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Change of care for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) 007-07040070

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This is a Family and Domestic Violence Interaction Point. If the customer is with another person, on speaker phone, or already identified with family and domestic violence concerns, continue with the current business conversation. Otherwise, go to the Family and domestic violence procedure to conduct the risk identification and referral process.

If you have concerns about a child's safety, follow the risk and referral process.

For Families and Child Care Smart Centre and Medicare Processing staff.

This document explains the process for staff to assess a change of care as part of FTB claim processing.

Staff trained in processing families claims in Process Direct follow the Process Direct coding.

On this page:

FTB eligibility following a change of care

Confirming change of care

Finalising FTB eligibility review


FTB eligibility following a change of care

Table 1

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StepAction

1

FTB claim

Customer claims FTB instalments for a child who has come into their care from another person or organisation.

For information about how to claim and initial processing, see Initial contact by customers claiming payments for families.

If a step parent is claiming for their partner's child, additional coding will be required. See Pre-processing checks for standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave payments.

For grandparent carers, see Eligibility for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for grandparent carers.

For other relatives and non-parent carers (e.g., foster carers), see Eligibility for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for a child in foster care.

2

Determining if this is a change of care

First check that a change of care assessment is appropriate.

Where a change of care has occurred, yet care details (such as start date) have not been provided within the claim, an outbound call attempt should be made to the gaining carer to obtain missing care information. If the customer is subscribed to Desktop Messaging, send a Centrelink letters online and Electronic Messaging before calling. For pre-call messages, allow a lead-in time of 5 minutes in case there is a delay sending the message.

Where the other carer does not have a current record and/or claim/documentation provided does not include the other carer's current contact details, request their name, address and telephone number from the notifying carer. Do not provide any details to the notifying carer.

When care information is received, check the Care Alignment Details page. If Child Support have commenced a care assessment, go to Step 5.

If Child Support have finalised a care assessment and the customer does not agree or an individual (including a non-customer) wants to apply for a formal review of the care decision affecting their FTB or child support assessment, for example, the customer disagrees with a care decision already finalised on the FTB Shared Care (FSC) screen, see Internal review process for care decisions.

If a customer wants to apply for a formal review of the care decision affecting their income support payment, a separate formal review should be registered.

Customers may continue to receive payments for a child who is out of their care temporarily for a short period. See Child leaves customer's care/custody.

Customers may also continue to receive FTB for up to 14 weeks for a Child out of care without consent.

If the new carer is a grandparent, see Eligibility for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for grandparent carers.

Note: when determining if a change of care has occurred (including where all parties agree to the change of care), consider whether further information is needed to determine if the change is a change of care or delegated care. Refer to the Background page for additional information.

Is it a change of care from the losing carer to a gaining carer (100%)?

3

Change of care

Has the change in shared care already happened?

  • Yes:
  • No, the change is for a future date:
    • Ask the carer to contact once the change has actually occurred
    • Record the advice given, Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Enquiry > Cus Enq Dep Changes.
      Procedure ends here

4

Determining if change of care is confirmed

Approved Care Organisations (ACO)

If a child has been discharged from an ACO and there is:

Grandparents, other relatives and non-parent carers

If the losing carer is the parent and there are no court orders or Child Protection orders in place, the gaining Grandparent, relative or non-parent carers will need to provide further evidence. See Eligibility for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for grandparent carers.

The following should be used to help make a change of care decision:

  • What is the reason for the change of care?
  • Is the child going into the care of a grandparent, other relative, or non-parent carer? If so, do they live in the same residence as the parent?
  • What involvement will the parent continue to have with their child/ren whilst in the grandparent's, other relative, or non-parent's care?
  • Is the reason for the change of care due to work and/or study related reasons?
  • Who will be providing financially for the child whilst in the grandparent's, other relative, or non-parent's care?
  • Is the child listed on the grandparent's or non-parent's Medicare card?
  • Who will be making the major decisions for the child regarding health, education and discipline?

Note: if the gaining carer is a grandparent and they are providing a co-signed FA012, or the parent has advised verbally of the change in care, additional evidence must be provided before a claim can be assessed.

Informal change of care

The previous carer may have already advised that the child has left their care. If the change of care is informal, the gaining carer will need to provide evidence to confirm the change of care and the date the care changed from.

