Carer Payment (CP) and Carer Allowance (CA) carer undertakes paid employment, self-employment, voluntary work, education or training activities 009-06030030

Carer advises they have started or changed details for paid employment, self-employment, voluntary work, education or training (work/study).

Note: CP (XWP) customers are not subject to constant care and the 25 hour rule. Activity hours do not display to staff using the Earnings Workflow for CP (XWP) customers. Cancellation reason 25H is not available for CP (XWP) customers. See Transfer from Wife Pension (WP) to Carer Payment (CP). Procedure ends here.

Self-employment

If the carer is starting or returning to self-employment, decide what business structure they are operating and issue the customer with the appropriate module:

• Module F (Business details):
• sole trader
• business, or
• partnership
• Module PC (Private Company)
• Module PT (Private Trust)

Request the appropriate module via RFI. See Requesting information (CLK).

Select Information to be supplied within 14 Days + Delivery. Record the details on a DOC.

Paid employment

Notification reporters can use the Update employment status service in their Centrelink online account or Express Plus mobile app to advise of employment income paid in the last 14 days. This service will automatically place them on 2 weekly reporting.

Foreign employment income

Carers who notify they are receiving foreign employment income via the Manage Income and Assets online services will be asked to contact Services Australia to provide further information.

Update employment status online service

Carers who use the Update employment status online service to notify that work commenced or carer activities changed, more than 14 days ago will be asked to contact Services Australia. Request all employment income details from the date of commencement until the last EPED and code earnings on the record. See Requesting information (CLK).

Is the carer notifying about a change of hours/income after a cancellation activity has been coded with a future date of effect?

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

Review the effect the change in hours/income has on the cancellation:

• if the cancellation is no longer deemed appropriate:
• correct changes to work/study
• when completed, check the carer remains qualified
• manually restore CP. Go to Step 3
• if the change results in a different future cancellation date:
• correct changes to work/study
• when completed, manually cancel CP from updated date of effect. Go to Step 3

If the carer is notifying of:

• paid employment or self-employment, go to Step 4
• voluntary work, education or training, go to Step 6
• foreign employment income, go to Step 7

When self-employment details are provided on the MOD F, correct/update/code business details for the carer.

To code:

• contractor and commission income, see Income for an independent contractor and commission income
• sole trader or a partnership income, see Assessing and coding the Business details for sole traders and partnerships MOD F

Paid employment

When assisting a customer to report, make a genuine attempt to transition them to reporting via self service options, unless an exception applies.

Use the Earnings and reporting tool to code employment income if the carer is not relinquishing CP.

See Recording and correcting employment income details and Determining the Date of Event (DOV) for employment income.

Notification reporters

Except where the carer is eligible for recording employment income as MTE or is paid in Environment I, place carer notification reporters onto 2 weekly reporting if they advise they or their partner have commenced or changed their paid employment. This includes when employment income will be paid at a regular amount.

Use the Earnings and reporting tool to record activity hours since commencement and any employment income amounts already paid prior to their first reporting date. Record employment income as IOP or LOP as applicable.

Assist carers with self-service options and advise their next reporting date.

Carer notification reporters who exceed 25 hours per week will be unable to complete their report online using Update Employment income. A work item/activity will be created for staff to complete when the customer contacts.

Using the Earnings and Reporting workflow

If the carer has started paid work but has not yet been paid, select Carer Activity (CPAD) Only as the Type of Employment Details Update.

If IOP or LOP are keyed as the Type of Employment Details Update, select Save Response and select Carer Activity (CPAD) Only to record hours. See Carer Payment (CP) processing in the Earnings and reporting tool.

Other actions

If coding manually, correct/update/code:

• employment income via the Employment Income Paid Summary (EAPP) screen, and
• weekly hours worked and travel time on the Carer Payment Activity Details (CPAD) screen

If the carer and/or their partner receive Family Tax Benefit (FTB) or Child Care Subsidy (CCS), check if they need to update their income estimate. Explain to the carer the choices available to help reduce the chance of an overpayment.

Have employment details been keyed on the EAPP screen or has the Business Type FST, NST, FPT or NPT been keyed on the Business Details (BUS) screen?

• Yes:
• the system will navigate to the Carer Payment Activity Summary (CPAS) screen
• activity displays with message, 'EAN/BUS screens updated. Check if employment hours are correct'
• go to Step 5
• No:
• key employer or business details
• navigate to CPAS to select the employer or business
• go to Step 5

Check that new employer details have been automatically coded on the CPAS screen or the Real Estate/Business Identifying (REBI) screen.

