Transitional reassessment of claims for Parental Leave Pay (PPL) pre-birth claims 007-23020219

Customers will have more choice about how and when they get PPL to help them balance work and family commitments.

If a customer contacts to advise they were expecting a child to be born:

• on or after 1 July 2023, but the actual date of birth or adoption is before 1 July 2023, see Table 2, Step 1
• before 1 July 2023, but the actual date of birth or adoption was on or after 1 July 2023, see Table 3, Step 1

If the:

• customer advises they have not yet claimed PPL:
• Tell the customer they will need to lodge claim for PPL
• See Online or Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) for family assistance, Parental Leave Pay (PPL) and Dad and Partner Pay (DAP) and Helping customers provide proof of a child's birth for family assistance, Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Paid Parental Leave scheme claims
• Procedure ends here
• customer has completed a PPL pre-claim and now has a PPL status of Assessed (ASS), go to Step 2

FCC processing staff

FCC processing staff allocated Add Newborn work item or fully completed FA081 for the following scenario:

• A PPL pre claim was assessed where child’s expected date of birth or entry into care was on or after 1 July 2023
• Add Newborn is lodged and the actual date of birth or entry into care is before 1 July 2023

Note: in this scenario Add Newborn work items will have a keyword of ENHTOFLX automatically added by the system.

Has an Add Newborn work item been allocated with keyword ENHTOFLX or a fully completed FA081 meeting the above scenario?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No:
• Child’s expected date of birth or entry into care is prior to 1 July 2023 and the actual date of birth or entry into care is prior to 1 July 2023, the customer is not impacted by these changes
• See Processing proof of a child's birth

The customer’s claim is processed and, if eligible, the PPL status will be ASSessed pending Proof of birth (PCB) or Proof of placement (POP).

At claim assessment, a letter will be sent to the customer which includes information that if the child’s actual date of birth or adoption is before 1 July 2023 they will be assessed under the pre 1 July 2023 PPL rules and will be contacted to provide additional information.

Where customer has called to advise the child was born or adopted before 1 July 2023

Information will need to be collected from the customer for claim assessment.

• Does the customer have primary care of the child? and if:
• Yes, the date of primary care
• No
  Does the partner or another person have primary care of the child?
  Has the child been given up for adoption or as part of a surrogacy arrangement?
  Has the child been removed from care by a state or territory child protection agency?
• Return to work date (if applicable)
• Nominated start date
• Flexible PPL days (customer can nominate Flexible PPL days at a later time if required)
• If applicable:
• Transfer PPL Period
• Permission for secondary claimant to claim Flexible PPL days

Once information is collected, document the record. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Claims > 1 July changes - PPL transition info 1 July 2023 changes.

FCC processing staff will use the information provided in the Fast Note to reassess the PPL claim once the Add Newborn has been completed.

Advise the customer if more information is required, they will be contacted.

Procedure ends here.

Customers whose pre-birth claim is pending proof of birth can provide child details and proof of birth by:

• the 'Add newborn child' service online
• the 'Add child' service via the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
• a fully completed FA081

If child’s actual date of birth or entry into care is on or after 1 July 2023:

• PPL claim will be processed under the new PPL rules
• No change in employer determination (if applicable) and paymaster role
• Assessment letter is issued
• Procedure ends here

If child’s actual date of birth or entry into care is before 1 July 2023:

• The ‘Add newborn child’ service online or the ‘Add child’ service via the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app will display messaging to the customer advising the PPL claim for the child will be reassessed using pre 1 July 2023 PPL rules.
• Customer may need to provide additional information.
• Check Notes screen to determine whether customer has already provided required information. Fast Note will display on record as > PPL transition claim

Has the customer contact already occurred?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, go to Step 4

An attempt must be made to contact the customer.

Staff should alert the customer of contact by phone through sending a desktop message. See Centrelink letters online and Electronic Messaging.

To send a pre-call SMS, in Process Direct:

• go to the Correspondence (CORRO) screen via Super Key
• select the twisty below the Correspondence History table
• in the Issue Correspondence table, select Pre Call SMS to Customer
• select Submit

A Pre Call Alert SMS notification will be issued to the customer. View this in the Correspondence History table.

Allow a lead time of 15 minutes in case there is a delay.

