Personal Assets Test for allowances, Austudy and independent Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY customers 108-01020030

Item

Description

1

From 23 March 2020 to 24 September 2020, asset testing was waived for customers receiving or claiming:

• JobSeeker Payment (JSP). This included payments which transitioned to JSP on 20 March 2020
• Partner Allowance (PA)
• Widow Allowance (WA)
• Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker, students, and Australian Apprentices)
• Parenting Payment (PP)
• ABSTUDY Living Allowance
• Austudy (student and apprentice payment)

Asset testing continued as normal for other payments.

From 25 September 2020:

• the asset test was reintroduced for customers receiving or claiming:
• JSP
• PA
• WA
• PP
• Austudy
• YA (job seekers, students, and apprentices)
• ABSTUDY
• customers were no longer eligible for payment if they had assets over their allowable limit
• customers had to notify within 14 days of any income or asset changes. Note: if a customer updated their asset details before 25 September 2020, they did not need to update again until their assets changed

2

Customers granted from 23 March 2020 for which the agency does not hold any asset details with a date on or after 23 March 2020

• An online task was allocated to these customers. The task was visible in their online account from 30 August 2020
• They received notification that an online task existed and were required to confirm or update assets before 24 September 2020
• Customers had to complete the online task or provide asset details to the agency. The preferred update method for asset details was online
• If assets were not recorded on or before 24 September 2020, the customer's payment was suspended pending provision of the required asset information

3

Customers granted from 23 March 2020 for which the agency held asset details that were over the allowable limit on 25 September 2020

• An online task was allocated to these customers. The task was visible in their online account from 30 August 2020
• They received notification that an online task existed and were required to confirm or update assets before 24 September 2020. The preferred update method for asset details was online
• If assets were not reduced below the allowable limit on or before 24 September 2020, the customer's payment was cancelled due to excess assets