Select the activity type on the CPAS screen to navigate to the CPAD screen.

Does the carer also have any voluntary work, education or training activity to be recorded or updated?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No. If foreign employment income:
• is being received and has to be recorded, go to Step 7
• is not being received, go to Step 9

CP customers claiming Pension Education Supplement (PES)

CP customers who claim PES may notify Services Australia of a change in their circumstances that could affect their ongoing CP entitlement.

Service Officers who are allocated PES claims for processing must:

• finalise the PES claim for a customer in receipt of CP, and
• create a Commenced Study – CPAS to be updated Fast Note to notify CP trained Service Officers that a customer has started studying

Commenced Study – CPAS to be updated Fast Note

To action the Fast Note work item, review the record.

Make 2 genuine attempts to contact by phone. If contact is:

• successful, continue the process below. See ‘For all CP trained Processing and Telephony staff’
• not successful after the:
• first attempt, place the Fast Note on hold until the next business day (for the second contact attempt)
• second attempt, finalise the Fast Note activity and issue a Q164 letter to the customer to request contact. DOC the record accordingly. Procedure ends here

For all CP trained Processing and Telephony staff

If successful customer contact is made or customer responds via phone to the Q164 letter:

• explain that the change in circumstances notified in their PES claim means their CP has to be updated with their study details
• obtain the customer’s weekly study hours including total travel time to and from study
• check if the customer is completing any other activities that may need to be included/updated and code the Carer Payment Activity Details (CPAD) screen accordingly
• finalise the coding. If this results in cancellation of the CP, advise the customer of:
• the outcome
• their review and appeal rights, and
• any other payments they may be eligible for

Note: if the customer also receives CA and they are no longer exempt from the CA income test, issue the Carer Allowance adjusted taxable income details (SA489) form for the customer to complete.

Customer contacts by phone to update their activity details

Go to the CPAS screen.

Note: if the carer is no longer participating in the activity, zero out hours previously recorded on the CPAS screen. Do this before selecting the new entry.

Select the activity for recording the hours the carer undertook within the entitlement period.

Is the voluntary work, education or training activity displayed on the CPAS screen?

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

If carers notify they have been paid foreign employment income via the Manage Income and Assets online service, a message displays asking them to contact Services Australia to provide further details.

A paid employment activity is not automatically created on CPAS/CPAD when new employer details are recorded on the Foreign Employment Income (FEIP) screen:

• it is not possible to manually key a paid employment activity type
• as a workaround, record a new activity type of Voluntary work on CPAS/CPAD. Go to Step 8

Go to the CPAD screen and key the:

• appropriate code in the Activity Type field:
• STU - Studying
• TRG - Training
• VOL - Voluntary Work
• name of the organisation or institution in the free text Employer/ Organisation/ Institution field

Update the following fields on the CPAD screen.

CPAD Event Date

The event date used to update the employment details on or after 7 December 2020 is no longer aligned to the date used for the CPAD change, see Determining the Date of Event for employment income.

Code the date of event on the CPAD screen when hours start or change for new claims. Code the initial CPAS event date as date of claim.

All subsequent CPAS event dates are to be coded as follows:

• For voluntary work, study, training or self-employment
• as the first day the carer started the activity or changed their activity hours
• For paid employment and the carer is a:
• notification reporter for the entitlement period, as the first day the carer started the activity or changed their activity hours
• a stimulus reporter for the reporting period, as the Entitlement Period Start Day (EPSD) or EPSD + 7 that the carer started or changed their activity hours

Changing activity hours for paid employment:

• if the carer's activity hours were different in each week, 2 event dates are needed (one for each week in the fortnight)
• an event date can be coded up to 30 days in the future to change or cease an activity

Activity/Travel Time Per week

Key the hours recorded for an activity, including travel time. For the particular activity and week, record the number of hours and minutes that the carer participates in the activity. Record as:

• Met
• Not Met, or
• Unknown

Care has been Met, Not Met or Unknown

Record the total income paid in the period even if there are hours of care met and not met. For example, where a carer takes the care receiver to work with them or has on call hours as well as paid hours.