Agreed care and gaining carer is legally responsible for the child

If the customer has:

  • supplied a Details of your Child's Care Arrangement (FA012) signed by both parties and they have legal responsibility of the child (e.g. parent), or
  • advised verbally of the change in care and the other carer's record has previously been documented advising of the change in shared care

and

  • the care date and percentage has been agreed by both parties, see Table 3 > Step 1

Confirmation of care change not yet attempted

If the customer has supplied a FA012 signed only by the customer, it is mandatory to attempt to contact the losing carer by phone, unless an exception applies, even where the other carer is not FTB current. The customer must not be requested to supply another FA012 if they have already provided it. See Table 2 > Step 1.

If verbal confirmation of the care change has not yet been attempted, and/or a request for evidence of care change has not been issued, see Table 2 > Step 1.

Update the Care Alignment Details page to Commenced if the status is not already recorded or is Lapsed.

Add the keyword COCARE to all change of care activities.

Request for evidence to confirm care change already issued

If the Q810 - Your care arrangement - Request for information letter /Q999 - Change in shared care, previous carer not in receipt of FTB letter has not been returned within timeframe, see Table 2 > Step 5. The Resources page contains a list of titles for letters.

Change of circumstances

If FDV or a change in circumstance is identified after a request for evidence has been issued to the losing carer, the customer’s claim may be determined without delay if the new carer is experiencing financial hardship and the evidence for change of care to support the decision is satisfactory. The FTB claim can be finalised without waiting the required time for the losing carer to respond. The customer should be advised that if the care arrangements are contested, this may result in an overpayment for the customer. See Resources Page for Examples of expediting a customer’s claim using evidence provided by the gaining carer only.

5

Child support has commenced care activity

If the care assessment has been commenced by Child Support on the CADDS screen:

  • Child Support are in the process of making the care decision. Information will automatically transfer to Centrelink when the decision is finalised
  • Record details in a Note. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Enquiry > Cus Enq Dep Changes
  • If a new claim is pending the care determination for a decision commenced less than 21 days ago:
    • place the claim on hold in both Process Direct and Customer First with a resubmit date of 21 days from the date Child Support commenced the care assessment, and
    • annotate the Progress of Claim DOC

Note: when Child Support commence (pend) a care decision, the Centrelink system expects to receive a finalised decision within 21 days. If 21 days has lapsed and the Child Support care decision is still pending, place the claim on hold for a further 14 days. If after 35 days, the care is still showing as commenced, transfer to Integrated care using CS integrated care in Services Australia Workspace.

Procedure ends here.


Confirming change of care

Table 2

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Step

Action

1

Contact with losing carer

It is mandatory to attempt to contact the losing carer by phone. Exceptions to this are:

  • If a change of care has occurred because a child was removed from their parents care by a state welfare authority there may be sensitivities involved and staff should exercise their judgement on a case by case basis to determine whether it is appropriate to make contact. Evidence for change of care supplied by the gaining carer can be used to confirm the change of care. However, the delegate must be satisfied based on the available evidence that a change of care has occurred
  • If a change of care has occurred because of a family and domestic violence situation and there is concern that the customer or children will be placed at risk if the losing carer is contacted, evidence for change of care supplied by the gaining carer can be used to confirm the change of care. However, the delegate must be satisfied based on the available evidence that a change of care has occurred. The Resources page has an example
  • If a change of care has occurred because of the death of the losing carer, evidence supplied by the gaining carer can be used to confirm the change of care. However, the delegate must be satisfied based on the available evidence a change of care has occurred. Note: if the death has been confirmed, complete updates on the deceased customer's record before running the Notification of Death. See Death of a family assistance or Paid Parental Leave scheme customer

Note: where FDV concerns are identified, the FDV Support model must be followed and consideration should be given on the involvement of a social worker where a child may be at risk of harm or where a customer's circumstances indicate vulnerability or risk to the customer's safety: See Referral to a social worker.

If the service officer needs any assistance, follow the standard escalation procedures, see Tier 0 technical support - self-sufficiency.

Does an exception apply as above?

