Raising of Social Security debts due to linking of same-sex partner 107-04020230

Go to the Document List (DL) screen. Locate any DOC related to the undetermined debt:

• find the DOC titled Debt Investigation (if available). The information:
  • may help as a starting point
  • is an estimate at a point in time
• consider other factors that may impact the debt outcome, for example:
  • the presence of limiting dates
  • other waived or determined debts on the Debt List (OPDL) screen where any date overlaps the undetermined debt
  • manual and automatic adjustments, etc.
• follow Business As Usual (BAU) debt investigation and raising processes
• see Using the correct date of effect when raising debts 107-03010010

Confirm the:

• partner is a same-sex partner. The Customer Person Detail Summary (CPDS) screen lists the customer's gender. Check this screen for both customer and partner
• debt relates to the linking of the same-sex partner

Establish the DOV the customer received a valid notice requiring them to notify the agency of their same-sex relationship.

The DOV will be the start date of the same-sex relationship. For the agency's purposes this is:

• 1 July 2009 for a relationship which commenced before 1 July 2009. This is the date customers in a same-sex relationship were recognised as partnered due to legislative changes.
  This includes customers who disclosed the relationship during the voluntary declaration period (30 March to 30 June 2009)
• the date the relationship commenced, for a same-sex relationship which commenced on or after 1 July 2009

The notification period is the period of time a customer has to notify their change of circumstances.

The notification period is determined using:

• the date the customer is sent a valid notice advising of their need to notify of a same sex relationship
• if they are a stimulus reporter or not

For stimulus customers the NPED will be the later of:

• the entitlement period end date after the issue of the valid notice, or
• the entitlement period end date after the date the relationship commenced

For non-stimulus customers the NPED will be the later of:

• 14 days (28 days for CIS customers) from the date of the valid notice, or
• 14 days (or 28 days for CIS customers) from the date the relationship commenced

Note: the customer and their partner may have different NPEDs if they both receive a Social Security payment.

The DOR is determined by:

• when the source documentation is lodged, or
• when information is notified

Services Australia did not record same-sex relationships before 30 March 2009. Notifications before 30 March do not meet notification obligations.

Customers could voluntary declare de facto or registered relationships from 30 March 2009 to 30 June 2009.

Go to the Event Summary (ES) screen. It lists the updates to the customer record. Each update will have an activity management record (AMR).

Identify the AMR for the update to the Martial Status (MS) screen which linked the customers records. The date of the AMR is the Date of Action.

The notification handler (NOHL) will determine the date to apply the rate change from. This DOE will also determine if a debt exists.

Determine the DOE from:

• Date of event (DOV)
• Notification Period End Date (NPED)
• Date of receipt (DOR)
• Date of Action (DOA)

If the DOE is:

• after the period of the generated overpayments, set the debt to $0.00. Finalise the debt to 'no debt (FND) reason code of NOHL date of event (NHL)
• before or during the period of the generated overpayments, calculate and raise the debt

Is the total calculated debt amount less than the small debt waiver threshold?

• Yes, see Small debt waivers
• No, go to Step 8

Special circumstances debt waivers are discretionary and what one person (or tribunal) may see as special, another may not. Special circumstances are difficult to define. They are due to situations that are unusual, uncommon or out of the ordinary. Consider the context in which they happen and if they differ from the usual run of cases. While the circumstances might be unique, they must have a particular quality of unusualness that would describe them as special.

The special circumstances debt waiver requires consideration of a person’s circumstances in their entirety. Each case must be considered on its own merits.

The discretionary provision allows for a customer’s broader circumstances to be considered by staff when deciding whether to apply special circumstances waivers, including circumstances that justify why a person provided false information or failed to comply with legislation. Circumstances may include (but are not limited to) consideration of issues such as:

• family and domestic violence
• financial abuse and coercion
• mental health
• decision-making capacity
• the impact of natural disasters
• homelessness, or
• serious dependence on drugs and alcohol

Additional factors that may need consideration when determining if special circumstances exist could include:

• if the customer had access to the 1 July 2009 and 9 December 2017 legislation changes recognising same-sex relationships
• language, literacy or cultural barriers. Whether the customer could read and fully understand the information

Social workers can provide professional recommendations about special circumstances debt waivers. See Social workers' role in debt, payment assurance and compensation.

Each waiver will have a minimum delegation required to waive a debt. See the References page for a link to Centrelink Services, Delegations and Authorisations.

See Special circumstances debt waivers.

Use the:

• Debt Assist workflow in Process Direct to finalise 'no debt' (FND) the debt, or
• Debt Action script in Customer Record to:
  • raise the debt for recovery, or
  • waive the debt (except for small debt waivers)

For more information about:

• raising debts, see Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)
• how to finalise a no debt, see Finalised 'no debt' (FND) or 'zeroing' debts that are not legally recoverable
• waiving debts, see Waiving Centrelink Debts