Special Benefit (SpB) reviews 003-08070000
Contact details
Tier 1 technical support – Local Peer Support (LPS)
Level 2 Policy Helpdesk Requests
Social workers – referrals
MFU activities
Table 1: These Manual Follow-ups (MFUs) are allocated as work type ‘ZALL_SPB_REV’ in Workload Manager to SpB skilled staff to action.
Letters
For Special Benefit Processing Staff
These manual letters must only be created by SpB processing staff.
Services Australia has endorsed the letter or electronic message for use. It is the latest version. Do not use locally produced letters or electronic message.
Special Benefit letter templates for:
- Special Benefit Manual Invite letter
- Special Benefit Manual S63 notice
Letter templates
For Australian Citizen Children (ACC) or Australian permanent resident child whose custodial parent/guardian has been granted an eligible visa for income support payment
Table 1: use the following free text when an ACC custodial parent/guardian granted an eligible visa for income support payment.
| Item | Template |
| 1 | Australian Citizen Children (ACC) or Australian permanent resident child - custodial parent granted an eligible visa for income support payment Special Benefit may no longer be the best payment for you. Special Benefit can only be paid to an Australian citizen or permanent resident child when their parent/guardian is not eligible for a payment of their own. Our records show your custodial parent/guardian was granted a visa subclass XXX on DD/MM/YYYY. Holders of a subclass XXX visa may qualify for a payment. Your parent/guardian must commence testing their eligibility for a payment within 14 days as your Special Benefit may stop. Your parent/guardian can check what payments they may be eligible for on Payment Finder. Go to the Services Australia website and search for 'Payment Finder'. |
For Customers Studying Full Time
Table 2: use the following free text when creating a Q134 letter to explain the decision to reject or cancel SpB payment due to full time study.
| Item | <Description> |
| 1 | You have advised you are studying full time and currently undertaking a (insert degree/course name) with (insert university/institution) and you have (insert the duration, e.g. four years, two semesters etc.) until you complete the course. Special Benefit is not intended as a payment for full time students. Special Benefit recipients can only undertake full time study if the duration of the course is less than 12 months and has been approved by a job provider. Full time tertiary studies such as bachelor degrees can only be approved if the individual only has one semester remaining to complete a tertiary degree. Should your circumstances change you can retest your eligibility for Special Benefit. |