Care is Met where:

• care receiver is with the carer during the activity and the care is still provided by the carer, consistent with the care receiver's care needs. For example, carer is working from home
• the weekly hours are more than 25 and the determination is that the care needs have been Met, and the reason for the determination is clearly recorded on a DOC on the carer's record. For example, carer works from home or carer is currently in a bereavement period

Care is Not Met where:

• the care receiver is:
• not with the carer during the activity, or
• with the carer but insufficient care or supervision is provided
• a carer has periods where they meet care at home and periods where they do not meet care:
• only key the periods care is Not Met in the Earnings workflow
• when completed, go to the Carer Payment Activity Summary (CPAS) screen, and
• manually add the amount of hours the carer met care within the period
• a carer has ceased employment or self-employment:
• on the CPAD screen, key zero hours in the Care Not Met field. The 'event date' will be the date the carer ceased the activity

Care is Unknown where it is unclear if:

• the care receiver is with the carer during this activity or whether sufficient care is being provided
• care is still being provided. Assess whether care is provided. If this is not possible, key the hours in the Care Unknown column. The system will produce a warning if the total duration of all work/study activities exceeds 25 hours and any hours of any activity are recorded as Care Unknown

Source and DOR as appropriate.

Press [Enter].

Are there other changes to current activities on the CPAS screen and/or do new activity details need to be added?

• Yes, obtain details of activities and code as appropriate. When all other coding is complete, go to Step 1 in Table 2
• No, go to Step 1 in Table 2

Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen.

A carer's qualification may be affected if their total activity duration exceeds 25 hours because of the update.

This is indicated by the following warnings that appear on the Assessment Warning and Error (AWE) screen:

• W300PN - Activity hrs/wk > 25. Check if care is provided
• Appears when the total activity duration for a current CP carer exceeds 25 hours per week, but there is at least one activity on the CPAD screen where hours have been coded as Care Unknown
• W303PN - Total activity hrs > 25. Check CAR eligibility
• Appears when the total Care Not Met hours for a current CP carer exceeds 25 hours per week

Does either of the warnings appear?

• Yes, do not finalise the activity. Go to Step 2
• No, the update to the activity details did not cause the total 'Care Not Met' duration to exceed 25 hours and no hours are 'unknown'. The carer is not disqualified from payment, see Step 8 in Table 3

Is the carer receiving CP under the bereavement or permanent admission to an institution provisions?

• Yes, the carer continues to qualify for CP despite the warning(s). See Step 7 in Table 3
• No, go to Step 3

If the carer is expected to exceed 25 hours per week on an ongoing basis, they cannot use their temporary cessation of care entitlement to remain qualified.

However, a carer temporarily exceeding 25 hours per week may use temporary cessation of care provisions for each period they exceed 25 hours per week.

If the carer chooses to use their temporary cessation of care (TCC), TCC must be assessed in 7 day blocks for each relevant week the carer has exceeded 25 hours.

Temporary cessation of care is recorded as the first and/or second 7 day period of the entitlement period that corresponds with the week they exceeded 25 hours.

Carers can use TCC days to remain qualified when temporarily exceeding 25 hours per week during a nil rate period. Carers must remain qualified to be able to access the employment income nil rate period.

Is the carer taking advantage of the temporary cessation of care (respite) provisions to work/study?

• Yes, see Step 7 in Table 3
• No, go to Step 4

Was the warning - 'W300PN - Activity hrs/wk > 25. Check if care is provided'?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 7

Check the 'Care Unknown' column on the CPAS screen to see if any hours are coded.

Are there any activities where Services Australia does not know if the carer is providing care during the activity?

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

Transfer the call to the Disability, Sickness and Carers (DSC) queue. Procedure ends here for Service Officers not trained in DSC.

Determine whether the care receiver is with the carer during the activity and, if they are, whether the carer is providing sufficient care.

If there is more than one activity where Care Unknown hours exist, each is investigated in turn.

Discuss with the carer the impact of the activity on their ability to provide care. Consider all of the following:

• Is the care receiver with the carer during the activity?
• Is the carer able to stop the activity and provide care when needed?
• How quickly can the carer respond to the needs of the care receiver?

It may also be determined that other questions should be asked. If still unsure whether sufficient care is provided, social worker involvement may be necessary.

Note: if the weekly hours are greater than 25 and the determination is that the care needs have been 'Met', the reason for the determination (for example, carer works from home, bereavement period) must be recorded on a DOC on the carer's record.

Based on the discussion, is the carer providing care consistent with the care receiver's needs during the activity?

• Yes, 'C'orrect the coding of unknown hours to zero and add those hours to Care Met:
• check other Care Unknown activities in a similar manner
• when no Care Unknown activities remain, go to Step 7
• No, 'C'orrect the coding of unknown hours to zero and add those hours to Care Not Met:
• check other Care Unknown activities in a similar manner
• when no Care Unknown activities remain, go to Step 7

Does the total duration of the remaining Care Not Met activities exceed 25 hours?

A warning will display if this is the case. Warning W303PN appears when the total Care Not Met hours for a current CP carer exceeds 25 hours per week.