  • Yes, do not attempt to verify care arrangements with the child or any other non-parent person or organisation. The exception is in some cases it may be necessary to contact a state welfare authority or foster care agency to obtain additional information about the child, go to Step 3
  • No, attempt to contact the losing carer by phone, go to Step 2

2

Was the losing carer contacted successfully?

3

Losing carer not contacted

If it is not appropriate to contact the losing carer and the service officer is satisfied based on the evidence for change of care provided by the gaining carer that a change of care has occurred and the date the change of care occurred, see Table 3 > Step 1.

4

Request information

Gaining carer

If the gaining carer has already supplied a FA012 or the care details have been provided within a claim, a FA012 must not be requested as part of the RFI. If the gaining carer has already provided the FA012 and evidence is required, issue the Q810 with option 3 (calendar and evidence only).

For claims/updates being actioned in:

  • Process Direct, send an RFI as per Information requests for FTB and PPL claims, and Add Newborn and PPL change of circumstances activities
  • Customer First, run the Child Change in Care Arrangements script in Customer Record to issue the gaining carer with a Q810 - Your care arrangement - Request for information for change in care. Access the script via the Script Selector:
    • Where the customer also receives an income support payment, ensure the 'FTB and ISP' radio box is selected within the Q810
    • The script cannot be used for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) only customers.
      If the customer or losing carer is getting CCS only, send the approved manual Q888 CCS ACCS RFI letter.
      Include Details of your child's care arrangements (FA012) if issuing a Q888 to losing carer

Ensure the claim activity is placed on hold for 22 days (14 days + 8 days to allow extra time for surface mail delivery) or 29 days for remote areas and overseas in both Process Direct and Customer First.

Record details on a DOC, Use Fast Note, select Auto text, use Families > Enquiry > Change of Care Evidence DUE DATE.

Losing carer

If the losing carer is FTB current, run the Child - Change in Care Arrangements script in Customer Record to issue the losing carer with a Q810 requesting an FA012. Where the customer also receives an income support payment, ensure the 'FTB and ISP' radio box is selected within the Q810. The Resources page contains a list of titles for letters and forms.

If the losing carer is:

See Creating a Q999 or Q888 letter if assistance is needed.

Record details on a DOC, Use Fast Note, select Auto text, use Families > Enquiry > Change of Care Evidence DUE DATE. If there is no Centrelink record for the losing carer, DOC the gaining carer's record.

Note: due to the unsuccessful contact with the losing carer, letters are sent to both the losing and gaining carer now as this gives both carers equal opportunity to provide evidence for change of care without unnecessary delays to process the FTB payment.

Customer in hardship

If the new carer is in hardship and claiming or receiving an income support payment, the claim may be determined without delay. However, the change of care must still be confirmed, this can be by phone. If contact cannot be made and the evidence for change of care to support the decision is satisfactory, FTB can be paid to the gaining carer. The customer should be advised that if the care arrangements are contested, this may result in an overpayment for the customer.

Change of circumstances

If FDV or a change in circumstance is identified after a request for evidence has been issued to the losing carer, the customer’s claim may be determined without delay if the new carer is experiencing financial hardship and the evidence for change of care to support the decision is satisfactory. The FTB claim can be finalised without waiting the required time for the losing carer to respond. The customer should be advised that if the care arrangements are contested, this may result in an overpayment for the customer.

See Resources page for Examples of expediting customer’s claim using evidence provided by the gaining carer only.

From 10 June 2019, FTB top-ups, supplements, lump sum claim amounts and instalment arrears can be used to recover any family assistance, social security, student assistance and Paid Parental Leave scheme payment debts. This will occur even if the customer has a current payment arrangement.

Where exceptional and/or unforeseen circumstances apply which may cause the customer to suffer severe financial hardship, customers can request for Debt offsetting during family assistance reassessment, reconciliation and claim processing not to occur from debt recovery prior to any money being taken from their FTB arrears, lump sum or top-up payments.

Procedure ends here until due date has passed.

Once due date has passed go to step 5.

