Healthy Start for School (HSFS) requirements from 1 July 2018 007-18043001

• If the customer has had a successful review of decision about HSFS, see Step 6 in Assessing and recording manual and special circumstances exemptions table
• For children who turned 4 between 2011-12 and 2017-18, HSFS requirements are linked to payment of the FTB Part A supplement. See Healthy Start for School (HSFS) requirements for financial years 2011-12 to 2017-18
• Otherwise, go to Step 2.

Only update the health check status if the customer advises the health check has been completed, or they do not intend to complete the check.

If a customer advises the health check is still to be completed, do not update the health check at this point. Customers have until the day before the child's fifth birthday to notify that requirements have been met.

If the customer and child records are in different environments, the update will not be successful. If the child's record needs to be moved into the same environment as the customer's, see Inter-environment change of address (ICoA) transfer of a child record.

Launch the Healthy Start for School Review workflow. Note: if a 'service unavailable' error message is presented when the Healthy Start for School Review workflow is launched, further updates are required before relaunching the workflow.

A summary screen displays the Health Check status recorded for each child.

Is an update to the health check status required?

• Yes, and the customer is:
• notifying that a health check has been completed, go to Step 3
• applying for an exemption, see Step 1 in Assessing and recording manual and special circumstances exemptions table
• applying for an extension of time to complete the health check after the child's fifth birthday, see Step 1 in Assessing and recording extensions table
• advising a health check will not be completed for the child, go to Step 8
• No, select Cancel to exit the Healthy Start for School Review workflow. Procedure ends here

Was the health check completed before the child's fifth birthday?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 4

If the health check was completed on or after the child's fifth birthday and an extension has not previously been recorded, the customer has not met HSFS requirements. Advise the customer their FTB A rate reduction period will continue, and no arrears will be paid as a result of the update.

The FTB Part A rate reduction due to HSFS will start on the child's fifth birthday and will continue for the number of days the customer and/or their partner received an income support payment (including nil rate periods) during the financial year the child turned 4 years of age. Check FTB HSFS Reduction Explanation (FHRRE) screen to view the HSFS rate reduction status for the relevant child/ren on the customer's record.

HSFS health checks for children who have turned 5 can only be recorded using the HSFS Process Direct Workflow.

Using the HSFS Task selector workflow in Process Direct:

• Select Customer Summary tab and enter the customer’s CRN
• Select the customer in the search results
• Select the Healthy Start for School from the task selector and select Start
• Select the child, select Yes and enter:
• the date the HSFS check was completed, and
• the date customer notified of the HSFS details to Centrelink
• Select Save
• Enter DOR as the date customer advised, the Source and Save
• Select Assess and navigate to the ELD screen
• Select Finalise and complete HSFS DOC with the following details:
• The child’s name and date of birth
• The date the HSFS check was completed
• If an extension has not previously been recorded, include the following text:
  'As HSFS health check was done after the child turned 5 years of age, the FTB part A rate reduction will continue to apply, and no arrears are payable'
• If an extension has previously been recorded and the health check is notified within the extension period, include the following text:
  'An extension of time to meet HSFS health check requirements has previously been granted. As health check has been completed within the extension period the FTB part A rate reduction due to HSFS has ceased and arrears paid'

Note: where a health check is recorded on or after a child's fifth birthday, this will display as 'Not Undertaking Health Check' within the Detail section of the HSFS Workflow.

Procedure ends here.

If the customer is notifying of the health check:

• before the child's fifth birthday, go to Step 7
• on or after the child's fifth birthday, go to Step 6

The customer needs to be able to confirm the date the health check took place. Staff need to be satisfied the information is correct.

Is the customer able to satisfactorily confirm the date the health check took place?

• Yes, the HSFS rate reduction will end, and arrears may be payable. Go to Step 7
• No, the customer will need to provide evidence of the date the health check was completed
• Record details using Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Families > Updates > Healthy Start for School - Health Check
• Advise the customer they will need to contact once the evidence has been provided
• Procedure ends here

In Customer First, within the Healthy Start for School Review workflow:

• record health check has been completed
• record the date the health check was completed and the date the customer notified. Note: the date the child completed the health check cannot be before the child's third birthday or after the child’s fifth birthday
• finalise the workflow

Record details using Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Families > Updates > Healthy Start for School - Health Check.

Procedure ends here.

Advise the customer:

• a Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A reduction due to HSFS will commence on the child's fifth birthday
• it will continue for the number of days they or their partner were receiving an income support payment in the financial year their child turned 4

If the Health check completed field is recorded as No, the customer will not receive Electronic Messaging (EM) or the reminder letters.

Procedure ends here.

A Healthy Start for School (HSFS) automatic exemption may apply for circumstances including customer/child death, or the customer is receiving Carer Payment (CP) or Carer Allowance (CA) for the child.

