Transition to Independent Living Allowance (TILA) 108-08070000

Services Australia is responsible for delivering TILA payments of up to a maximum of $1,500 per claimant on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS).

The agency is required to:

• accept claims from State or Territory departments or non-government agencies that administer TILA on behalf of those agencies, via Business Hub
• make TILA payments to the relevant State, Territory or non-government agency to a maximum of $1,500 per eligible young person
• tell customers of TILA availability and how it may help them with covering costs of leaving formal state care, such as:
• paying for a bond for accommodation
• education or training courses
• driving lessons
• counselling

If a young person contacts regarding a TILA claim advise them to contact their case worker in the State or Territory department or non-government agency that manages their leaving care plan.

If a case worker contacts Services Australia about TILA eligibility or policy needs, advise them to contact DSS using contact details in the TILA Operational Guidelines which DSS provides to all organisations that administer TILA.

Eligible young people will be identified by staff in the State or Territory agencies responsible for state-based care, or in non-government organisations who administer TILA on behalf of those agencies. Case workers in these agencies will be responsible for assessing eligibility and approving payment of TILA. Services Australia has no role in determining who is eligible to receive the allowance and the claimant does not have to be a customer of the agency in order to qualify for TILA.

The young person must be in the TILA eligible age range on the day the claim is submitted by the case worker via Business Hub.

TILA claims can only be submitted to Services Australia by case workers from the State or Territory departments or non-government agencies that administer TILA on behalf of those agencies. Young people cannot apply directly to the agency for TILA.

TILA claims must be submitted through Business Hub. The organisation needs to be registered to use Business Hub and the case worker must have their own personal Provider Digital Access (PRODA) account.

When the claim is submitted Business Hub will attempt to identify an existing record for the young person in Services Australia's Centrelink database. If a clear match is found the claim is processed automatically. If a claimant is matched to a sensitive record the details will not be displayed to the caseworker, however the TILA claim will be automatically processed.

If there is no clear match the submitted claim will require manual processing by the agency.

The maximum TILA entitlement of $1,500 may be issued in one or more separate payments (no more than 6) during the period when the young person is in the TILA eligible age range. A separate claim will be required each time.

No identity confirmation documents are required for TILA.

Claims received by Services Australia for manual processing are considered to have been approved by the referring case worker/agency.

Claimants do not have to be an existing customer, nor do they require a current Services Australia record in order to submit a claim.

Only delegated staff in a specialised TILA processing team can manually process TILA claims. These staff must ensure that the claimant:

• is in the TILA eligible age range for TILA and
• has not already received the maximum TILA entitlement

Claims will be rejected and are not able to be appealed if these criteria are not met.

Where the amount approved to be paid by the referring case worker/agency would cause the total TILA payments made to the claimant to exceed the maximum entitlement of $1500 (within the ten year period), only the difference between the maximum and the total payments previously issued in respect of the claimant will be paid.

The payment destination for TILA will always be the bank account of the organisation that submitted the TILA claim; however the payment will appear on the Payment Summary (PS) screen of the young person's Centrelink record. Only staff with designated TILA access will be able to view or update the payment destination. The bank account details of the organisation will not be displayed to the young person in their online account.

The available balance for a TILA payment is $1,500. Claimants can choose to claim for the full amount available or claim the balance in different amounts as needed.

When the available balance is $1,500 the minimum TILA payment for a claim is $250 and the maximum is $1,500. If the available balance is less than $250, the claimant can make a claim for any amount up to $250.

TILA payments are:

• non-taxable
• not compensation affected
• not subject to Income Management, and
• not to be used for Centrepay or other deductions