Eligibility and coding claims for Double Orphan Pension (DOP) 007-06010010

Request for Information letter text

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ DOP new claim or review QSS32 questions

$\\INTERNAL.DEPT.LOCAL\Shared\NAT\SERDELEXCEL\WORKPRODIMP\Operation Blueprint Migration\RDT Release Icons\32w\icon-attachment.png$ DOP new claim or review QSS41 questions for gathering information from hospitals, corrective services etc.

Contact details

Bereavement/Double Orphan Pension Helpdesk

Level 2 Policy Helpdesk

Office Locator

Processing Services details for: Double Orphan Pension (DOP)

Q999 letter text

Q999 letter text to invite the customer to claim FTB:

About your claim for Double Orphan Pension.

Before a claim for Double Orphan Pension can be assessed, we need to determine if {Child’s name} would be your Family Tax Benefit child and the easiest way to do this is to make a claim.

You do not need to be paid Family Tax Benefit to receive Double Orphan Pension, however the information obtained through the claim assists us in determining eligibility and the amount of Double Orphan Pension you may be entitled to.

To make a claim for Family Tax Benefit, sign into my.gov.au then select Centrelink from your service list. If you do not have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account, you will need to create one and then link them.

If you can’t claim online you can print and complete a claim form and take it to a service centre.

Please make sure you have your bank account details (including BSB and account number), you and your partner’s tax file numbers and income details as these will be required to complete your claim.

If you need help to complete your online claim or to request a paper copy of the form, please call us on 136 150

Grant letters

The below information is for staff processing DOP claims only and is to be used when the Guided Procedure is not available.

Table 1: this table describes the text to use for DOP grant letters.

Item	Description
1	DOP grant letter We are writing to advise that your claim for Double Orphan Pension for [child's name] has been granted from the XX/XX/XXXX. You are eligible for [$xx.xx] per fortnight. Under social security law, you must tell us if a child for whom you are receiving Double Orphan Pension: stops living with you can no longer be considered your dependant passes away is aged 16 to 19 years and is not a full-time secondary student has an exemption from study is planning to leave Australia (tell us as soon as you know), or returns to Australia is adopted the surviving parents is discharged from prison, institution or nursing home the surviving parents whereabouts become known ceases to be a refugee the parent of the child/ren is living in Australia claims a Youth Allowance (YA) or Disability Support Pension (DSP) the child starts to receive a Department of Veterans' Affairs Orphan Pension
2	DOP grant letter including Additional Component and Arrears We are writing to advise that your claim for Double Orphan Pension for [child's name] has been granted from the XX/XX/XXXX. You are eligible for [$XX.XX] per fortnight. This amount includes an additional component of [$XX.XX] in addition to your regular payment of [$XX.XX] per fortnight. As you have been assessed for a lower rate of Family Tax Benefit for [child name] than was previously received by the child's original family at the time they became a double orphan, you are eligible for this additional component. This amount will be adjusted each time there are changes to your rate of Family Tax Benefit. Please advise immediately if your income or circumstances change. Under social security law, you must tell us if a child for whom you are receiving Double Orphan Pension: stops living with you can no longer be considered your dependant passes away is aged 16 to 19 years and is not a full-time secondary student has an exemption from study is planning to leave Australia (tell us as soon as you know), or returns to Australia is adopted the surviving parents is discharged from prison, institution or nursing home the surviving parents whereabouts become known ceases to be a refugee the parent of the child/ren is living in Australia the child starts to receive a Department of Veterans' Affairs Orphan Pension
3	DOP grant letter including Additional Component We are writing to advise that your claim for Double Orphan Pension for [child's name] has been granted from the XX/XX/XXXX. You are eligible for [$XX.XX] per fortnight. This amount includes an additional component of [$XX.XX] in addition to your regular payment of [$XX.XX] per fortnight. As you have been assessed for a lower rate of Family Tax Benefit for [child name] than was previously received by the child's original family at the time they became a double orphan, you are eligible for this additional component. This amount will be adjusted each time there are changes to your rate of Family Tax Benefit. Please advise immediately if your income or circumstances change. Under social security law, you must tell us if a child for whom you are receiving Double Orphan Pension: stops living with you can no longer be considered your dependant passes away is aged 16 to 19 years and is not a full-time secondary student has an exemption from study is planning to leave Australia (tell us as soon as you know), or returns to Australia is adopted the surviving parents is discharged from prison, institution or nursing home the surviving parents whereabouts become known ceases to be a refugee the parent of the child/ren is living in Australia the child starts to receive a Department of Veterans' Affairs Orphan Pension