• Yes, the carer fails the constant care criterion. Go to Step 8
• No, the carer continues to qualify for CP. See Step 8 in Table 3

Working Credit can only be used to qualify a customer for CP if:

• excluding paid employment hours, the carer’s other activity hours away from the care receiver are within the 25 hour limit
• their activity hours including paid employment exceed 25 hours per week
• they have a Working Credit balance greater than nil, and
• they are not taking advantage of respite. For example, they will exceed 25 hours on an ongoing basis but choose not to use respite or respite balance is exhausted

Note: Working Credit does not have to be depleting on the day they lose qualification under the 25 hour rule. For example, if a carer is not paid their employment income until the next entitlement period, they remain qualified under Working Credit provisions until their credit is exhausted - even if their Working Credit starts to deplete in the next entitlement period.

View Working Credit balance on the WCBS screen.

Are all the above criteria met?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 3
• No, cancel CP from the date the carer exceeded 25 hours. Go to Step 5 in Table 3

Carer remains qualified for CP only until the Working Credit balance reaches nil as displayed on the Working Credit Balance Summary (WCBS) screen.

Ask the carer if they are likely to reduce or increase their hours before this date.

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, hours are not likely to change before this date. Cancel CP from the date the Working Credit balance reduces to nil. Go to Step 2

Cancel CP from the date the Working Credit balance reduces to nil.

If employment income has not yet been coded, the date the Working Credit balance will reduce to nil cannot be determined. The date the carer expects to be paid employment income can be coded up to 30 days in the future.

If the carer is a notification reporter, employment income can be coded as MTE, IOP or LOP as appropriate. However, it is not necessary to place them on 2 weekly reporting unless the date the balance will reduce to nil cannot be determined.

Has employment income already been paid or it can be coded for the future?

• Yes, code the employment income details, including for future entitlement periods to determine when Working Credit will reach nil. Go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 3

Ensure the carer is made a stimulus reporter. Code DOA (Display on Access) DOC on the carer's record to alert the next Service Officer to look at the Working Credit balance if the carer next reports employment in a staff-facing channel.

In Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:

• Service Reason: CAR
• Review Reason: EAR (Check Earnings)
• Due Date: date Working Credit balance reaches nil
• Source: INT
• Date of Receipt: today's date
• Notes: 'Carer in continuous employment and Working Credit balance due to reach nil xx/xx/xxxx. Return to OB 009-06030000 to cancel payment if appropriate.'
• Keywords: CARWCB
• Workgroup: leave blank
• Position: leave blank
• Transfer to Region: leave blank

The review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action.

If hours are likely to continue to change, the DOA DOC should continue to be annotated until their Working Credit balance reduces to nil.

The manual review can be resubmitted if necessary each time the carer reports.

Cancellation should be actioned when the carer contacts again, if the Working Credit balance is reduced to nil during that entitlement period.

Note: payment should not be cancelled if hours reduce to 25 or less per week before the Working Credit balance reduces to nil. Expire the DOA DOC if the carer is now working 25 hours or less per week.

Has the carer contacted and the Working Credit balance is reduced to nil and the carer's paid employment, self-employment, voluntary work, education or training (including travel time) exceeds 25 hours per week?

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

If Working Credit balance is not yet nil but the carer is still exceeding, the carer needs to keep reporting. Annotate the DOA DOC. When the date the balance will reach nil is known, go to Step 5.

If the Working Credit balance is nil but the carer is no longer exceeding 25 hours per week, annotate and expire the DOA DOC. Procedure ends here.

Make updates in the carer's record. Run the Carer cancellation and suspension workflow.

If the workflow is not working or not available, code the cancellation manually. For manual instructions, go to Step 6.

Select Carer Payment:

• select 25H as the appropriate reason for cancellation
• select Continue
• the following message should appear:
• 'Carer Payment will cancel from <DOE>' (normally the start date of the latest work/study/voluntary work activity or the date the Working Credit balance will reduce to nil)'
• record the date the carer exceeded 25 hours (normally the start date of the latest work/study/voluntary work activity) or the date the Working Credit balance will reduce to nil in the Effect Date field. Code the cancellation with the correct date the Working Credit balance reduces to nil or the start date the carer commences another activity
• record details on a DOC in the carer's record
• finalise the activity on the AR screen
• expire the DOA DOC that relates to checking the Working Credit balance
• tell the carer of the outcome, their review and appeal rights and any other payments they may be qualified to receive. If the carer also receives CA and they are no longer exempt from the CA income test, the carer will be notified to complete the review

The legislative reference is Section 198 of the Social Security Act 1991 (not section 198(AC)). This is because the requirement for constant care has not been met and not because 25 hours was exceeded. For links to the Act, see the References page.