Was contact successful?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 7

Collect all PPL post birth/entry into care information to assess PPL claim under pre-1 July 2023 PPL rules including:

• Does the customer have primary care of the child? and if:
• Yes, the date of primary care
• No :
  Does the partner or another person have primary care of the child?
  Has the child been given up for adoption or as part of a surrogacy arrangement?
  Has the child been removed from care by a state or territory child protection agency?
• Return to work date (if applicable)
• Nominated start date
• Flexible PPL days (customer can nominate Flexible PPL days at a later time if required)
• If applicable:
• Transfer PPL Period
• Permission for secondary claimant to claim Flexible PPL days

The following information will be stored from the PPL pre-birth/entry into care claim. Staff do not need to confirm this information.

• Employer determination (if applicable)
• Paymaster decision
• Individual income
• Work test information

Once information is collected, document the record. Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Claims > PPL transition info 1 July 2023 changes.

Go to Step 6.

As child was born or adopted before 1 July 2023, Add Newborn activity can be actioned.

As the Add Newborn activity has an expected date of birth or entry into care of after 1 July 2023 but actual date of birth or entry into care is before 1 July 2023, staff will need to manually navigate to specific screens within the Add Newborn activity in Process Direct.

Based on the information collected from the customer, the following screens may need to be updated:

• PPL Claim Details (P1CLM)
• Parental Leave Pay days (P1FLX)
• PPL Employment Dates (P1ED)
• PPL Further Claim Details (P1MIS) - intent to transfer (if applicable)

Process Add Newborn activity using Processing proof of a child's birth. Once actioned, return to this Operational Blueprint.

Record new PPL information collected by the customer within Add Newborn Child activity.

At claim finalisation

• If individual income is above the PPL income limit:
• The customer’s PPL claim will be REJected because the income test has not been met
• A rejection letter will be sent to the customer with a transition paragraph advising their PPL pre-birth/entry into care claim was assessed because the child’s expected date of birth or entry into care was on or after 1 July 2023, but has since been reassessed because the child’s actual date of birth or entry into care was before 1 July 2023.

• If individual income is below the PPL income limit:
• The customer’s PPL claim will be granted
• A grant letter will be sent to the customer with a transition paragraph advising their PPL pre-birth/entry into care claim was assessed because the child’s expected date of birth or entry into care was on or after 1 July 2023, but has since been reassessed because the child’s actual date of birth or entry into care was before 1 July 2023
• The grant letter will invite the father or partner to claim DAP

Check the outcome is correct on ELD before finalising the Add Newborn.

Claim Finalisation DOC

Manually add the following text to the beginning of the Finalisation DOC.

• 'PPL transition
• Customer was assessed at pre-birth stage using legislation for a child born on or after 1 July 2023
• Customer has now been GRA/REJ/NEF (delete not applicable) using legislation for a child born before 1 July 2023 at post birth stage
• Expected date of birth/enter care:
• Actual date of birth/enter care:'

Note: if the customer submitted a combined FTB and PPL claim, the Service Officer can finalise the FTB claim also using the Add Newborn activity

Procedure ends here.

If the attempt to contact the claimant is unsuccessful, make the claim Not Effective (NEF) in the Add Newborn activity.

• Before completing updates, on the Transaction Summary (TS) screen, link the child and complete any partner updates. This action must be completed before selecting Process or the data load from the Add Newborn will not complete correctly on the customer's record
• Select Process

In the customer’s record, within the Add Newborn activity, manually navigate to:

• Child Claim Override (CHOC) screen, code:
• Start date: child’s actual date of birth
• Child Name: select the child to be assessed
• Service Reason: Paid Parental Leave
• Reason Code: select Claim
• PPL Claim Details (P1CLM), code:
• PPL Start Date Type: Date customer has elected for PPL to start
• Nominated PPL Start Date: If OTH - Other is selected for PPL Start Date Type then relevant date will need to be coded.
• PPL Claim Action (P1CA) screen code:
• Action: NEF - Not Effective
• Reason: INF - Information/details not provided
• Effective date: Date of Birth of child

Check the outcome is correct on ELD before finalising the Add Newborn.

Claim Finalisation DOC

Manually add the following text to the beginning of the Finalisation DOC.

