Manual processing of Transition to Independent Living Allowance (TILA) claims 108-08070010

If there is:

• no match
• more than one possible match, or
• a child record is identified

The TILA claim will require manual intervention by delegated Services Australia processing staff.

Before manually processing TILA claims, staff must undertake a thorough search for an existing customer record and ensure an accurate match. If a child record is identified, this needs to be converted to a customer record and used for the claim.

If an existing record cannot be located a new Customer Reference Number (CRN) will need to be created before the claim can processed. A any further claims submitted in respect of the same claimant should be able to be processed automatically.

Claims received from third party organisations are considered to have been approved, by the referring case worker/agency. Services Australia process TILA claims on the understanding that, in approving the claim the referring agency:

• has determined the claimant's identity, and
• eligibility, and
• the young person is exiting formal care, and
• has taken into account any amounts of TILA paid in respect of that claimant before 1 January 2014

When manual processing TILA claims, Services Australia must make sure the claimant:

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

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 $1,500, only the difference between the maximum and the total payments previously issued in respect of the claimant will be paid.

Only delegated Services Australia staff with appropriate access, process TILA claims that need manual intervention in Business Hub.

The claim can be submitted for grant or rejection or not submitted for finalisation (cancelled).

Submitting the claim - (that is, answering Yes to the question 'Do you want to submit this claim?) means the claim will be automatically processed and payment will be granted or rejected, with a letter issued. Automatic processing can only reject a claim if the rejection reason is that $1,500 of TILA has already been paid for this young person.

Not submitting the claim - (that is, answering No to the question ‘Do you want to submit this claim?) cancels the claim. The claim will be finalised rather than rejected (that is, no payment will be issued and no letter will be issued).

The Service Officer must answer No if:

• the person is not in the TILA eligible age range, or
• a deceased record is identified, or
• the caseworker requests the claim be cancelled, or
• the claim is withdrawn or cancelled on request, or
• the Service Officer makes a determination (reasons must be noted)

Claims that are rejected or finalised (not paid) are not able to be appealed.

No debts for TILA payments are to be raised by Services Australia. The Department of Social Services (DSS) will follow up any incorrect payments of TILA.

TILA payments are made to the referring agency on behalf of the customer. If a TILA payment is returned, the original claim can be located by searching for 'processed' claims and refining the date range search criteria on the Third Party Information Summary Organisation (TPISO) screen. The Service Officer can then view each claim listed until the relevant claim is found.

The case worker may need to be contacted to confirm the correct bank account details before reissuing the payment.