Note: If a customer has received Crisis Payment and a change has occurred, a manual reassessment of Crisis Payment may be required. For more information, see Reviewing and reassessing Crisis Payment (CrP).

Procedure ends here.

If the workflow is not available, code the cancellation manually by going to the Benefit Action (BA) screen and in the:

• Service Reason field, key CAR
• Action field, key CAN
• Reason field, key 25H

The date the carer exceeded 25 hours (normally the start date of the latest work/study/voluntary work activity) or the date the Working Credit balance will reduce to nil in the Effect Date field. Code the cancellation with the correct date the Working Credit balance reduces to nil or the start date the carer commences another activity.

Record details on a DOC in the carer's record:

• finalise the activity on the AR screen
• expire the DOA DOC that relates to checking the Working Credit balance
• tell the carer of the outcome, their review and appeal rights and any other payments they may be qualified to receive. If the carer also receives CA and they are no longer exempt from the CA income test, a CA income review is required and will be automatically created. If so, the carer will be notified to complete the review

The decision to cancel CP is because the carer no longer provides constant care and attention. This is made according to Section 198 of the Social Security Act 1991 (not section 198(AC)) because the requirement for constant care has not been met. It is not because 25 hours was exceeded. For links to the Act, see References.

Note: If a customer has received Crisis Payment and a change has occurred, a manual reassessment of Crisis Payment may be required. For more information, see Reviewing and reassessing Crisis Payment (CrP).

Procedure ends here.

Note: TCC does not need to be used if the carer is currently in a bereavement period or if the care receiver has entered a nursing home on a permanent basis.

The carer chooses to use their TCC entitlement to work/study for more than 25 hours per week.

TCC is recorded as the corresponding first and/or second 7 day period of the entitlement period that is being reported. The carer continues to qualify for CP at least until the end date of the temporary cessation of care or the expiry of the carer's allowable temporary cessation of care days. Code the temporary cessation of care on the Absence Details (ABSN) screen:

• go to the Care Receiver Summary (CRS) screen and 'S'elect the appropriate care receiver from the list
• the Care Receiver Task Selector (CETS) screen is displayed
• 'S'elect 'Absence Details', and on the ABSN screen, code the:
• Start Date field with the first date of the absence (this will be either the Entitlement Period Start Day (EPSD) or the EPSD plus 7), and
• End Date field with the last date of the absence (this will be a multiple of 7 from the start date)
• if the CP carer is in receipt of CP and Carer Allowance (CA). Code the Reason field as 'RCP' (for Respite for Carer Payment Only)
• TCC for CP occurs in the following scenarios:
• Where a carer continues to provide constant care while in work/study and they temporarily have absences that exceed 25 hours in a week and the carer chooses to utilise temporary cessation of care, 7 days temporary cessation of care will be recorded. This absence will be counted for CP only
• If the carer has temporarily ceased care of the care receiver, but the care receiver is in the care of the other CA shared carer during that period, no temporary cessation of care days will be utilised for CA. If the carer receives CP, this absence will be counted for CP only

See Coding absences for Carer Allowance (CA) when care of care receiver is shared.

Finalise the activity unless a cancellation exists with an effect date in the future and the cancellation is no longer deemed appropriate, that is, the hours have reduced to below 25 hours. If so, code the following before finalising the activity:

• restore CP without the need for a new claim on the BA screen
• go to the Other Customer Links (OCL) screen to delete the end-dated 'CAR CAR CRP' (adult) or 'CAR CAR CRC' (child) link
• finalise the activity on the AR screen

Record a DOC in the carer's record outlining the information provided by the carer. Ensure to record only the necessary employer details on a DOC.

Where the carer would receive nil payment due to the income test and some of that income is employment income from their (or their partner's), the carer may remain current at a nil rate for a period of up to 12 consecutive fortnights provided they continue to meet the qualification requirements for CP, including the constant care criterion.

Ensure the carer and their partner are on 2 weekly reporting if neither have employment income:

• the carer does not need to be on 2 weekly reporting if CP has been cancelled
• the carer and/or partner do not need to be placed on 2 weekly reporting if they have regular employment income that is paid monthly and they meet the Pension Monthly Exception rule
• if the carer’s JobSeeker Payment (JSP)/YA (job seeker) partner is on variable lodgement, place the carer's partner on fortnightly lodgement
• for Age Pension age partners, see Reporting overview
• for other customers, see Reporting overview to determine if reporting frequency is to be updated