Carer Payment (CP) carer is absent 009-06030020

If the carer or care receiver is overseas or going overseas, see Carer Allowance (CA) and Carer Payment (CP) interaction of portability and temporary cessation of care (respite) rules. Procedure ends here.

Is the carer's absence because they are in prison or psychiatric confinement in connection with an offence?

• Yes,
• Staff undertaking Compliance intervention processes and F2F Incarcerated Customer Servicing teams, see the Cancellation or suspension when carer is in prison or psychiatric confinement table in Cancellation or suspension of Carer Payment (CP) and Carer Allowance (CA)
• All other staff, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 3

Only staff undertaking compliance intervention processes and F2F Incarcerated Customer Servicing team can suspend CP and/or CA if the carer enters prison or psychiatric confinement.

For urgent cases where immediate action is required, contact the relevant state F2F Customer Servicing team directly.

For all other cases, check the Correctional Facilities page to locate the relevant F2F Incarcerated Customer Servicing Team and send an email to the relevant F2F Incarcerated Customer Servicing Team requesting follow-up and suspension of payment.

The email must contain the:

• customer’s name
• Customer Reference Number
• date they entered prison or psychiatric confinement, and
• any other relevant information

Procedure ends here.

Is the carer taking advantage of the fact that their care receiver has entered a period of respite to also 'take a break'?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 5

Although both are absent from the home, this situation only counts as 1 period of respite.

The system will not allow 2 overlapping periods of respite to be entered.

Ensure the start date coded is the first 24 hour 'midnight to midnight' period that the first person was temporarily absent from the home. The end date is the last 24 hour 'midnight to midnight' period prior to when the last person comes back to the home. This way the whole absence period will be covered.

Note: Respite only applies to CA if the carer is getting CP (XWP).

Code depending on the type of absence. To code a:

• one-off absence, see Step 6 in Table 2
• regular absence, see Step 7 in Table 2

Is the carer absent because they are undertaking training, education, unpaid voluntary work or paid employment?

• Yes, see Carer Payment (CP) and Carer Allowance (CA) carer undertakes paid employment, self-employment, voluntary work, education or training activities
• No, or carer is getting CP (XWP) go to Step 6

• Yes, and the carer:
• will resume caring, go to Step 7
• will not resume caring, cancel CP, see Cancellation and suspension of Carer Payment (CP) and/or Carer Allowance (CA). Note: if the carer is getting CP (XWP), cancel their CA and their CP will be auto-cancelled
• No, go to Step 7

Is the care receiver the partner of the carer?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, see Step 1 in Table 2

Is the expected length of the absence greater than 14 nights?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, see Step 1 in Table 2

The couple may be entitled to illness separated rate.

For detailed information, see Carer is separated from their partner due to illness

In the carer's record, navigate to the Marital Status (MS) screen.

Code the Event Date, the Qualifier Code and the Marital Status fields. Use Field Help ('?') for appropriate codes.

Coding the MS screen will allow the carers to receive the illness separated rate, if applicable. This is the case if the carer and care receiver (who are partners) will be separated due to illness in excess of 14 nights. Press [Enter].

Code all absences using the Temporary Cessation of Care workflow. If the workflow is not available or not working, manually code the absence.

Note: TCC absences do not apply to CP (XWP), but do apply to the carer's CA as normal.

Is the workflow working?

• Yes, complete the workflow. Procedure ends here
• No, navigate to the Care Receiver Summary (CRS) screen in the carer's record and 's'elect the appropriate care receiver from the list. For CP (XWP) carers, select the relevant CA care receiver(s)

On this screen, 'S'elect:

• Absence Enquiry field, this will open the Absences Enquiry Screen (ABCE)
• Absence Details field, this will open the Absences Details (ABSN) screen

Press [Enter].

Note: field help for the ABCE screen and the ABSN screen refers to absences as 'nights'. This will be revised in a future release to clarify that these are 24 hour periods, midnight to midnight.

This provides the summary of the absences taken in the current calendar year.

Code 'Y' to the question Go to Absences Details Screen? (Y/N) field.

Press [Enter] to view the Absences Details (ABSN) screen.

Is the care receiver a child care receiver who is in the care of the carer's partner?

• Yes, code the absence reason type as 'RCP' (Respite for Carer Payment only - child under 16 years of age in partner's care) on the ABSN screen. If a child care receiver is in the care of the partner, this is not an absence for Carer Allowance purposes, but it is an absence for Carer Payment. Using code 'RCP' will ensure each system maintains an accurate count of absence days used. 'RCP' counts against the respite allowance for CP. Note: do not code CP-specific absences (RCP or CWP) for carers getting CP (XWP). Go to Step 5
• No, code the absence reason as 'RSP' (Respite Care). Go to Step 6

Is this a regular absence?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, it is a one-off absence, go to Step 6

Code the one-off absence on the ABSN screen, using the reason code already determined.

See Coding a one-off absence for Carer Payment (CP)/Carer Allowance (CA) when the care receiver is absent.

Go to Step 8.

Code the regular absence on the ABSN screen, using the reason code already determined.

See Coding a regular absence for Carer Payment (CP) and/or Carer Allowance (CA) when the care receiver is absent.

Note: the End Date field can be coded if it is known, however, regular absences do not require an end date to be coded for the activity to accept.

Press [Enter] again.

The screen flow will go to the carer's Activity List (AL) screen.

• 'S'elect the started activity
• Double-check the calculation on the ABCE screen:
• When the activity from the AL screen is 'S'elected, key 'AR' in the Nxt: field
• When the Assessment Results (AR) screen displays, do not finalise the activity
• Key 'ABCE' in the Nxt field
• The reason this must be done is because the ABCE screen will only show updated data after accessing the AR screen

If the end date is keyed as a result of an estimate by the carer, include a note to this effect on the DOC

If an extension was considered, include the reason for either granting or rejecting the extension on the DOC.