Rejection letter

The below information is for staff processing DOP claims and is to be used when the Guided Procedure is not available.

DOP rejection letter text

We are writing to advise you that your claim for Double Orphan Pension has been rejected.

This is because based on the information you provided in your claim, [child's name]'s parent is not a patient in a nursing home/psychiatric hospital long term or for an indefinite period.

Long term and indefinite period

The below information is for staff processing DOP claims only and should be referred to when making decisions regarding a parent who is in long term imprisonment.

Clarification on 'long term' and 'indefinite period'

For the purpose of DOP:

'long term' refers to the period of time that the Secretary is satisfied that a parent who is a patient in a psychiatric hospital, nursing home or similar institution requires care and treatment for an 'indefinite period'
'indefinite period' is not clearly defined in the Social Security Act, it is without a fixed or specified time limit

The open ended nature of the term 'indefinite period' is to allow for the uncertain and undefined timeframe for a person to be a patient of a psychiatric hospital, nursing home or similar institution. Unlike prison, a person is not 'sentenced' to a period of time in either institution. While medical personnel may have opinions regarding how long the person will be in care, there is no specified period of care predetermined to create a definition.

This makes the determination of 'long term' and 'indefinite' a policy decision. The decision, mostly, is dependent on the judgement of the decision maker on a case by case basis.

For guidance on complex cases, complete the Families and Child Care Level 2 Policy Helpdesk Online Query form. See the Resources page for a link to the Helpdesk.

Sentenced or awaiting sentencing

Clarification

An anomaly in the Social Security Act 1991 has been identified affecting Double Orphan Pension. Current legislation does not support the circumstance when a parent is in custody and has been charged and convicted of an offence but not sentenced.

The anomaly occurs when:

A DOP claim is received after a parent has been charged and convicted, awaiting sentence for an offence that carries a term of imprisonment for life or for a term of at least 10 years or more

Where a parent has been convicted, an individual's qualification is determined by the duration of the parent's prison sentence. If the parent has been charged with an offence but not convicted, an individual's qualification is determined by the maximum penalty that the offence carries

Whilst these cases are not common, each claim will need to be assessed on a case by case basis to determine an individual's qualification to DOP.

Staff processing DOP claims

If a case where a parent is in custody and has been charged and convicted, but not sentenced, do not reject the claim
Complete the Families and Child Care Level 2 Policy Helpdesk Online Query form
Include the CRN and reason for the referral
Record a progress DOC and place the New Claim activity on hold for 14 days

The Resources page contain a link to the Level 2 Policy Helpdesk.

Scenarios - Whereabouts unknown versus parentage unknown

Table 2: this table provides an examples of whereabouts unknown and parentage unknown situations.

Item

Scenarios

Whereabouts unknown

A new carer lodges a DOP claim and informs the Service Officer they do not know who the other parent is. The Service Officer requests the birth certificate, which clearly lists both parent’s names. The new carer states that even though the other parent is listed, they do not know who they are or where they are located; inquiries by the customer to find them have been unsuccessful.

Parentage unknown

A new carer lodges a DOP claim and informs the Service Officer they do not know who the other parent is. The Service Officer requests the birth certificate, which clearly lists the deceased parent’s name while the other parent is listed as ‘parentage unknown’. If the new carer states they do not know who the ‘surviving’ parent is and sufficient evidence cannot be obtained from existing system records, then parentage unknown should be accepted.

Operational Information