Creating, updating and ending Parental Income Test (PIT) links for dependent student, Australian Apprentice and job seeker customers 108-02010100

Linking parents/guardians to dependent ABSTUDY, AIC and YA children allows recorded information relevant to the PIT to be automatically transferred between records.

Advantages include:

• a family only needs to notify Services Australia of changes in circumstances once for the changes to be updated for all linked family members
• linked records will contain up-to-date information, ensuring they are receiving their correct entitlement
• a reduction in the number of debts incurred, for example, in cases where the PIT exemption ceases automatically after notification of changes

Records can be updated to:

• create links with parent(s)/guardian(s) for the PIT
• correct or delete incorrect links, or
• end links when a parent/guardian leaves the family situation and is no longer regarded as a PIT parent

ABSTUDY customers placed in state care (including supported accommodation, hostels, or boarding schools) who do not have a parent or carer require a PIT link to be made to the organisation. To create the link, a dummy person record is required for the organisation.

A dependent YA customer may have an Indigenous student in their care who meets the eligibility criteria for Schooling A Award (ABT).

It is a requirement that all parents and dependent siblings are linked on the ABSTUDY or YA customer's record. In some cases, a parent/guardian may not have received family assistance, a Social Security pension or benefit, or a child record was archived due to not being in use for a significant period of time.

The requirement of a Customer Reference Number (CRN) is due to:

• the data matching of parent income details with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
• changes to the parent and sibling statuses, if they are or have been in receipt of a Low Income Health Care Card (LIC), pension or benefit from Services Australia, to determine the rate of payment for YA or ABSTUDY

Parent(s)/guardian(s) CRNs are a compulsory component of the coding of dependent ABSTUDY and YA new claims.

If a customer separates from a parent, there are key steps that must be followed to protect the customer’s personal information.

Information must be handled with confidentiality, and the privacy of everyone involved must be protected.

All processes must be followed in the correct order. Doing this incorrectly can lead to a privacy breach. This can put the customer in a life threatening situation.

See Separating safely - protecting personal details.