Raising debts for students and Australian Apprentices 107-09120060

Changes to a customer's circumstances will cause reassessment of:

• ABSTUDY
• Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme
• Austudy
• Department of Social Services Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• Youth Allowance (YA)

Changes to a customer’s circumstances will cause a reassessment of the customer’s payment. This occurs when parent and sibling circumstances change. This reassessment may cause a positive or negative adjustment.

If the reassessment results in a negative adjustment, check:

• the excess payment (and any component of it) is correct, and
• whether it is a legally recoverable debt

To remain eligible, a student must continue to meet either the:

• study requirements for:
• Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme
• Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• activity test requirements for:
• Austudy
• Youth Allowance (YA)

Before 1 January 2008, YA customers (under 21 years of age) could meet their activity test requirements by means other than study. Investigate each case to determine if the requirements have been met.

To remain eligible, a customer must:

• be undertaking a full-time Australian Apprenticeship/Traineeship
• have a current Commonwealth Registration Number

If a customer becomes temporarily incapacitated they must provide sufficient medical evidence and their Commonwealth Registration Number must remain current.

Youth Allowance is paid to the parents on behalf of a dependent person under 18 years of age.

The person (and not the parent) is the legal recipient of the Youth Allowance. This means that liability for any debt arising from a loss of entitlement belongs to the person. This also applies where monies have been misdirected away from the young person.

For more information, see Raising Parental Income Test (PIT) debts.

Customers who lose eligibility to Austudy, PES, AIC and YA are to have their debts raised from the day after they lose eligibility. Australian Apprentices who cease their apprenticeship are to have debts raised from the day after they last worked.

AIC Scheme debts may be the responsibility of a third party. This could be an educational institution, parent or guardian. Check to confirm which party directly received the payment.

The appropriate Processing Services raise debts on the following payments:

• Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme (AIC)
• Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• Australian Apprenticeships
• ABSTUDY customers including apprentices, see Raising ABSTUDY debts to the parent, guardian or institution

Debts created by:

• Centrelink Academic Reassessment Transformation (CART) reviews are finalised as part of the CART processing team review
• Student Payment Review, see Processing Student Payment Circumstance Updates (Student Payment Reviews)

Refer all other debts to appropriate business area. See Debt Ownership to identify appropriate area referrals.