A manual exemption can apply if all the following are met:

• the child has a severe disability or medical condition and has undergone an assessment suitable to the child's needs by a recognised health professional
• no other customer is in receipt of CP or CA specifically for this child
• customer requests an exemption and lodges evidence (if required) on or before the child's fifth birthday (unless an extension is granted)

Special circumstance exemption criteria are satisfied if the customer has unusual and/or unexpected circumstances as outlined on the Resources page.

A special circumstances exemption:

• can only be granted before the child's fifth birthday, and
• cannot be granted during an extension period

If assistance is required in determining eligibility, call the Technical Support Line (service centre staff) or contact Local Peer Support (LPS) (smart centre call).

Is a manual or special circumstance exemption applicable?

• Yes:
• For manual exemption, go to Step 2
• For special circumstance exemption, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 6

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

• Access to code the exemption is restricted. Service Officers must refer the record directly using the HSFS exemption request webform. The Resources page contains a link to the National Referral process. To access the webform:
• from the Resources page link, go to the Business Process and Design Branch homepage, and
• select the link to the FCC ICT Referral Process within the Featured content section, then
• select the HSFS exemption request button
• The referral must include the:
• Exemption type: Medical reasons
• Date of application for exemption, and
• information provided by the customer used to determine eligibility for exemption
• Advise the customer their request for an exemption will be referred for assessment and they will receive a letter advising them of the outcome
• Procedure ends here

The Resources page contains examples of when a Special Circumstances exemption may be granted and an information about checks to be made before assessing eligibility for a special circumstances exemption.

Note: a special circumstance exemption cannot be granted in an extension period

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, explain reason for decision to customer
• Record details using Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Families > Updates > Healthy Start for School - Health Check
• Issue manual Q888 rejection letter. The Resources page contains approved text
• Go to Step 6

• Access to code the exemption is restricted. Service Officers must refer the record directly using the HSFS exemption request webform. The Resources page contains a link to the National Referral process. To access the webform:
• from the Resources page link, go to the Business Process and Design Branch homepage, and
• select the link to the FCC ICT Referral Process within the Featured content section, then
• select the HSFS exemption request button
• The referral must include the:
• Exemption type: Special circumstances
• Date of application for exemption, and
• information provided by the customer used to determine eligibility for exemption
• Advise the customer:
• their request for an exemption will be referred for assessment, and
• they will receive a letter advising them of the outcome
• Procedure ends here

Does the customer intend to complete and notify the health check status?

• Yes, advise the customer to recontact when the health check has been completed
• Advise the customer the health check needs to be completed and notified before the child's fifth birthday (or extension end date if applicable) otherwise a Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A reduction will be applied to the rate of FTB Part A for the child
• Procedure ends here, unless the customer requires additional time to complete the health check due to unexpected or unusual circumstances, in which case, they may be eligible for an extension. Extensions cannot be granted prior to the child's fifth birthday. See Step 1 in the Assessing and recording extensions table
• No, go to Step 7

• Update health check completed to No
• Finalise the workflow
• Advise the customer that a Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A reduction due to HSFS will commence on the child's fifth birthday and continue for the number of days they or their partner were receiving an income support payment in the financial year their child turned 4
• Record details using Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Families > Updates > Healthy Start for School - Health Check

If the Health check completed field is recorded as No, the customer will not receive Electronic Messaging (EM) or the reminder letters

Procedure ends here.

• Access to code the override is restricted. Service Officers must refer to HSFS exemption request webform. The Resources page contains a link to the FCC ICT Referral process
• The following details must be included in the referral:
• Exemption type: Favourable decision
• The information provided by the customer used to determine eligibility for the exemption

Procedure ends here.

An extension of time to meet health check requirements can be applied when special circumstances prevented the customer from meeting HSFS requirements prior to the child's fifth birthday. These generally relate to the customer's circumstances rather than the child's. Requests must be considered on a case by case basis.

Special circumstance extension criteria are satisfied if the customer has unusual and/or unexpected circumstances as outlined on the Resources page. If assistance is required in determining eligibility, call the Technical Support Line (service centre staff) or contact Local Peer Support (LPS) (smart centre call).

The Resources page contains more information about assessing special circumstances and checks to be made before assessing eligibility for a special circumstances exemption.

Is the customer eligible for an extension of time to complete the HSFS requirements?

Note: an extension cannot be applied for until the child's fifth birthday.

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 3

• Access to code the extension is restricted. Service Officers must refer the record directly using the HSFS exemption request webform. The Resources page contains a link to the National Referral process. To access the webform:
• from the Resources page link, go to the Business Process and Design Branch homepage, and
• select the link to the FCC ICT Referral Process within the Featured content section, then
• select the HSFS extension request button
• The referral must include the:
• Extension type: Special circumstances
• Date of application for extension, and
• information provided by the customer used to determine eligibility for extension
• Advise the customer their request for an extension will be referred for assessment and they will receive a letter advising them of the outcome
• Procedure ends here

• Explain reason for decision to customer and record details in a DOC using Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Families > Updates > Healthy Start for School - Health Check
• Issue manual Q888 reject letter. The Resources page contains approved letter text