'Class of debt' waivers for national disasters between 2009 and 2011 107-05120050

It is not necessary to raise the debt before a decision to waive or not waive is made. Contact the customer if there are circumstances that create sensitivities. For more information, see Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS).

Otherwise, raise the debt.

Family assistance debts

All 2009 Victorian Bushfire and late 2010 and early 2011 natural disasters (flooding and Cyclone Yasi) waiver processing for family assistance reconciliation cases are undertaken by the Manual Intervention Team.

See the Resources page for reconciliation debt waiver assessment.

Debt Staff are only responsible for assessing family assistance qualification debts.

Are there factors relevant to consider waiver or has the customer (or their advocate) requested waiver for the natural disaster or for another reason?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, commence normal recovery. See Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS). Procedure ends here

Are the customer's circumstances relevant to more than one waiver provision? Consider all standard waiver provisions before recording a 'class of debt' waiver - 2009 Victorian Bushfire or late 2010 and early 2011 natural disasters (flooding and Cyclone Yasi) debt waiver.

This can be completed before or after recovery has commenced.

Can a waiver of another type be applied?

• Yes, apply waiver. See:
• Administrative error waivers
• Special circumstance debt waivers
• No, go to Step 4

To be eligible for a waiver, the person must, amongst other things, have been adversely affected by the natural disaster. A person is adversely affected by the natural disaster if, as a direct result:

• the person was seriously injured
• an affected family member of the person was killed or seriously injured
• the person's principal place of residence was destroyed
• the person's principal place of residence sustained major damage
• the person was unable to return to his or her principal place of residence for at least 24 hours
• a utility failure occurred in the person's principal place of residence, or
• the person experienced psychological trauma

The following criteria must be met:

Social Security Act 1991 debt (excluding AGDRP) (or relevant part of such a debt):

• The debt was attributable to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires
• The person was adversely affected by the 2009 bushfires in Victoria
• The debt covers part or all of the period 29 January to 29 April 2009 inclusive, and
• The debt cannot be attributed to the customer knowingly providing a false statement or representation to comply with the Act
• Note: only the portion of the debt relating to the above period can be waived

or

• The customer was adversely affected by the disasters during the disaster period 1 November 2010 to 19 March 2011 inclusive
• The debt covers all or part of the period 1 November 2010 to 19 March 2011 inclusive
• The debt cannot be attributed to the customer knowingly providing a false statement or representation, or failing/omitting to comply with the Act, and
• The debt was not incurred under the compensation recovery regime under Division 5 of Part 3.14 of the Act
• Note: only the portion of the debt relating to the above period can be waived

Family Assistance (Administration) Act 1999 qualification debt (or relevant part of such a debt)

• The person was adversely affected by the 2009 bushfires in Victoria
• The debt covers part or all of the period 29 January to 29 April 2009 inclusive, and
• The debt cannot be attributed to the customer knowingly providing a false statement or representation to comply with the Act
• Note: only the portion of the debt relating to the above period can be waived

or

• The customer was adversely affected by the disasters during the disaster period (1 November 2010 to 19 March 2011 inclusive)
• The debt covers all or part of the period 1 November 2010 to 19 March 2011 inclusive
• The debt cannot be attributed to the customer knowingly providing a false statement or representation, or failing/omitting to comply with the Act, and
• The debt was not incurred under the compensation recovery regime under Division 5 of Part 3.14 of the Act
• Note: only the portion of the debt relating to this period can be waived

Family assistance reconciliation debt (or relevant part of such a debt)

