Processing Family Tax Benefit (FTB) claims from Approved Care Organisations (ACO) 007-07030060

If the email contains the FTB claim (spreadsheet), ACO processing staff must first check the FTB claim (spreadsheet) has been fully completed, and any supporting documentation supplied.

For requests for a report of FTB entitlement, go to Step 5.

Has the spreadsheet been completed in its entirety, and relevant supporting documentation been provided to allow assessment of FTB?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, make a genuine attempt to contact the ACO by phone to request the information:
• If contact was successful and information was obtained, document the discussion and the verbal information provided, go to Step 2
• If contact was unsuccessful, or information was not available at the time of the call, send an email to the ACO using the Approved Care Organisation (ACO) RFI email template, see Resources

ACO processing staff must check the ACO has been granted approval status, as this is required before the FTB claim can be assessed:

In Customer First enter in the CRN the organisation has provided in the spreadsheet.

If the ACO approval status is current, ‘ACO’ will be listed as one of the service reasons.

If no CRN has been provided:

• search for the organisation by navigating to the Organisation Name Search (ON) screen and entering the organisation's name in the Name: field, or search by completing the Keyword: field
  Note: Some of the information entered in the ON screen may need to be changed to search for the organisation again
• repeat search until a matching record is found, or until satisfied that no record exists for the organisation.

Can the organisation record be located and the approval status confirmed?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, see Approval, rejection, withdrawal and monitoring of Approved Care Organisations (ACO)

Procedure ends here

ACO processing staff will need to complete this step for each child listed within the claim spreadsheet, as FTB cannot be paid for a child receiving a disqualifying payment.

In Customer First, go to the child’s record and check the benefit status line to see if the child is currently in receipt of any payments.

Is the child currently being paid a disqualifying payment?

• Yes, and the child is entering a Youth Justice/Detention Centre:
• Check if the income support payment should be suspended/cancelled due to the young person being incarcerated, see Admission process for customers entering prison or psychiatric confinement
• If income support payment is suspended – IMP, the child is deemed to not be in receipt of payment and the FTB claim can then be assessed, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 4

Note: If no incarceration is involved, the FTB claim must be rejected due to precluding payment, see Table 2 > Step 6

ACO processing staff will need to complete this step for each child listed within the claim spreadsheet.

In Customer First, search for the child’s record.

If care has not been confirmed by the previous carer, make one genuine attempt to contact the other carer.

If subscribed to Desktop Messaging, send a pre-call notification SMS through Desktop Messaging before calling them. For pre-call messages, allow a lead-in time of 5 minutes in case there is a delay sending the message.

To code change in care, see Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

Document the losing carer’s record, Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Families > Updates > ACO Admission.

While researching the current care arrangement, check if the ACO is already receiving FTB for the young person.

• Yes, procedure ends here
• No, go to Table 2>Step

In Customer First, navigate to the record of the organisation and check the benefit status line to confirm if the ACO is FTB current.

Is the ACO current on FTB?

• Yes, on the Family Task Selector (FTS) screen in the ACO's record:
• Source: int
• DOR: date spreadsheet was received
• Act: ACH
• Go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 4

A new claim will need to be manually indexed in the FAO system. In Customer First, Index claim on ON screen:

• in SrvRsn field code 'FTB'
• in Act field, code 'NCL'
• code Source and DOR fields
• ‘S’elect ‘Continue’

Go to Step 3

Some screens will be automatically selected on the OTS.

Select additional screens as required to record or update details:

• Organisation Name Details (OND)
• Organisation Service Contact Details (OSCS)
• Payment Destination Details (PAFA)

After these screens have been checked and updated if required, go to Step 4.

On ACO record, navigate to the (CHS) screen.

• if the child is already linked, ‘S’elect the child
• If the child is not linked, see Linking a child to a customer's record

Navigate to the Child in Customer Care (CHC) screen:

• Code ‘ICC’ using the date of receipt (DOR) the FTB claim was received

As FTB shared care legislation only applies to individuals, the FTB Shared Care (FSC), SSA Shared Care (SSC) and the Care Alignment Details (!CADDS) screens are not required to be coded.

Go to Step 5.

For an ACO to receive FTB for a child aged 16 years or over, the child must satisfy study requirements. This is part of the definition of an FTB child. To satisfy the study requirements, a child aged 16-19 years must:

• be undertaking full-time secondary study leading towards a year 12 or an equivalent qualification
• have an acceptable adjusted study load, or
• be exempt from the study requirements

Check the age of the child listed within the FTB claim. If the:

• child is under 15 years and 10 months, go to step 7
• child is over 15 years and 10 months:
• study details must be checked and updated where required, see, Study requirements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) children aged 16 years or over
• when study details have been checked/updated, go to Step 7

FTB customer’s record/previous carer

• If the FTB claim is to be rejected due to temporary absence, create a DOC on the carer record to reflect notification of admission to ACO, noting temporary care and no change in FTB entitlement for the carer

Approved Care Organisation (ACO)

• Record the decision to reject the ACO claim to add the additional child, Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Families > Claims > ACO reject child
• Save the ACO spreadsheet and all other documents provided by the ACO into the relevant ACO eFolder within Content Manager. More information on Content Manager can be found on SharePoint
• Once saved, the document and email must be deleted from the positional mailbox. Do not at any time archive the file or save in the R drive

Procedure ends here.

From March 2017, only grandfathered ACO are eligible for the base rate Energy Supplement for Part A for all FTB children in their care. Any children entering the care of a grandfathered ACO from 20 March 2017 will be included in the calculation of Energy Supplement.

Where the ACO does not have a grandfathering status, a manual Energy Supplement Grandfathering override must be recorded for the new CRN to prevent automatic payment of Energy Supplement. If the overrise is not coded, the ACO will incorrectly be paid the Energy Supplement.

Was the ACO approval status granted pre 20 March 2017 and FTB has been continuous since this date?

• Yes, go to Step 8.
• No, refer case to a Families override contact to complete this action, see Table 1 > Step 8 in Energy Supplement for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) recipients

• Once all coding is completed, check the results on the Assessment Results (AR) screen before finalising the activity
• Use Fast Note - select Auto Text > use Families > Claims > ACO grant DOV to record decision
• Save the ACO spreadsheet and all other documents provided by the ACO into the relevant ACO eFolder within Content Manager. More information on Content Manager can be found on SharePoint
• Once saved, the document and email must be deleted from the positional mailbox. Do not at any time archive the file or save in the R drive

Check if the FTB child is receiving a Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) payment. SRSS recipients (including children) have a Benefit Status of NRR/CUR.

Is the child receiving SRSS?

• Yes, Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Multicultural > Updates > FTB Granted for SRSS Customer/Child to send details for follow up. Keyword 'FTBSRSS' will be included on the Fast Note, no additional keywords are required. Procedure ends here
• No, procedure ends here