• 'PPL transition
• Customer was assessed at pre-birth stage using legislation for a child born on or after 1 July 2023
• Customer has now been GRA/REJ/NEF (delete not applicable) using legislation for a child born before 1 July 2023 at post birth stage
• Expected date of birth/enter care:
• Actual date of birth/enter care:'

A NEF letter is issued to the customer advising them:

• Services Australia cannot pay PPL because all the information or documentation needed to make a decision about their claim was not received, and
• to contact Services Australia and they may need to make a new claim

Note: if the customer submitted a combined FTB and PPL claim, the Service Officer can finalise the FTB claim also using the Add Newborn activity. See Processing proof of a child's birth.

Approved workaround when presented with error whilst NEFing a PPL claim INF

Service Officer’s will need to manually code a start date type on the P1CLM if presented with error 'E012ZZ Entry Required'.

Navigate to the P1CLM via Super Key and use the correct start date type on the P1CLM as below:

• DOB: if the relationship is Birth mother, Partner of Birth mother or biological father OR
• DCL: if date of claim is more than 28 days since DOB
• ECD: if the relationship to the child is adoptive parent or Partner of Adoptive parent

Procedure ends here.

If the:

• customer advises they have not yet claimed PPL:
• Tell the customer they will need to lodge claim for PPL
• See Online or Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) for family assistance, Parental Leave Pay (PPL) and Dad and Partner Pay (DAP) and Helping customers provide proof of a child's birth for family assistance, Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Paid Parental Leave scheme claims
• Procedure ends here
• customer has completed a PPL pre-claim and now has a PPL status of Assessed (ASS), go to Step 2

For customers whose pre-birth claim is pending proof of birth, they can provide child details and proof of birth by:

• the 'Add newborn child' service online
• the 'Add child' service via the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
• a fully completed FA081

Once child details and proof of birth has been supplied, impacted PPL claims will be assessed with transition processes.

Where a child had an expected date of birth or adoption of before 1 July 2023, PPL pre-claim would have assessed claim using the 2020 PPL scheme.

As a result, transition reassessment is completed, the Flexible PPL nomination will be transitioned to PPL days dependant on claimant type.

Where customer’s Flexible PPL claim was assessed as:

• a primary claimant, go to Step 3
• a secondary or tertiary claimant, go to Step 4

The primary claimant will be considered the Approval Giver and will have 10 additional days added to their balance of unclaimed PPL days balance.

• The PPL period and any connected Flexible PPL days (primary claimant has nominated within the PPL claim) will be transitioned to PPL days as weekdays only (Monday to Friday).
• Where primary claimant has nominated Flexible PPL days, these will be transitioned to PPL days on any day (including Saturday and Sunday)
• Rejected or withdrawn Flexible PPL days will be ignored by the transition process and will remain in the Approval Giver’s unclaimed PPL days balance

Where the primary claimant has advised in the claim they intend to transfer PPL period to a secondary claimant, then:

• days claimed by the primary claimant will be transitioned to PPL days until the date of transfer
• days transferred to a secondary PPL claimant will be ignored by the transition process and remain in the Approval Giver’s unclaimed PPL days balance
• if there is a transfer of the initial PPL period, any connected Flexible PPL days will be ignored by transition processing and will remain in the Approval Giver’s unclaimed PPL days balance

See Scenarios table on the Resources page for examples.

Procedure ends here.

Once the transition activity is complete the secondary/tertiary PPL claimant:

• will be considered an Approval Seeker and the PPL claim will be rejected with reason ‘approval withdrawn for claim’ (REJ-AWC), and
• they will need to re-claim PPL as an Approval Seeker and obtain approval to claim and share PPL days from the Approval Giver

If any Flexible PPL days are granted to a secondary/tertiary claimant, then these days will be ignored by the transition process and remain in the Approval Giver’s unclaimed PPL days balance.

See Scenarios table in the Resources page for examples.

Procedure ends here.

These changes affect claims for children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023.

Has the customer contacted regarding DAP claim for a child with expected date of birth or adoption before 1 July 2023?

• Yes, the customer is not impacted by these changes. Procedure ends here
• No:
• Customer has yet to claim DAP, go to Step 2
• Customers DAP claim is assessed (ASS), go to Step 3

FCC processing staff

Where DAP pre-claim is allocated (with expected date of birth or entering care after 1 July 2023), go to Step 4.