• The customer was adversely affected by the 2009 Victorian Bushfires
• The debt covers part or all of the period 29 January to 29 April 2009 inclusive for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) or the period 26 January to 3 May 2009 inclusive for Child Care Benefit (CCB) and Child Care Rebate (CCR), and
• The debt cannot be attributed to the customer knowingly providing a false statement or representation to comply with the Act
• For CCB and CCR, the waiver can only be applied if the overall reconciliation result for 2008-09 is a debt, for FTB, the waiver can also apply where a customer has a negative period adjustment or negative special adjustment for the Victorian Bushfires waiver period, but the overall reconciliation result is a top-up
• Note: only the portion of the debt relating to the above periods can be waived

or

• The customer was adversely affected by the disasters during the disaster period (1 November 2010 to 19 March 2011 inclusive)
• The debt covers all or part of the period 1 November 2010 to 19 March 2011 inclusive for Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Child Care Benefit (CCB) and Child Care Rebate (CCR)
• The debt cannot be attributed to the customer knowingly providing a false statement or representation, or failing/omitting to comply with the Act, and
• The debt was not incurred under the compensation recovery regime under Division 5 of Part 3.14 of the Act
• Note: only the portion of the debt relating to this period can be waived, and only if the customer's overall 2010-11 reconciliation result is a debt

Does the debt meet the criteria for waiver?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, commence normal recovery. Procedure ends here

The appropriate delegation is required to waive a debt.

Does the staff member have the delegation to waive the debt?

• Yes, go to Step 1 in Table 2
• No, go to Step 6

Create a detailed submission DOC.

Document the following for the Debt Staff to consider:

• Customer details and contact
• Background information into the creation of the debt. Outline the cause and source
• Debt reasons and calculations
• Whether the debt arose from any knowingly false statement, representation, omission, or failure to comply with the relevant Act, whether by the customer or another person
• The factors that make the case suitable to waive due to the:
• 2009 Victorian Bushfires or
• late 2010 and early 2011 natural disasters (flooding and Cyclone Yasi)
• Why it is more appropriate to waive the debt rather than to write it off
• see minimum DOC standards for debt waivers.

When the waiver submission is complete:

• Staff with debt responsibility - refer to a staff member with the appropriate delegation level. See the Resources page for a link to Centrelink Services, Delegations and Authorisations on the Services Australia Intranet. Select the instrument based on the appropriate Act

All other staff use Fast Note to refer the case to the relevant Debt team. See the Resources page in Debt ownership for referral details.

Is the debt finalised fully recovered (FRC)?

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

For DMIS to allow a waiver, the debt status must show as DET (determined). This is done by adjusting the repayment history.

Over-recovered debts

Do not tell the customer if a refund will be paid. Debt Staff will decide this. They may pay a refund or transfer the amount to other outstanding debts.

Non-Debt Staff

• DOC the record using Fast Note. The Fast Note will create a DOC and automatically refer to Payment Assurance Operations, requesting the repayment history be adjusted to allow the waiver to be applied:
• Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Debt Recovery > Debt Recovery referrals > OPRH Adj Req for Debt Waiver
• Select Confirm
• Record relevant information as required

Debt Staff

• Select the debt to waive from the OPDL screen
• Go to the Repayment History (OPRH) screen. Adjust the last payment by $0.01 cent. Note: reverse this before finalising the debt

Once a waiver is complete, DMIS generates an over-recovered activity for the repaid amount. These activities automatically map to Debt Staff to determine whether a refund is due to the customer.

Locate the DMN/RCV activity on the Activity List (AL) screen:

• 'S'elect the activity
• 'S'elect the Debt ID to be waived from the Debt List (OPDL) screen
• Press [Enter]

The debt meets all the criteria for waiver.

Go to the Add Waiver (OPWAA) screen and in these fields:

• Amount Waived $, key the amount of the debt to be waived
• Reason Waived, key COD
• Comments, key a brief explanation of why the debt is being waived

Press [Enter].

Finalise activity on the Assessment Finalisation (OPAF) screen.

If the customer has already been advised of the debt:

• contact them to advise the decision to waive the debt
• make 2 genuine attempts to contact
• send a Q053 letter if unable to contact, see approved text

Use Fast Note to record details in a DOC.

Record all details on a DOC as per the minimum DOC standards for debt waivers.