5

Return of RFI/Q810/Q999

Evidence not returned from either carer within allowable time frame

  • If there is still no response received from either carer in Customer First:
    • Cancel the FTB for the losing carer, reason 'FRC' (Failed to Reply to Correspondence) on the Benefits Action (BA) screen from date paid to plus 1. If the losing carer is vulnerable or at risk, 2 genuine attempts to contact by phone should be made before cancelling FTB
    • If the losing carer is in receipt of an income support payment that may be affected by the change in care, suspend the payment
    • If the gaining carer is not FTB current, the claim needs to be made 'NEF' (not effective), as it is not certain that the change of care has occurred. FTB should not be granted to the new carer. Do not change the care percentages until there is enough evidence to support such a decision. See Not effective and rejection of claims for Family Tax Benefit (FTB)
    • If the gaining carer is FTB current this should be treated as a reassessment of FTB entitlement instead of a claim and cannot be made NEF. See Table 2 > Step 11 in Reassessment of FTB for a current customer where an additional child enters care in the current or previous financial year
  • Further evidence for change of care may need to be requested from the gaining carer. If evidence is supplied by the gaining carer at a later date, this can be used to reassess the payment from the date the care changed (prior to 'date paid to' plus 1). Do not grant the gaining carer until there is enough evidence to support the decision. Procedure ends here
  • Record details on a DOC on each carer's record. Note: when the actual care decision is made, both gaining and losing carer records should be updated with the correct care details from the correct date. Do not use 'date paid to' plus 1, the correct date of the care change must be used. The Resources page contains an example

Note: if the customer is also getting Carer Payment and/or Carer Allowance for this child, create a Fast Note for the Carer Payment and/or Carer Allowance eligibility to be checked by appropriately trained staff. Select Auto text. Use Families > Updates > CA/CP referral - check eligibility.

Evidence returned by both carers or only the losing carer

Compare available evidence and identify areas of disagreement (if any). If:

  • Carers disagree on the date of the care change, go to Step 6
  • Carers disagree on the percentage of the care change, go to Step 6
  • Carers agree on the date of the care change and the care percentage. See Table 3 > Step 1

Evidence returned by gaining carer only

Make a decision on the available evidence for change of care.

Note: Do not change the care percentages until there is enough evidence to support such a decision. Seek technical support if required. See Tier-0 technical support – self-sufficiency.

If the evidence provided is not sufficient to update the care decision, or the grandparent, other relative or non parent carers have not provided sufficient information on the care change, reject the care assessment. Issue a Q999 - FTB care assessment rejected letter to the customer and/or other carer, including reason for outcome and their review and appeal rights. Document the decision in a Fast Note.

If the evidence provided is sufficient to update the care decision, the losing carers record will need to be updated first. See Table 3 > Step 1.

6

Disagreement over change of care

Was evidence for change of care previously requested?

7

Request evidence

Ask the customer and previous carer to provide any available evidence for change of care or change of care within 14 days.

For processing in:

  • Customer First:
    • Run the Child - Change in Care Arrangements script in Customer Record to create the Q810 letter requesting evidence of the care arrangements. Access the script via the Script Selector
    • Where the customer also receives an income support payment, ensure the 'FTB and ISP' radio box is selected within the Q810. Consider relevant privacy issues when referring to the other carer in the letter
    • The script cannot be used for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) only customers
  • Process Direct:

If the customer or losing carer is getting CCS only:

  • send a request for information, select More Options icon > Request Documents
  • include Details of your child's care arrangements (FA012) if issuing a request for information to losing carer

Resubmit for 22 days (14 days + 8 days to allow extra time for surface mail delivery) or 29 days for remote areas and overseas. Record details.

If the losing carer is:

Ensure all details, including the due date, are provided within a Fast Note on the records of all parties. Select Auto text, use Families > Enquiry > Change of Care Evidence DUE DATE.

Procedure ends here.

8

Disagreement over care arrangements

All Disagreement over care arrangements assessments and updates are completed by skilled staff in Child Support Smart Centres (CSSC).

