are consistent with the constant care criteria.

Is the case difficult or complex?

3

Trigger 3

Are the circumstances identified by the CNA or the Service Officer as unusual, unique or extreme, where the consequence of not referring could lead to an inappropriate outcome?

  • Yes, see Table 3 > Step 1
  • No, referral to the CSAT is not required update the Carers CSAT Referrals (CLCRF) screen code 'N' in the Referral Required field. Procedure ends here

CSAT referrals and assessments


Table 3: this table describes Carer Specialist Assessment Team (CSAT) referrals and assessments.

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Step

Action

1

Refer the CP (child) claim to the CSAT

It is not the role of the CSAT social worker to provide counselling, support or other social work interventions. If ongoing counselling, support and/or practical assistance are required, the CSAT social worker is to refer the carer to the relevant Service Officer, to a Centrelink Social Worker, Financial Information Service (FIS) or appropriate community support services.

Carer Payment Claims

When a CSAT referral is required for a CP new claim assessment, the referral option within Process Direct must be used to create the referral:

  • Place the claim on hold until the assessment and recommendation by CSAT have been completed
  • Do not create a referral if the claim would otherwise be rejected for other qualification reasons such as income, assets, residence or where the THP score is 0 or less

Cancellation

  • If a referral needs to be cancelled, the Service Officer (a APS5 or above) is required to separately DOC the referral cancellation (with the relevant keyword 'CANCSAT'), and finalise the referral activity
  • If the referral has already been started (that is, already assigned a keyword of 'TOCSAT'), the Service Officer must enter the outcome reason of 'Not required' within the referral activity, and choose not to accept the recommendation

Returned report

CSAT social work reports will be uploaded as a document to the customer’s record, often as an unstructured (UNS) file type (for example, UNS008) when the report is returned by the social worker, go to Step 2.

2

Check if the CSAT social worker completed the referral

Was the CSAT social worker able to complete the referral?

  • Yes, go to Step 3
  • No, if the carer did not return the Q164 within 21 days of the date the letter being issued, refer the CP claim back to the Service Officer processing the claim and assess it based on the information provided

3

Report returned from CSAT

Were any changes to the responses for the CNA recommended by the CSAT?

4

Review and update Care Needs Assessment (CNA)

Review the recommendations in the CSAT social worker report:

  • The Service Officer can choose to accept the recommendations in the report. If the Service Officer chooses not to accept the recommendations, they can process the claim, with or without rejection of payment. The Service Officer is to use the reason 'Not required' to complete the referral activity. Note: the 'Type of assessment' is not needed when the outcome is 'Not required'. Go to Step 5
  • Changes recommended by the CSAT social worker to any of the carer's responses in the CNA can be updated using the appropriate screens with a source code of 'CST'. Change the 'Information Source' from 'CUS' to 'CST'. Overstrike the relevant responses(s) with the new responses and change the Action to 'I'
  • After [Enter] is pressed, a new page will be presented with the latest data displayed and the Information Source of 'CST'. The previous page will display the data sourced from 'CUS'

This process is to apply for changes to provisional or confirmed data.

The Effect Date and Date Signed should not be changed as the CSAT recommendations should apply from the effect date of the CNA.

5

Finalise claim

Before completing the referral activity, make sure the following details are coded on the CLCRF screen:

  • CSAT recommendation
  • outcome date
  • recommendation accepted

Finalise the claim and record details on a DOC.