Economic Security Strategy (ESS) Payment for Families 007-10020000

A person was entitled to an ESS payment for a FTB child if one of the following applied:

• On 14 October 2008, they were eligible for FTB Part A at a rate greater than nil for the FTB child. Note: this includes recipients who were entitled to FTB Part A but who choose to be paid zero rate FTB. A recipient did not have to be current on FTB on 14 October 2008 to get the ESS payment, but must have been eligible for FTB Part A on that day
• An FTB instalment, past period or bereavement claim was granted for the person that includes 14 October 2008 with a Part A rate greater than nil and the rate included the FTB child
• The key factor of eligibility to the ESS payment was being entitled to FTB Part A on 14 October 2008. FTB eligibility on this date can be confirmed by the recipient's FTB reconciliation for 2008-09.
• If the recipient did not qualify for ESS, as they were not in receipt of FTB Part A on14 October 2008, they may be entitled to ESS under the Administrative Scheme. For information on eligibility, see Item 1 in the Information on claiming ESS under the Administrative Scheme table

Eligible shared care recipients were paid a portion of the ESS payment based on the FTB Shared Care percentage payable as displayed on the Assessment Details (ASDT) screen.

For example: Recipients sharing care of a child 35%/65% (as per the FTB Shared Care (FSC) screen, however, they were paid FTB in the percentages of 25%/75% as per the ASDT screen. The ESS payment was split according to the percentage displayed on the ASDT screen, not the FSC screen.

Note: ESS payments could only be made for FTB Part A children, not Regular Care Child (RCC) children.

Automatic ESS payments were issued in the period 8-19 December 2008 to instalment recipients and paid on the same day as their regular FTB payment. This included those who were FTB Part A current at zero rate due to a payment choice.

Recipients not paid in the 8-19 December 2008 period were paid by one of the following methods:

• an arrears payment when their FTB instalment claim was granted
• when they lodge an FTB lump sum claim at the end of the year (if eligible)
• as part of reconciliation if they had an entitlement

For FTB recipients to be eligible for ESS as a result of reconciliation or lump sum claim processing, 2008-09 tax returns for the recipient and their partner (if applicable) were required to be lodged with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) by 30 June 2011. Returns lodged after this date will mean the recipient is a late lodger and ESS cannot be paid.

If the recipient has already received ESS payment prior to becoming a late lodger, the ESS payment will not be raised as a debt.

The ESS payment is displayed on the Payment Summary (PS) and Payment Detail (PD) screens. It is identified on the PD screen as 'ESS-FAM'.

More detailed information is available on the Families One Off Payment task selector (FOPTS) screen. Other screens to check include:

• One off Payment (OOP) screen
• Families One Off Payment Child Details (FPCD) screen

Note: some screens such as FOPTS will still show historical data from the June 2004 one-off payment as well as the 2008 ESS payment so please check dates and information on these screens before discussion with the recipient.

Payment under Administrative Scheme

The Economic Security Strategy Summary (FOSESS) screen will display a 'Y' under 'Admin Scheme' if a payment has been made under the Administrative Scheme.

If the recipient was being income managed - the ESS payment was income managed at 100%.

The ESS payment was not be used to recover any Social Security or Family Assistance debts and having a debt had no effect on entitlement to the ESS payment.

No debts will be raised where a person has received the ESS payment and it was subsequently found that the person and/or the child should not have attracted the payment, unless the person knowingly made a false or misleading statement, or knowingly provided false information.

ESS debts will need to be raised manually.

Letters about the ESS payment were sent to recipients advising of the payment and were triggered at the same time the payment was made. These letters do not include the payment amount or the names of the child/ren.

If FTB was not current:

• For payments in the 2 week ESS payment period (8-19 December 2008), an FTB claim must have been processed by 5 December 2008.
• For FTB claims lodged but not processed by 5 December 2008 (where the recipient had entitlement on 14 October 2008), the ESS payment was paid when the claim was granted. For example, if FTB claim lodged on 4 December 2008 but not processed until 23 December 2008, the ESS payment was issued with the arrears of FTB when the claim was granted
• For FTB lump sum claimants, the ESS payment occurred when their 2008-09 actual income was received from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and their lump sum FTB payment was made, if tax returns were lodged by 30 June 2011.
• Income estimate changes for FTB: Updates of estimates of income for FTB generally cannot be backdated. If a recipient was FTB cancelled due to income before 14 October 2008 and then provides a new lower estimate after 14 October 2008, they will generally not be paid an ESS payment until reconciliation, if entitled