Hand-off work item to CSSC:

  • If there is an existing work item, that is claim activity, add the keywords DISAGREE and COCARE (if not already added)
  • If there is no started activity on the Activity List (AL) screen, re-index/create a new activity in Customer First with the appropriate service reason, source and type, for example 'NCL' or 'Add Child', and add Keywords: DISAGREE and COCARE
  • If actioning an FA012, the scanned document work item will need to be completed, see Viewing Centrelink customers' digital images
  • Reallocate any existing work item(s) back to the allocation pool. For more information, see Workload Management . Do not manually adjust the capability. The addition of the DISAGREE keyword will automatically add the required attributes, prioritise and re-categorise the work item which will flow to Integrated Care skilled staff
  • Create a DOA DOC using the Fast Note on the records of all parties, with an expiry date of 28 days. Select Auto text, use Families > Enquiry > Disagreed Care in Progress

For customers experiencing Family experiencing financial hardship or who are a family in crisis and request urgent finalisation of the care arrangements:

A request for urgent activity finalisation for Disagreement of care arrangements cannot be made before the due date of the request for evidence.

  • Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Enquiry > Disagree Care Urgent Esc.
    Note: the 'Disagree Care Urgent Esc' auto text automatically adds the keywords URGENT and DISAGREE. These do not need to be added

Centrelink staff - Procedure ends here.

CSSC staff - go to Step 9.

9

Appropriately skilled CSSC action required for Disagreed care

If statements do not provide adequate information or provide further conflicting information, additional evidence for change of care may be sought.

If there is a fear of family and domestic violence repercussions if contact with the losing carer is made and no social work report has been provided as evidence for change of care, a social worker may be consulted. Note: social workers can provide consultation only and are not responsible for contacting the losing carer.

Do not attempt to verify care arrangements with the child or any other third party person or organisation. It is the responsibility of the carer to gather supporting evidence. An exception is in some cases it may be necessary to contact state welfare authority or foster care agency to obtain additional information about the child.

When assessing levels of 'care', consider the full circumstances of the case to decide who has 'care' of the child during the contested period.

On the strength of the information provided, determine who has care of the child, and when the change of care took place.

If a review of decision is needed, the program that determined the care assessment will usually conduct the review and update the status (Commenced or Finalised) on the Care Alignment Details page.

If there is disagreement over the care arrangements, obtain the following details:

  • the date from which the child/ren started to live with the new carer
  • what the new arrangements were intended to be at the time of the change (temporary or viewed as being permanent)
  • when it was decided that the child would not return to the previous carer
  • when the losing carer became aware of the decision


Finalising FTB eligibility review

Table 3

Expand table

Step

Action

1

Change of care confirmed or determination made

This step does not apply if:

Note: if the customer is also getting Carer Payment and/or Carer Allowance for this child, create a Fast Note for the Carer Payment and/or Carer Allowance eligibility to be checked by appropriately trained staff. Select Auto text, use Families > Updates > CA/CP referral - check eligibility.

If the child is a customer with a PER record and the update is in Customer First, go to Step 4.

Otherwise, in the losing carer's record, complete updates in the following order, see Correct DOR when applying care decisions:

Process Direct

  • Key Start into the Super Key
  • Select the Families - Care Assessments workflow from the Task Selector
  • Select the relevant child from the Relations menu
  • Navigate to the Shared Care Assessment (SCA) screen
  • On the FTB Shared Care (FSC) table/screen update existing care percentage to nil from date left care
    • If the step parent has claimed for the child in the past, there is a known issue where care may not apply correctly when FTB is being paid to a step parent. See the Resources page for more information about the issue
    • Table 5 (P24845 - Step-parent workaround) in Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) contains details of the workaround referral process that must be applied every time care is reassessed on these records
    • Once the P24845 workaround is applied, return to this step
  • On SSA Shared Care (SSC) screen, update existing care percentage to nil and Principal carer indicator to 'N' from date left care
  • On the Care Alignment Details (CADDS) screen update the Care Assessment field to Finalised
  • Record the child out of care on the Child in Care (CHC) screen
  • Select the losing carer's record from the Relations menu
  • Child changes recorded on one customer's record will ripple to other customers linked to the child
  • Check the customer and child are in the correct environment, transfer to the correct environment where appropriate. Check the child's home environment on the Inter Environment Transfer (ICOA) screen in Process Direct. For help with transferring, see Process Direct navigation, common screens and functions
  • Once all updates are complete, on the SWE screen select Assess
  • Once satisfied with the outcome, on the Entitlement (ELD) screen select Finalise
  • Record details in a Note. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Updates > Change in Child - Change in Care Status
  • Go to Step 2

