Verifying the date of birth or age of a customer or child 106-07060040

Has the customer provided an acceptable proof of age document?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 4

Can the customer's date of birth be verified from the documents provided?
Note: a Confirmation of Identity - Verification for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (RA010) cannot be used to verify the age of the customer.

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 3

• Yes,
• Centrelink generally uses 1 January as the date. However, if a customer normally uses a certain date it can be used for Centrelink too
• If the customer is an unaccompanied humanitarian minor and only the year of birth can be verified, Centrelink follows Department of Home Affairs policy and the date of birth is recorded as December 31
• Go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 4

• Yes, ABSTUDY customers meet the necessary proof of age requirements through provision of Centrelink's Identity Confirmation requirements for a new claim specific to ABSTUDY. A student who satisfies Centrelink's identity requirements for ABSTUDY customers is deemed to have satisfied proof of age requirements and is not required to lodge additional proof of age documentation. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 5

Customers should not be placed in hardship while their Date of Birth is established, particularly if they have been receiving payment from Centrelink previously. It is essential to try to verify age as accurately as possible.

Is the customer within 2 weeks of Age Pension age?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 6

If born in Australia, the customer should contact the relevant Department of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM). If born overseas the customer should contact the Department of Home Affairs.

For Aboriginal customers born in the Northern Territory, the customer should contact BDM in the Northern Territory.

The Birth Register will be checked:

• If the birth is not recorded, the Aboriginal Population Records from the former Department of Aboriginal Affairs is checked
• If the date of birth can be ascertained from these records, a Birth Certificate is issued
• If no record exists, the customer will be issued with a letter stating this

If the customer was born in another state or territory, the respective BDM does not have access to the Aboriginal Population Records, or similar. Note: from 1 July 2010, an identified Indigenous customer transferring to Age Pension may not need to verify their date of birth if they are currently in receipt of an income support payment.

Is proof of age verified?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 7

Non Indigenous customers

Obtain any other documents the customer can provide to verify their age. If there are none, contact the Seniors Policy Service Desk. See Resources for link.

Indigenous customers

Some Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples may not be able to supply proof of age. It is essential to try to verify age as accurately as possible.
Note: a Confirmation of Identity - Verification for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (RA010) cannot be used to verify age.

When Aboriginal customers contact BDM in the Northern Territory, the Birth Register is checked. If the birth is not recorded, the Aboriginal Population Records from the former Department of Aboriginal Affairs is checked. If DOB can be determined from these records, a Birth Certificate is issued. If no record exists, the customer will be issued with a letter stating this. BDM in other states do not have access to the Aboriginal Population Records or similar.

From 1 July 2010, an Identified Indigenous customer transferring to Age Pension may not need to verify their date of birth if they are currently in receipt of income support:

• contact the customer's health clinic to see if they have a date of birth that has been used for a long time, or
• an Indigenous Service Officer or member of a remote visiting team should visit the customer and ask where they come in the family and any events they can remember from the past which might help establish their age, or
• ask the customer to nominate other people in the Community who are of a similar age and can be interviewed to establish if they went through Ceremonies with the customer

Any information that might help establish approximately how old the person is must be obtained to decide whether the person is qualified for Age Pension.

If the year of birth is available, but not the day and the month, the 1^st of January should be used as the day and month.

Once the customer's age has been obtained, process the Transfer to Age Pension (SA383). After processing the SA383, to obtain verification of the birth, complete the Commencement of Identity process to confirm the customer's age if the customer is not Indigenous and eligible for automatic Transfer to Age Pension.

• If it meets Identity Confirmation requirements, code the Identity Confirmation Dashboard in Process Direct.
  Procedure ends here
• If it does not meet identity confirmation requirements, record the details on a DOC