Recipients may have been eligible if, in the period 15 October - 31 December 2008:

• FTB was granted for an FTB child, and
• The child had entered (or re-entered) the recipient's ongoing care during this period and one of the following applies:
• The person was entitled to FTB Part A for the child at some time during the period 1 July - 13 October 2008, and there were special circumstances relating to why the person was not entitled to FTB Part A for the child for 14 October 2008
• The person had the ongoing care of the child under a formal foster care arrangement
• The person was non-parent carer of the child (for example, grandparent) and had the ongoing care of the child due to an inability or failure of the child's parents to provide care of the child

The Administrative Scheme was established to assist foster and non-parent/kinship carers who gained care of a child shortly after the announcement of stimulus payments to families under the ESS. The Administrative Scheme allowed people who temporarily lost care of a child due to special circumstances to receive a payment. For historical information on claiming the ESS payment under the Administrative Scheme see:

• Item 2 for special circumstances, foster care and non-parent carer
• Item 3 for evidence required for care
• Item 4 for claim for payment under

There were 3 ways in which a person may have been entitled to an ESS payment under the Administrative Scheme:

Special Circumstances

Under this category, a person would have been entitled to an ESS payment under the Administrative Scheme if the person was entitled to:

• FTB Part A for an FTB child who entered the person's ongoing care during the period 15 October - 31 December 2008, and
• the person was entitled to FTB Part A at any time during the period 1 July- 13 October 2008, and
• there were special circumstances relating to why the person was not entitled to FTB Part A for the child for 14 October 2008

This covers, but is not limited to, cases where 14 October 2008 was within the period between a person losing and regaining care of a child (a temporary loss of care is why the person was not entitled to FTB Part A), and there were special circumstances as to why the child was not in the person's care on 14 October 2008.

Formal foster carers

Under this category, a person would have been entitled to an ESS payment under the Administrative Scheme if the person was entitled to:

• FTB Part A for an FTB child who entered the person's ongoing care during the period 15 October - 31 December 2008, and
• the person was entrusted with the ongoing care of the child under a formal foster care arrangement

This covers cases where there was a placement of a child with the carer, under formal child protection processes, during the period 15 October - 31 December 2008. As there is a requirement for ongoing care, it excluded placements that were likely to be less than 26 weeks.

Evidence of care arrangements needed to be provided to Services Australia. See Item 3.

Non-parent carers

Under this category, a person would have been entitled to an ESS payment under the Administrative Scheme if the person was entitled to:

• FTB Part A for an FTB child under 16 years of age who entered the person's ongoing care during the period 15 October - 31 December 2008, and
• the person was a non-parent carer of the child (such as a grandparent) and had been entrusted with the ongoing care of the child due to an inability or failure of the child's parents to provide care of the child

This is similar in nature to the formal foster care category due to there being an inability or failure of the child's parents to provide care of the child.

See Item 3.

Foster carers were required to provide evidence of the placement and expected duration from the relevant state/territory child protection authority.

If there was no placement of the child under formal child protection processes, other evidence needed to be obtained as part of the claim process to support a finding that the person had care of the child due to an inability or failure of the child's parents to provide care of the child.

This may have involved contact with the parents to confirm that they did not have care and the reason and/or contact with another relevant person or organisation (for example, a child protection authority) to verify the circumstances leading to the carer having care of the child.

This may have required an assessment by a Centrelink social worker, in consultation with the relevant state/territory child protection authority.

Example

A child protection authority may have been aware of the circumstances relating to the care of the child, and held discussions with the parents and the carer, without the need for formal child protection processes.

It may have also included cases where the child protection authority was not aware of the circumstances relating to the care of the child, for example, the parents had abandoned the care of the child.

To receive ESS under the Administrative Scheme a claim must have been lodged by 29 January 2010. Claims lodged after 29 January 2010 will be rejected. Payments are not automatic.

For recipients paid as a result of reconciliation or lump sum claim, 2008-09 tax returns (for recipient or partner) were required to be lodged with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) by 30 June 2011. Returns lodged after this date mean he recipient is a late lodger and ESS cannot be paid. See Initial contact by customers claiming Family Tax Benefit (FTB) as a lump sum for a previous year.

Claims and/or notification after 29 January 2010

Claims lodged after 29 January 2010 will be rejected.

The Economic Security Strategy Summary (FOSESS) screen will display a 'Y' under 'Admin Scheme' if a payment has been made under the Administrative Scheme.

For other screens to check, see Item 4 in the Information on the ESS Payment for Families table.