Customer First

  • Create an activity on the Activity Registrations (AYR) screen using the correct DOR
  • ‘S’elect the child from the Child Selection (CHS) screen
  • On the FTB Shared Care (FSC) table/screen, update existing care percentage to nil from date left care
    • If the step parent has claimed for the child in the past, there is a known issue where care may not apply correctly when FTB is being paid to a step parent. See the Resources page for more information about the issue
    • Table 5 (P24845 - Step-parent workaround) in Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) contains details of the workaround referral process that must be applied every time care is reassessed on these records
    • Once the P24845 workaround is applied, return to this step
  • On the SSA Shared Care (SSC) screen, update existing care percentage to nil and Principal carer indicator to 'N' from date left care
  • On the Care Alignment Details (!CADDS) screen update the Care Assessment field to 'Finalised'
  • Record the child out of care on the Child in Care (CHC) screen
  • If the child's record is in a different environment to the losing carer's record the coding of left care must be completed in the environment in which the child's Customer Reference Number (CRN) is located
  • The child's home environment can be determined by conducting an index search for the child via the Name Search (IN) screen. The National Index Name Search (IL) screen will then indicate which environment the child's record is located in
  • Child changes recorded on one customer's record will 'ripple' to other customers linked to the child
  • Once satisfied with the outcome, on the Assessment Results (AR) screen select Finalise
  • Record details in a Note. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Updates > Change in Child - Change in Care Status

If the losing carer is deceased, the updates should be undertaken on the gaining carer's record if possible.

If the customer receives Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC), see Change of circumstances for Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) applicants.

2

In the gaining carer's record

Note: do not grant the gaining carer until there is enough evidence to support the decision.

Choose an option below:

Process Direct

If the DOR of the claim is correct, select the FTB claim.

If the DOR of the claim is not correct, select the Families - Care Assessments workflow from the Task Selector and enter the relevant DOR.

  • Select the relevant child from the Relations menu
  • Record the child in care on the Child in Care (CHC) screen
  • Navigate to the Shared Care Assessment (SCA) screen
  • On the FTB Shared Care (FSC) table/screen, update care percentage
    • If the step parent has claimed for the child in the past, there is a known issue where care may not apply correctly when FTB is being paid to a step parent. See the Resources page for more information about the issue
    • Table 5 (P24845 - Step-parent workaround) in Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) contains details of the workaround referral process that must be applied every time care is reassessed on these records
    • Once the P24845 workaround is applied, return to this step
  • On SSA Shared Care (SSC) screen, update care percentage and Principal carer indicator to 'Y'
  • On the Care Alignment Details (CADDS) screen update the Care Assessment field to Finalised
  • Select the gaining carer's record from the Relations menu
  • Child changes recorded on one customer's record will ripple to other customers linked to the child
  • Check the customer and child environment, and transfer to the correct environment where appropriate. Check the child's home environment on the Inter Environment Transfer (ICOA) screen in Process Direct. For help with transferring, see Process Direct navigation, common screens and functions
  • Once all updates are complete, on the SWE screen select Assess

If the update is being done:

  • within the claim activity, go to Step 6
  • within Families - Care Assessments workflow, once satisfied with the outcome, on the Entitlement (ELD) screen select Finalise. Go to Step 6

Note: do not grant the gaining carer until there is enough evidence to support the decision.

Customer First

Go to the Child Selection (CHS) screen, 'S'elect the relevant child/ren and key DOR and Source fields. Use the correct DOR when applying care decisions.

If the child is not listed on the CHS screen, first Linking a child to a customer's record.

For the relevant child, Update the Care Alignment Details (CADDS/!CADDS) screen for the relevant child to 'Finalised' by 'S'electing the 'Commenced' line and updating the details. This must be completed for each child separately for the correct information to be transferred to Child Support.

On the Child Task Selector (CHTS) screen, 'S'elect In Customer Care and press [Enter] to go to the Child in Customer Care (CHC) screen for the child.

The coding of in care must be completed in the environment in which the child's Customer Reference Number (CRN) is located. If the child's record is in a different environment to the gaining carer's environment, complete an interstate transfer for the child before any further coding to ensure the gaining carer and the child are in the same/correct environment. See:

Note: do not grant the gaining carer until there is enough evidence to support the decision.

3

Child a customer

Is the child a customer?