If a customer contacts about claiming DAP for a child with an expected date of birth or adoption that is on or after 1 July 2023:

• Customers will still be able to submit a claim for DAP if their child’s expected date of birth or entry into care is on or after 1 July 2023. However, Service Officers should advise the customer that they may prefer to claim after their child is born or comes into care instead
• Tell the customer:
• that only birth mothers and first adoptive parents will be able to submit a PPL claim for a child from 26 March 2023 because under the new PPL rules claimants will require approval to claim from the birth mother or first adoptive parent to be able to submit their PPL claim. Invite the claimant to claim on or after 1 July 2023
• if after their pre-claim is assessed and the child’s actual date of birth or entry into care is on or after 1 July 2023 the DAP claim will be rejected and the rejection letter will invite the customer to claim PPL

The Resources page contains links to information about these changes on the Services Australia website.

The customer’s claim is processed and, if eligible, the DAP status will be pending (PND) Proof of birth (PCB) or Proof of placement (POP).

A letter will be sent to the customer which includes:

• information that DAP is ending for children born on or after 1 July 2023, and
• advise that the customer may need to submit a claim for PPL

If a DAP pre-claim has been assessed, proof of the child's birth or placement is required for the claim to be finalised.

If the customer's partner or another person provides proof of the child's birth and is claiming PPL and/or FTB, the DAP claim should be finalised at the same time.

If child’s actual date of birth or entry into care is before 1 July 2023 the DAP claim will be processed under current DAP eligibility rules.

Process DAP claim.

Check the outcome is correct on ELD before finalising the Add Newborn.

Claim Finalisation DOC

Manually add the following text to the beginning of the Finalisation DOC:

• 'DAP transition
• Customer was assessed for DAP at the pre-birth stage
• Expected date of birth/enter care:
• Actual date of birth/enter care:
• DAP has been REJ/NEF (delete not applicable) due to DAP ending from 1 July 2023'

If child’s actual date of birth or entry into care is on or after 1 July 2023 the DAP claim will be rejected and the rejection letter will invite the customer to claim PPL.

Procedure ends here.

Under the new legislation only birth mothers or initial adoptive parent are allowed to lodge PPL pre-birth claims if the child’s EDOB/EDOP is on or after 1 July 2023, during the transition period.

Is the child’s expected DOB/placement into care on or after 1 July 2023?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, action claim under current arrangements for processing a paper claim. See Pre-processing checks for standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave payments

Is the claimant the birth mother or the first adoptive parent to claim for the child?

• Yes, if the:
• customer is lodging FA100 in person at Service Centre, go to Step 3
• FA100 has been allocated due to Fa100 lodged online via document lodgement service or has been uploaded to customer record, go to Step 4
• No, if the:
• customer is lodging FA100 in person at Service Centre go to Step 5
• FA100 has been allocated due to Fa100 lodged online via document lodgement service or has been uploaded to customer record, go to Step 6

Tell the customer the claim for PPL cannot be accepted. Assist them to claim online or advise they can claim PPL after their child is born/enters care or on or after 1 July 2023 when the updated claim form will be available.

If the claim is a combined PPL/FTB claim and the customer does not wish to claim online process the FTB. See Pre-processing checks for standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave payments.

Procedure ends here.

Contact the customer and advise the claim for PPL cannot be accepted. Assist the customer to claim online or advise they can claim PPL after their child is born/enters care or on or after 1 July 2023 when the updated claim form will be available.

If contact is unsuccessful:

• manually assess the PPL claim as not effective for reason OTH, and
• record details on the finalisation Note/Fast Note

See Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments.

If the claim is a combined PPL/FTB claim process the FTB. See Pre-processing checks for standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave payments.

Procedure ends here.

Advise the PPL rules are changing for children born/entering care on or after 1 July 2023 and the customer can claim PPL either:

• after the child is born/enters care, or
• on or after 1 July 2023

If the claim is a combined PPL/FTB claim:

• process the FTB component of the claim and update the status of the PPL as Not Effective (NEF) in a separate claim activity with the reason OTH
• record details in the finalisation Notes

See Pre-processing checks for standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave payment.

Procedure ends here.

Manually:

• assess the claim as not effective for reason OTH, and
• record details on the finalisation Note/Fast Note

See Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments.

If the claim is a combined PPL/FTB claim:

• process the FTB component of the claim and update the status of the PPL as Not Effective (NEF) in a separate claim activity with the reason OTH
• record details in the finalisation Notes

See Pre-processing checks for standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave payment.

Procedure ends here.