Immunisation requirements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A from 1 July 2018 007-18043002

Customers must meet immunisation requirements when in receipt of FTB Part A.

A child meets the requirements when their FTB immunisation status on the Child Immunisation Summary guided procedure displays as Yes. Each time a child receives a vaccination, the provider will update the status. These details are sent to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

If a child does not meet immunisation requirements or is not successfully linked with the AIR, the customer has a 63 day grace period to ensure the child is:

• up to date, or
• successfully linked with the AIR

After this 63 day grace period, the customer may have their FTB Part A reduced (per child).

If a child has missed vaccinations on the childhood vaccination schedule, they will meet the immunisation requirements once they start and remain up to date on a suitable catch up schedule, according to the current Australian Immunisation Handbook.

The child's vaccination provider will update the AIR with the appropriate information, including when the next vaccination is due. The child will meet the immunisation requirements as long as they remain up to date according to this schedule.

Note: catch up schedules are limited to one per lifetime per child. Catch up schedules cannot be extended.

Medical exemptions may apply, see the Resources page for an overview on exemptions.

This does not include school age and adolescent vaccinations on the school programs schedule. For example, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Customers must talk to their child's vaccination provider if they have any questions or concerns regarding this.

School age and adolescent vaccinations on the school programs schedule (such as the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine) are not included on the childhood schedule. Customers should consult their child's vaccination provider if they have further questions or concerns about vaccinations.

The AIR is responsible for maintaining records of a child's immunisation status only. Staff must not refer the customer to AIR to:

• create a link, or
• update immunisation information

If a customer wants to change the immunisation details held on the AIR for their child they need to take evidence to their vaccination provider who will update the AIR if appropriate. This includes updates:

• where a child has received immunisations overseas, or
• where their immunisation history is incomplete

When a child receives vaccinations in Australia, the vaccination provider will update AIR.

Customers do not need to give documentary evidence of a child's immunisation history to Centrelink for FTB assessments. In limited cases, customers may provide other evidence for an assessment not handled by the AIR, for example a Secretary determination exemption.

For information on the management of immunisation evidence, including when and how to escalate an enquiry to the Centrelink AIR Liaison Team, see Management of immunisation evidence.

Service Officers must not discuss specific vaccinations or vaccination schedules with customers. Refer the customer to their vaccination provider. For children under 14, a customer can check which vaccines are not up to date by accessing their child's immunisation history using Medicare Online Services. People aged 14 years and over can access their own immunisation information using a myGov account. Providers can also access the immunisation history for an individual.

Do not refer the customer to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

If the customer is claiming FTB and the child is either:

• eligible for Medicare enrolment but not yet enrolled, the customer:
• must enrol the child, and
• provide the Medicare details to Centrelink
• eligible for Medicare enrolment but the customer cannot provide the child's Medicare card details (such as where the child has entered the customer's care as part of an informal care agreement and/or the customer does not have legal authority to get a Medicare card for the child), the Service Officer can escalate to the Centrelink AIR Liaison team to get the Medicare card details
• not eligible for Medicare enrolment, a name-only matching process is used to establish the link

The name-only matching process will not link a child who has had a Medicare number at any point in time

If the customer does not provide Medicare details for a child who is enrolled in Medicare, a link between Centrelink and the AIR can be established using a Medicare number obtained from the Centrelink AIR Liaison team. Customer consent to establish a link is not needed after 1 January 2016.

Note: if a child has multiple Medicare card numbers, any of the card numbers can be used to establish an AIR link, provided:

• the child is listed on the card, and
• the correct individual reference number is used

This is because the multiple numbers should be associated with only one Personal Identification Number (PIN) in the Medicare system and therefore only linked to one AIR record.

Children vaccinated outside Australia need to meet immunisation requirements to be eligible for FTB. To determine whether the child meets immunisation requirements according to the current Australian Immunisation Handbook, customers need to take their overseas immunisation evidence to their Australian vaccination provider. The provider will:

• update the AIR for the child
• place the child on a suitable catch up schedule (if necessary)

Once the AIR has been updated, a name only link request can be established.

All immunisation medical exemptions are recorded and managed by the AIR. A doctors certificate is not a sufficient medical exemption.

FTB immunisation requirements are met if one of the following exemptions are recorded on the AIR:

• the child has a medical exemption due to medical contraindication or natural immunity for all overdue vaccines. These are assessed by a vaccination provider and recorded on the AIR
• a vaccine is temporarily unavailable

If a customer believes there is a medical reason why their child cannot be fully immunised, they must be referred to their child's general practitioner. A medical exemption will only start from the date the general practitioner records it on the AIR.

In extremely limited cases, a child may also meet the immunisation requirements if the Secretary determines an exemption from immunisation applies, for example Family and Domestic Violence. For more information, see View and update a child’s immunisation status and assess or update immunisation exemptions for Family Tax Benefit.

The Last Immunisation Update Event (LIUE) is a date transmitted by the AIR based on information provided by the child's vaccination provider. The LIUE may not be the earliest date that the child met requirements. The AIR will transmit a LIUE date where an immunisation status of 'Yes' is provided.

If a customer states the date provided by the AIR is later than the date they took action to have the child meet requirements, and FTB has been affected, the customer may need an override applied. See View and update a child’s immunisation status and assess or update immunisation exemptions for Family Tax Benefit.

Customers can view the information held on the Australian Immunisation Register for a child on their Immunisation history statement.

Customers who do not meet the requirements will receive FTB immunisation reviews and reminder letters.

Customers can request a review of a decision that has been made about their payments. This may include the FTB Part A rate reduction due to immunisation.

Do not record reviews for:

• decisions that have not yet been made, including the start of an FTB immunisation grace period
• general complaints regarding the legislation, or
• customers who want an explanation of the decision or the legislation

See Recording complaints and feedback in the Customer Feedback Tool.