4

Key the updates in the child's PER record then return to the customer's record

Enter the child's CRN to go to the child record.

Create an activity with the correct DOR when applying care decisions via the Activity Registration (AYR) screen.

On the CHS screen, 'S'elect Self and:

  • update the care status on the CHC screen, key the number corresponding to the carer in Carer field
  • update the FTB Shared Care (FSC) table/screen for family assistance
    • If the step parent has claimed for the child in the past, there is a known issue where care may not apply correctly when FTB is being paid to a step parent. See the Resources page for more information about the issue
    • Table 5 (P24845 - Step-parent workaround) in Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) contains details of the workaround referral process that must be applied every time care is reassessed on these records
    • Once the P24845 workaround is applied, return to this step
  • update the SSA Shared Care (SSC) screen with the care percentage and Principal carer indicator. This information will be used if the customer is in receipt of any income support payment
  • update the Child Relationships page to record the customer/child relationship
  • update other details on the child screens if necessary, such as child education details
  • the Ripple manager consequences, showing the records linked to the child that will have assessment data transmitted. Change the 'COM'plete option to MRG (merge) or 'STA'rted to ensure child data results can be checked on the relevant records before finalising the assessment
  • finalise activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen in child's record
  • record details on a DOC on child's record
  • if ABSTUDY (ABY) or ABSTUDY Schooling A (ABT) is paid for the child (with a status of CUR, SUS or ASS):
    • send an ABSTUDY Change of Care Fast Note to the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing Team to reassess the ABSTUDY payment
    • select Auto text, use Students > ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY Change of Care > Confirm
  • return to the carer's record. Select the ‘STA’ or ‘MRG’ activity and complete coding the claim/reassessment activity. The child updates made on the child's record will display on the carer's record

If updates are required on the Child Miscellaneous Circumstances (CHM) screen Principal Carer Type:

  • select the child from the CHS screen with the parent record in context, and
  • update from the date the child entered care

Coding on this screen will affect concession card entitlements. It must be updated to state the Principal carer type and Foster child FAO.

Note: if the customer is in hardship, check the Assessment Consequences (ASC) screen in the started activity on the gaining carer's record to ensure immediate arrears indicator is 'Y' before finalising activity. Otherwise, the payment will be issued with the next available payday.

Go to Step 7.

5

Check/key other child related details in gaining carer record

Code the actual care details using the correct DOR when applying care decisions. If the claim activity does not have the correct DOR, start an activity with the correct DOR on the Activity Registration (AYR) screen.

  • When updating the in care status on the CHC screen, key the number corresponding to the carer in Carer field
  • Update the FTB Shared Care (FSC) table/screen for family assistance
    • If the step parent has claimed for the child in the past, there is a known issue where care may not apply correctly when FTB is being paid to a step parent. See the Resources page for more information about the issue
    • Table 5 (P24845 - Step-parent workaround) in Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) contains details of the workaround referral process that must be applied every time care is reassessed on these records
    • Once the P24845 workaround is applied, return to this step
  • on the Shared care for social security payments code the shared care percentage and Principal carer indicator when the customer is in receipt of any income support payment

If the customer has legally adopted the child, key details on the Child Miscellaneous Circumstances (CHM) screen for family assistance payments.

If the customer is a foster carer, update the Child Miscellaneous Circumstances (CHM) screen from the date the child entered care. Note: coding on this screen impacts concession card entitlements and must be updated to state the Principal carer type: e.g. Foster Parent (FSF or FOS), Natural (NAT), and Foster child FAO: YES field for foster carer/non-biological carer records.

Check the Child Relationship Details (CHRE/!CHRE) screen and update if required.

Social security dependent child income limit

If the child has income above the Rates and Thresholds index. key child income details on the Child Student/Income Circumstances (CHSI) screen.

6

Record change of care - new carer

Record details on the gaining carer’s record. Using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Updates > Change in Child - Change in Care Status.

7

Finalise the Assessment of Care Arrangements Referral (ZCRF_AOCA_REFERRAL) work item

Check if there is an outstanding AOCA Referral work item.

  • In Workspace, select Online Interaction Summary (Customer online Account)
  • Insert the Work Item ID into Activity ID field or the Customer Reference Number (CRN) and select Search

If there is: